Here's Why Some People Are 'Rage Giving' To Certain Causes After The Election, Charity Navigator CEO

Forbes

Michael Thatcher, President and CEO of Charity Navigator, joined "Forbes Talks" to discuss the intersection of politics and donating to charity ahead of the election.  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now

00:07is Michael Thatcher, CEO and president of Charity Navigator. Michael, thank you so much

00:11for joining me again.

00:12Oh, Brittany, I'm glad to be here.

00:15We are glad to have you. But before we dive into the conversation, can you just explain

00:20what does Charity Navigator do?

00:22Sure. Charity Navigator is the nation's largest independent evaluator of nonprofits. We're

00:29a free service, free to the donors, free to the nonprofits that we evaluate. And we provide

00:35ratings and information on over, I guess we're at 235,000 nonprofits that we have ratings

00:42on. We also have lists. We help people. Really, we're here to make impactful giving easier

00:48for everyone. And we're creating different ways to simplify your process to really get

00:53to the charities you want to support, make an impact with your gift.

00:58Michael, 95 percent of my job, I cover politics. So I'm excited to talk about the intersection

01:04between politics and giving. Last month, as you know, we had an election. Donald Trump

01:11did win his second term in the White House. So I want to talk about the impact of politics

01:16on giving. Do election results matter when it comes to charity giving?

01:23Election results definitely matter. There are kind of two phases of it. One, giving

01:28shifts going into the elections. People are sometimes giving more to political campaigns,

01:34and then they'll switch back to actually giving to the nonprofits that they choose to support.

01:39In this case, and it's quite similar to what happened in 2016, there has been a reaction

01:45to the election results. You have an increase in giving to areas that people feel may not

01:51be as well served within the new regime. So areas like the environment, reproductive

01:59health, civil liberties, immigration. These are all areas where on Charity Navigator,

02:05we've seen, for example, over a 2,000 percent increase in traffic and donations to organizations

02:12in the area of reproductive health, a little over 1,000 percent increase in traffic and

02:18donations to civil liberties organizations, and even higher in environmental defense areas.

02:26I know that you said this isn't completely unprecedented. You saw something similar in

02:312016. But is this type of spike in giving unique to Donald Trump specifically? Did you

02:37see this, let's say, in 2008? Did you see this in 2020 when Biden won election then?

02:45I would say it's more pronounced today. Particularly, this is the second Trump presidency. So people

02:54have an awareness of what came in the past. It's more marked than in, let's say, the Biden

03:00presidency. There's a shift because there's a feeling that certain areas will be less

03:06well served, and so people are compensating.

03:10I know that Charity Navigator used this term in Trump's first term. The term is rage giving.

03:17Can you explain exactly what that is and if you're seeing that now?

03:22There's rage giving. I think another word we've heard is the Trump bump, which is there's

03:26a bump in giving to specific areas of the sector. A lot of times, people want to take

03:34action. And let's say you're not happy with the election results, and you're really interested

03:40in, well, how can I really make a difference or ensure that something I care about is still

03:46supported? Supporting nonprofits that actually focus on that are a way of doing that. You

03:51could call it rage giving, but you could also look at it in the sense of really putting

03:57your money where your values are and then supporting that, because that's the beauty

04:02of the United States and the nonprofit sector that we have, is that you're able to support

04:09all sides of all arguments within the legal construct of the 501c3 nonprofit.

04:15Is rage giving, do you think, a sort of knee-jerk reaction where this will die down, the giving

04:21will, you'll see less giving when Donald Trump is in office, maybe a month or two months

04:27after the 100 days when it's not so fresh in people's minds?

04:35Giving does tend to follow the news cycle and what's happening, like real-time what's

04:40happening in the world. So there will be a decline, but I also think it will depend on

04:46how things go over the next year. We saw a very specific spike. We tracked the first

04:52100 days of every presidency, and we sort of look at where's their shifts in giving.

