GivingMoney
In the Netherlands large amounts of money are given to charity. During
the past ten years there has been a growing “charity market” with a yearly
increase in charitable donations. Only about 7% of the Dutch people
never contribute to charity. Population growth and the annual rise of net
income are some obvious explanations. But also when money gifts are
calculated as a fraction of the national income, a slight increase is visible
between 1995 and 1999 (T. Schuyt 2001). The Dutch give most to church
and ideological organizations (26%), then to health care (17%), international
help (16%), environment, nature, animal care (14%), sports and
recreation (12%), and societal (10%) organizations. From the work of
American authors likeWolfe (1989) andWuthnow (1991) it appears that
the growth of the “third sector” is not an exclusively Dutch phenomenon.
Unlike theNetherlands, however, in the United States a decline of money
gifts as percentage of the gross national product has been observed
(Putnam 2000).
In addition to population growth and income rise, the American sociologist
AlanWolfe (1989) suggests some other factors that might influence
people’s giving to charity – for instance, trust in the economy and strong
family and community ties.Thefact that during the past decade theDutch
economy has flourished as almost never before might partly explain the
Dutch generosity.Unfortunately, no research is available as yet that is able
to clarify the extent to which the increase of donations to charity is caused
by population growth, income level, the strength of community ties, the
growing number of charities, more aggressive tactics of appealing to
people’s willingness to donate money, economic developments, the type
of welfare state, or the level of state-based social security arrangements
(Esping-Andersen 1990).
ArecentDutchreport of the Social andCultural Planning Organisation
(SCP 1998) compares the number of members and donors of a range
of societal organizations from 1980 to 1996–1997. Although the number
of members of religious communities, women’s organizations, and
political parties has dropped, there is a substantial increase in the sector
“international solidarity” (for instance, organizations for medical help,
foster parents, ThirdWorld help organizations). As these data are based
on absolute numbers and as the Dutch population has increased substantially,
the picture is not entirely representative. Nevertheless, the authors
of the report conclude that these developments in gift giving in combinationwith
the increased membership of ideological organizations (see also
the next section) point to afir m sense of citizenship among the Dutch,
in our terms, of solidarity.