Which Causes Do Swiss Consider Worth Supporting?

If you were to receive 1000 Swiss francs which you could use as you wished, which charitable and personal causes would you likely donate the money to? A representative survey by moneyland.ch asked 1500 residents of Switzerland to answer that question. The results of the survey show which causes Switzerland’s population does and does not consider to be particularly worth supporting.

Climate takes first place

Protecting the environment and preserving rain forests are exceptionally important to residents, with 44 percent and 43 percent of participants respectively being likely or very likely to donate to these causes. Humanitarian aid to Ukraine took third place, followed by help for needy people in Switzerland, and support for seriously ill medical patients.

Table 1: What Swiss would donate to

“Climate change is currently the second biggest worry after the conflict in Ukraine,” clarifies moneyland.ch analyst Raphael Knecht. “Another factor is that environmental protection – in contrast to wars – is a long-established point of concern in Switzerland.” Young people are especially likely to donate to environmental causes.

The survey also shows that aside from Ukraine, Swiss tend to prefer supporting people in Switzerland. A high 40 percent of the population would likely or very likely donate towards providing emergency help to needy people inside the country. For the sake of comparison, only 24 percent are likely to donate towards helping needy people outside of Switzerland. “The general rule is: The closer the problem is, the more likely people are to help,” observes Knecht. This differentiation between needy people inside and outside of Switzerland is less pronounced among young adults.

Little support for politics, religion and art

Only a small portion of residents are likely to support mosques and political parties financially. More than 80 percent of Swiss say that they are hardly or completely unlikely to donate to these causes. Donating to churches is only somewhat more popular. “Religious and political organizations are hardly seen as needy or support-worthy causes,” observes moneyland.ch CEO Benjamin Manz.

Millionaires and people with between 50,000 and 100,000 francs of personal wealth are the most likely to donate to political organizations. Few Swiss with fortunes of between 300,000 and 1 million francs consider supporting political parties.

Supporting the arts is also not high up the priority list for donations from Swiss: 65 percent of say that they are hardly or completely unlikely to donate to artists. The majority of participants are also unlikely to tip buskers.

The Ukraine conflict is currently one of the most popular charitable causes for many Swiss – but only with regards to humanitarian aid. The majority of Swiss (64 percent) would not donate towards supplying Ukraine with weapons. Those who would consider donating towards weapons are primarily men, and people between the ages of 50 and 74 years old.

Half of Swiss are not likely to donate money

It is interesting to note that nearly half of all survey participants say they would likely not donate the money at all, and spend it on their own families instead. “The family unit is more important to Swiss than any charitable cause included in the survey – including the environment,” says Manz. This tendency is most noticeable in French-speaking Switzerland. More than 60 percent of participants from the Romandie say that they are likely to use the money for their family instead of donating it.

More than one-third (35 percent) of Swiss consider keeping the money for themselves a likely option. Men are more likely to keep money instead of donating it: 39 percent of male participants said they would keep the money, compared to 32 percent of women.

Table 2: Causes other than charitable giving

Young adults are more likely to donate

An analysis of different age groups shows that young adults’ readiness to donate money is above average for nearly all causes. Adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years old are much more likely to donate to help needy people outside of Switzerland and to help beggars than Swiss in other age groups are.

On the other hand, relatively few people between the ages of 50 and 74 can see themselves donating money. Swiss in this age group are particularly unlikely to give to development aid, preserving rainforests and beggars.

Table 3: Donating by age group (likely or very likely to donate)

Willingness to donate towards weapons for Ukraine is significantly higher among adults between the ages of 50 and 74 than among the Swiss population as a whole. “But that does not mean that donations from older adults with regards to the Ukraine conflict are limited to weapons,” stresses analyst Knecht. While 15 percent of residents in this age group are likely to donate towards weapons, 45 percent are likely to donate towards humanitarian aid. The combined data shows that older adults are generally more likely to make donations related to the Ukraine conflict.

Men are less likely to donate money

Women, like young adults, are more likely to support most causes financially. Women are disproportionately more likely to donate towards needy people outside of Switzerland, seriously ill medical patients, and zoos.

Men, on the other hand, are more likely to support causes which are less popular among the population as a whole – including political parties and religious establishments.

French-speaking Swiss are less freehanded

Residents of French-speaking Switzerland are less likely to donate towards many of the listed causes. For example, although 43 percent of people in German-speaking Switzerland are likely to donate money to help needy people in Switzerland, only 34 percent of French-speaking Swiss are likely to support that cause. A disproportionately high portion of residents of the Romandie cannot see themselves donating money for rainforest preservation. French-speaking Swiss are also less likely to donate towards development aid.

On the flip side, French-speaking Swiss are more likely to tip buskers and donate to beggars.

Table 4: Donating by region (likely or very likely)

More on this topic:
Detailed table of survey data (German PDF)
Donating in Switzerland: How to minimize unnecessary costs