About giving

“I know that giving is the way we can feel abundant. Giving is the way that we fill ourselves up.... For me the way to fill up is through service and sharing and getting myself to give more than I feel comfortable giving.” – Anne Lamott, interview

Consider these stats about giving

*A fair amount of our giving in the US goes to the church and stays rather local.

“… 33.4% of estimated total giving, $103.32 billion, went to houses of worship and denominational organizations in 2007.” (USA Today Oct 2008)

“Only about 3 percent of money donated to churches and ministries went to aiding or ministering to non-Christians.” (Christianity Today, Dec 2008)

"Americans perceive that 70% of their 2006 donations went to religion, while 18% went to charities and other organizations, and 10% to educational institutions,” reports Sylvia Ronsvalle, of empty tomb, a Christian research organization based in Champaign, Il. (USA Today Oct 2008)

*We don’t give all that much away, at least not in monetary percentages.

Based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, and calculated as a percentage of income after taxes... Southerners give 1.5% of their income, compared with 1.4% in the Midwest and West, and 0.7% in the Northeast. (USA Today Oct 2008) [Other surveys I’ve seen report giving at 2-3%, which is obviously more but not by much.]

*Some do give away their time, especially if asked to volunteer.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 60 million people performed some kind of volunteer work in 2007. Of this number women were more likely than men to volunteer, and individuals between 35-54 years old made up the largest group. (USDL stats website, 2008)

Many people don't seek out community involvement: of those who volunteer, 44 percent do so because someone asked them. People who volunteer early in life are much more likely to volunteer later in life, when the personal benefits are particularly acute. Volunteerism is also especially beneficial to men, urbanites, those with less income and in poorer health, and retirees. (Cornell News, 1998)

You might ask: How is giving about wellness?

To start, a snippet with some great quotes from an extensive and interesting article “It’s Good to be Good: Health and the Generous Heart” by Stephen G. Post:

“Key spiritual and religious texts have long acknowledged the benefits of giving. Although hypocrisy is present in the religious communities, generally speaking religious people are more generous and likely to volunteer than are non-religious (Saroglou et al., 2005). This enhanced altruism may explain any greater average longevity among regular worshippers.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his famous essay on the topic of compensation, wrote, “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself….” The 16th-century Hindu poet Tulsidas, as translated by Mohandas K. Gandhi, wrote, “This and this alone is true religion – to serve others. This is sin above all other sin – to harm others. In service to others is happiness. In selfishness is misery and pain.”

The 9th-century sage Shantideva wrote, “All the joy the world contains has come through wishing the happiness of others.” Proverbs 11:15 reads, “those who refresh others will be refreshed”…

One of the healthiest things a person can do is to step back from self-preoccupation and self-worry, as well as from hostile and bitter emotions, and there is no more obvious way of doing this than focusing attention on helping others.”

Let’s explore some benefits of giving by looking at a few studies (note: find full citations at end of this blog entry).

*Improved health and increase in endorphin "high"

Allen Luks, in a survey of over 3,000 volunteers across the United States, found that people who helped other people consistently reported better health than peers in their age group, and many stated that this health improvement began when they started to volunteer. Helpers report a distinct physical sensation associated with helping; about half report that they experienced a "high" feeling, 43 percent felt stronger and more energetic, 28 percent felt warm, 22 percent felt calmer and less depressed, 21 percent experienced greater feelings of self-worth, and 13 percent experienced fewer aches and pains. (Luks, 1988)

In their book, The Healing Power of Doing Good, Allan Luks and Peggy Payne report that the euphoric sensation of the volunteers returned when they remembered the action of helping others. 90% of the group Luks studied reported that volunteering acted as an antidote to stress, chronic pain, and even insomnia. (Luks, 1991)

*Longer life and better physical functioning

In one study that began in 1956, 427 wives and mothers who lived in upstate New York were followed for 30 years by researchers at Cornell University. The researchers were able to conclude that regardless of number of children, marital status, occupation, education, or social class, those women who engaged in volunteer work to help other people at least once a week lived longer and had better physical functioning, even after adjusting for baseline health status. (Moen, et al., 1989)

In a large prospective study using a longitudinal survey of older adults, after adjusting for multiple covariables, the researchers found a significant association between high volunteerism and decreased mortality rate that remained after correction for health status, resulting in an overall 44% reduction in mortality. (Oman, et al. 1999)

*Heightened happiness, life-satisfaction, and self-esteem

Peggy Thoits used data from the Americans’ Changing Lives Survey and found – in the 3,617 respondents divided into two groups of those that volunteered and those who did not – that “people who were in better physical and mental health were more likely to volunteer, and conversely that volunteer work was good for both mental and physical health. People of all ages who volunteered in 1986 reported in 1989 that they had higher levels of happiness, life-satisfaction, self-esteem, physical health, and lower rates of depression than non-volunteers. (Thoits and Hewitt, 2001)