04:59I think this year it'll probably, or let's say 2025, it should be the same. There'll

05:04be a pullback, but then as policies change, people care about things. For example, they

05:10care about the environment. They're going to keep giving to the environment. I don't

05:13think that'll change.

05:15I want to talk about Giving Tuesday in particular. What do you expect to see on this day and

05:20this season of giving as we are entering the holiday season? Do you expect to see this

05:25specific spike in environment groups, reproductive rights groups, or are you expecting it to

05:30see it equally given or equally doled out?

05:37So a couple of things. One, there's been, over the last few years, there's been a decline

05:42in giving from everyday givers, and that is sort of the average American public has been

05:48giving. Less households have been giving, and they've been giving a little bit less.

05:53A lot of that has been due to either political uncertainty, economic uncertainty, a decline

05:59in trust to institutions. One of the things we're hoping for actually this year with Giving

06:06Tuesday is to see that that decline is actually going to be challenged, and we're going to

06:12reverse the trend.

06:13There has been a spike in giving since the election. We're expecting that to continue

06:19significantly in the areas that are, let's say, driven by the election results, but we're

06:26also expecting to see just a general rising of awareness and the tide towards giving.

06:32There's more strength right now economically than there has been, particularly compared

06:37to last year. And so from that standpoint, I think people have a desire to give. There's

06:45a motivation that is both political and otherwise. And then the real beauty of Giving Tuesday

06:51and the giving season is that it's a time where people reflect about their own core

06:55values and they give to those areas. So what we've noticed is that giving is not an either

07:02or. I may be giving because I'm politically motivated, but I'm also going to keep supporting

07:07the causes I care about. And so I would say we should see a general increase in giving

07:13this year at Giving Tuesday. At least that's the projections that we're seeing based on

07:17our traffic right now.

07:20What is the best practice when it comes to giving? How do you know which charity in particular

07:25will make the most out of your donation when you're looking at your core values and seeing

07:29what charity aligns with those the most?

07:33That's a great question. And I think ultimately there are a couple of steps that you want

07:38to go through in your giving process. One, sort of deeply personal, deeply reflective.

07:45What do I care about? Then get a little bit as specific as you can in the causes and the

07:50areas that you care about. Then when you find an organization that is actually addressing

07:55that one, does their mission align with your mission? Do the results that they articulate

08:02actually map to that? And then are they a well-run organization? And at Charity Navigator,

08:10what we're trying to do is make that process simpler through our rating system. So we're

08:14looking at strong leadership and adaptability skills. We're looking at impact and results.

08:21You want to know they're making a difference in the work that they're doing. We look at

08:25their financials and their accountability structures. Are they well-governed? Do they

08:29have an independent board of directors? These things really matter. And then how are they

08:33connecting with those people that they're served through what we're calling culture

08:38and community? All of these things are rolled into what goes into a zero to four star rating

08:43to really help you make an easier and quicker decision.

08:46Michael, we're coming off of Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday. Tomorrow is Giving

08:53Tuesday. What's your number one piece of advice for those who want to participate in Giving

08:57Tuesday?

08:59I would say get out there and give and engage in the process. Giving is a wonderful experience.

09:07It's also a muscle. And so you have to exercise the muscle. Don't give till it hurts. Give

09:13till it feels good. Give with your heart, but then think about where you're giving.

09:20Use your head. And again, ratings can help with that. Charity Navigator is designed to

09:24make that easier for you. And then give within your means. One piece of advice I'd make is

09:30if you feel that you don't have enough to give as a one-time shot, try making a recurring

09:35gift. A recurring gift allows you to sign up for a small amount off your credit card

09:40on a monthly basis. And that goes to the organizations. It gives them something that they can count

09:46on 12 months out of the year. And that's super useful.

09:49Michael Thatcher, thank you so much for joining me. Very important conversation. Very timely

09:54conversation. You're welcome back anytime.

09:56Delighted and happy Giving Tuesday.

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