The far-right donation gap

Although the 21st century is often portrayed as the “age of philanthropy”, with an unprecedented increase in charitable giving, the proportion of the population giving to charity is falling in many Western democracies. At the same time, far-right political parties are gaining more support in many of these countries. To what extent is the decline in charitable donations linked to the electoral rise of the far right?

This paper takes advantage of the 2022 French presidential election to conduct a large-scale survey in order to better understand the drivers of charitable giving. Key findings are:

• The share of the population donating to charities is declining in many Western democracies.
• While voting is generally associated with a higher propensity to donate compared to people who abstain, far-right voters tend to donate less to charities.
• This far-right donation gap is probably linked to a higher demand for communal morality.
• This decline poses a threat to the charitable business in the coming years, as giving becomes increasingly dependent on a small number of individuals.

AUTHORS

• Julia Cagé, Science Po Paris
• Moritz Hengel, Science Po Paris
• Yuchen Huang, Paris School of Economics

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