September 30, 2025, 2:42 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
What does pet ownership say about donation behavior? This question may seem unusual at first glance, but a comprehensive analysis of nearly 788 million donation transactions over a ten-year period provides surprising answers. The results offer fascinating insights into the relationship between pet ownership and philanthropic engagement—and show that cat owners, in particular, stand out in more than one way when it comes to donations.
Cat Owners Donate Most Frequently
Who gives more to charitable causes—cat or dog owners? A new large-scale study from the U.S. analyzed nearly 788 million donations and provides intriguing answers. Surprisingly, it’s not the amount of donations that makes the biggest difference, but the regularity and variety.
The study was led by Herbert Chang, assistant professor of quantitative social sciences at Dartmouth College, and published in the journal “Anthrozoös.” It is based on data from over 60 million Americans and a donation volume of nearly $70 billion. Chang used machine learning for his analysis to factor out other influences, such as income, education level, and gender, from the data. In the ranking of donation willingness indicators, pet ownership ranked fourth, directly behind income, education, and gender.
The evaluation clearly showed that cat owners are the most diligent donors. On average, they donated 14 times during the examined period—significantly more often than people without pets, who donated only 11 times. According to the study, cat lovers are considered the most consistent benefactors. Moreover, they support more diverse organizations. Only 52 percent of cat owners limited their donations to a single charity, compared to 63 percent of non-pet owners.
Dog Owners Give Larger Individual Donations
Even though cat owners donate more frequently and broadly, it is the non-pet owners who actually give the largest sums at once—on average, over $1,000 per person. In total, however, cat owners donate the most. Dog owners, on the other hand, donated less frequently and supported fewer different causes than cat lovers and non-pet owners.
“Cat people are also more open, meaning they are creative and willing to embrace new ideas,” explains Chang—a trait that studies often find among cat enthusiasts.
Previous psychological studies have already shown that dog people tend to be more sociable and rule-abiding, while cat friends are considered more introverted, neurotic, and unconventional. Learn more in this article: Dog or Cat Person? What Science Reveals About Your Personalities.
Political Differences Among Pet Lovers
The political aspect of the study is also interesting: Cat owners tend to lean toward Democrats, while dog owners are more likely to favor Republicans—a pattern that previous surveys have already suggested.
These are, however, only tendencies. Whether the voting behavior of benefactors actually benefits certain parties could not be determined. Chang also found that the political mindsets of pet owners can actually be categorized more as “independent,” while non-pet owners are more likely to classify themselves as nonpartisan.
He describes the difference as follows: “Independents are often politically engaged and tend to lean in a particular direction,” while “nonpartisans are characterized by non-preference and often by apathy toward politics.” This observation suggests that political orientation combined with personal lifestyles can also be a significant factor in donation behavior. 1
What Nonprofit Organizations Can Learn From This
To measure the diversity of donation distributions, Chang applied methods such as Shannon entropy and Earth Mover’s Distance—techniques that capture the spread of donations across different organizations. The result: Donation diversity was 12.7 percent higher among cat owners than dog owners.
These insights could be relevant for fundraising strategies. Organizations could tailor their campaigns to focus on regular, smaller donations from cat owners, while targeting larger one-time donations from other groups.
As with any study, there are methodological limitations. The database only included people who already donate—those who never give were not considered. This skews the overall picture toward particularly generous individuals. Additionally, demographic data was collected only once upon entry into the donor database and not updated later.
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Another point: Pet owners were overrepresented in the database. While according to the U.S. Census, about 23 percent of households have a cat and 40 percent have a dog, these values were significantly higher in the donor database. This could be due to the long survey period or the fact that pet owners donate more frequently.
Although the study cannot prove causal relationships, it provides indications that the relationship with pets can influence donation behavior. Cat owners, in particular, stand out for the frequency and variety of their donations—and could thus serve as a model for other groups.
Social Bonds as Key to Donation Behavior
Future research could investigate whether donation behavior changes after acquiring a pet, or whether certain types of organizations—such as in the areas of animal welfare, health, or politics—particularly benefit from certain pet owner groups.
The results fit into broader research that explores the connection between social bonds and philanthropy. Pet ownership—and especially the type of pet—can thus be considered a complex indicator of personality and donation propensity. The study strengthens the thesis that social information and relationship structures are crucial for understanding donation patterns. It is clear: Our connection to animals apparently says more about our social engagement than many think. 2