*Enhancement of positive social behaviors in adolescence

Volunteering in adolescence prevents teen pregnancy and academic failure, enhances social competence and self-esteem, and protects against anti-social behaviors and substance abuse. (Allen, et al., 1997)

*Decrease in chronic pain, disability, and depression

Individuals suffering from chronic pain experienced decreased pain intensity, levels of disability, and depression when they began to serve as peer volunteers for others suffering from chronic pain. The researchers note that the participants reported themes of “making a connection” and having “a sense of purpose” when volunteering. (Arnstein, et al., 2002)

Research on volunteering and depression conducted from 1986 to 1994 with 3,617 adults aged 25 years and older assessed depression using a self-report scale. Consistent volunteering was associated with reduced depression in all age groups, and particularly in those aged 65 or older. (Musick & Wilson, 2003)

*Increase in euphoria

In a small study of 19 subjects, the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed that making a donation activated the mesolimbic pathway, the brain’s reward center, that is responsible for dopamine-mediated euphoria. (Moll, et al., 2006)

*Increase in immune function

Even simply thinking about giving has a physiological effect. In a 1980s study by David McClelland at Harvard it was discovered that Harvard students who were asked to watch a film about Mother Teresa’s work tending to Calcutta’s orphans, showed significant increases in the saliva level of immunoglobin A – a protective antibody, one of the body’s first defenses against the common cold virus – compared with those watching a neutral film (study size 132). This increase was found even among those who purported to dislike Mother Teresa, and the levels remained high for an hour after the film in those subjects who were asked to focus their minds on times when they had loved or been loved. (McClelland, et al., 1988)

[For much more, go to the Post article]

Above is a small sampling; there are many more associations between better health and giving. This email is already long so I’ll stop with the list. Certainly there are good reasons to give: benefits for body, soul, and spirit!

A few thoughts on and ideas for giving

Recent experiences have caused me to think more about giving monetarily to some additional different causes: to places farther away and deeper in need than many of us in the US. I’m appreciating daughter Rebekah’s occasional practical suggestions for addressing some of the world’s need (see her blog post dated Fri, Nov 13, 2009) I’m thinking I’ll use each 1^st Wed wellness email as a reminder to go online and send off a contribution in support of clean water or other basic needs for those wanting.

Giving can bring joy – to the recipients and to the giver! My personal take on the underlying reason for us benefiting from giving is that we are participating in the activity and love of God

who gives freely - "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32; and who

who reminds us of the good in giving by these words “it is more blessed to give than to receive…” Acts 20:35;

who reminds us by Jesus’ example

- in leaving God form to come to us in human form, even as a dependent baby - “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men…" Philippians 2:6-7; and

- in giving his life for us “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us.” Ephesians 5:2.

Might we all give to benefit both ourselves and others, give with abandon, give to experience deep joy.

Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.

– I Timothy 6:17-19 The Message paraphrase

Sources Cited:

Allen, J.P., Philliber, S, Herrling, S., & Kuperminc, G.P. (1997). Preventing teen pregnancy and academic failure: Experimental evaluation of a developmentally based approach. Child Development, 68, 729-742.

Arnstein P, Vidal M, Wells-Federman C, et al. From chronic pain patient to peer: benefits and risks of volunteering. Pain Management Nursing. 2002;3:94-103.

Luks, A. (1988, October). “Helper’s high: Volunteering makes people feel good, physically and emotionally.” Psychology Today, 22(10), 34-42.

Luks, A. (1991). The healing power of doing good: The health and spiritual benefits of helping others. New York: Fawcett Columbine.

McClelland, D., McClelland, D.C., & Kirchnit, C. (1988). The effect of motivational arousal through films on salivary immunoglobulin A. Psychology and Health, 2, 31-52.

Moen, P., Dempster-McClain, D., & Williams, R.M. (1989). Social integration and longevity: An event history analysis of women’s roles and resilience. American Sociological Review, 54, 635-647.

Moll, J., Krueger, F., Zahn, R., Pardini, M., Oliveiri-Souza, R., & Grafman, J. (2006). Human fronto-mesolimbic networks guide decisions about charitable donation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(42), 15623-15628.

Musick, M.A., & Wilson, J. (2003). Volunteering and depression: The role of psychological and social resources in different age groups. Social Science & Medicine, 56(2), 259-269.

Oman, D., Thoresen, E., & McMahon, K. (1999). Volunteerism and mortality among the community-dwelling elderly. Journal of Health Psychology, 4, 301-316.

Saroglou, V., Pichon., I., Trompette, L., Verschueren, M., & Dernelle, R. (2005). Prosocial behavior and religion: New evidence based on projective measures and peer ratings. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44(3), 323-348.

Thoits PA, Hewitt LN. Volunteer work and well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 2001;42(2):115-131.