Americans prefer faith-based care & giving
nptimes.com
By region
The south seemed to put its money where its faith was, with 27 percent of those responding from the area indicating they are much more likely to donate to faith-based groups, which was slightly more than the west (25 percent). The south also posted the largest segment of respondents (21 percent) who were somewhat more likely to donate to faith-based groups, with the west and the north-central following again (both at 18 percent).
Of respondents from the northeast, 40 percent said that it didn’t matter whether the organization was faith-based or not. That response far outpaced the south (23 percent) as well as the west (29 percent) and north-central (31 percent).
For those who responded they wouldn’t donate to either, there was a surprisingly high number of southerners (13 percent), the same percentage as those from the north-central. Those findings outpaced the northeasterners (9 percent) and the westerners (6 percent).
Looking at education levels to the donation question, there was wider variation than exhibited on the choice question. Those who said they were much more likely to donate to a faith-based organization, tended to be without a high school diploma (26 percent), or just a high school education (25 percent).
Only 18 percent of those who graduated college indicated they were much more likely to donate to such an organization.
Those who answered that they were equally likely for faith-based or non faith-based, tended to be college graduates (35 percent). Those without a high school diploma responded at 23 percent, with little variation between those who graduated high school (27 percent) and those who didn’t finish college (26 percent).
Among those who indicated they wouldn’t donate to either, 13 percent were without a high school diploma. Those who graduated college were likely to at least donate; only 7 percent indicated they wouldn’t donate to either.
Ramsey called for more research to be done in this area. “It’s an extremely important topic,” she said. “We have to find out what really works and what doesn’t work. … Why would people give money but not send mother? (The) study is good because it raises questions.”
Red vs. blue
The geographic aspects of the question, however, seemed to fit into preconceived notions about the nation. Those who considered the faith-based aspect having a great deal of influence were more likely to come from the south, while those who indicated it had no influence at all tended to come from the northeast.
More specifically, 12 percent of respondents from the northeast indicated that an organization being faith-based made a great deal of influence. In the south the same response came from 19 percent of respondents. The west and the northcentral states of the country posted 14 percent.
Among the northeast respondents, 33 percent indicated faith-based had no influence at all on their decision. The west had the lowest percentage (24) stating that it had no influence at all. In the south, 26 percent indicated it had no influence, and 30 percent of respondents in the northcentral region.
Though the numbers might reflect the opinion that people in the south are more likely to be regular service-goers, Weiner offered another possibility. “The northeast is blessed to have many excellent faith-based and other nonprofit organizations involved in health and human services,” she said. “Positive experiences with (non faith-based organizations) may account for the seeming disparity in the numbers.”
Ramsey said the geographic findings mirrored other studies on the issue, but she suggested the question has more facets than just geography. “If I had to put my mother in a badly run faith-based vs. an excellent non faith-based (the decision is simple).”
She added, “We’ve all seen such uneven quality of care … it gets mucky trying to answer these questions.”
Level of education didn’t seem to make much difference within answers. Among those who responded that faith-based made a great deal of influence on their decision, it was nearly as likely to be a person without a high school diploma (17 percent) as with a college degree (15 percent).
Similarly, among those who said faith-based had no influence at all, there was little difference among those with a college degree (31 percent) and those without a high school diploma (29 percent).
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