The economy may be flush, but a far smaller percentage of Los Angeles County residents donated to charity this year than last, falling below the state and national rates, a recent survey found.
Those who did give tended to be older, leaving charities worried that the percentage could decline further in the future. Most of the people mailing donations to the Salvation Army in Southern California, for example, are over 70, said Lt. Col. Alfred Van Cleef, the divisional commander.
"This is not just a statistical fluke," said Allan Parachini, spokesman for the California Community Foundation, which commissioned the random telephone survey of 501 county residents Dec. 4-12, the third such poll in as many years. "It's the beginning of a very worrisome trend."
The poll by the Field Research Corp. of San Francisco has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
Fewer than two-thirds of households reported making a charitable donation in the past 12 months, compared to nearly three-quarters a year before. Statewide, a related poll found that 72% of Californians gave, while a separate survey put the national rate at 70%.
Younger donors in Los Angeles County were even harder to find; fewer than a quarter of those ages 18 to 24 gave to religious organizations in 1999, down from 43% a year before. Only one in 10 gave to nonreligious groups. The donation rate was somewhat higher for residents ages 25 to 34; 38% made contributions to religious groups and 20% gave to nonreligious entities.
The Internet, which appeals to a younger crowd, has not helped to bridge the generational donation gap--fewer than four in 10 Internet users said they would feel comfortable making an online donation, the survey found.
Some groups, however, have had success in reaching out to younger donors by including them on their boards of directors. Bet Tzedek Legal Services put Randall Kaplan, 31, on its board and he developed the Justice Ball, an annual fund-raiser held at the House of Blues in West Hollywood that caters to younger people.
"There are literally thousands and thousands of young people [locally] who are waiting to get involved in causes that they relate to and believe in," said Kaplan, founder and managing partner of JUMP Investors, which invests in early stage Internet companies.
The statewide poll appeared to back the notion that the county's young adults could be persuaded to give more. Across California, 60% of respondents ages 18 to 29 said they donated to charity, compared with 42% in Los Angeles County.
