Ideas

Researchers found 5 kinds of generous Americans, and the reasons we give get surprisingly personal

Money, motives and a little social status make for a surprisingly human mix.

With fewer Americans donating and volunteering, it's easy to assume our collective generosity tank is running low. But the data tells a messier, more hopeful story. A national survey of 2,569 adults found that giving is still remarkably common, even if what gets us to open our wallets, volunteer our time, or jump into action varies wildly.

In this story by George E. Mitchell, researchers sorted Americans into five distinct generosity profiles based on their motivations, circumstances, and habits. Some desperately want to help but lack the cash, while others have plenty to give and some very human reasons for doing it. It’s the same complicated impulse behind everything from a stranger quietly covering a toddler’s $749 plane ticket to research showing that receiving foreign aid can inspire people to pay generosity forward.

And here’s where it gets interesting: the five groups don’t just give different amounts. They seem to be responding to completely different emotional buttons. Your particular brand of generosity might say more about you than the amount you donate. The biggest group, the most active group, and the group least interested in simply writing a check are not necessarily the ones you’d expect.

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Yesterday's Results

In yesterday's issue, we shared 17 life hacks that make everyday life a little easier.

And we asked: Which part of everyday life most desperately needs a cheat code? 48% of you chose passwords and tech. Clearly, modern life still has some bugs to work out.

• Cleaning (28%)

• Cooking (12%)

• Passwords and tech (48%)

• Finding things I just had (11%)

GOOD reader Diane Deutsch summed it up perfectly! “Passwords?! Ugh!!!”

Culture | Courtesy of Upworthy

Local

Sometimes survival comes down to a detour nobody planned to take

After eight years, they chose to take the road not taken.

In Minnesota, 68-year-old Kathryn Woessner stepped out of her van and into what looked like an ordinary puddle. It wasn't. The mud was deep enough to swallow her almost whole, like quicksand with no bottom, and for three days she lay there, nearly submerged, with no way out and no one close enough to hear her.

Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin were out riding their ATVs when they made one small choice that would matter enormously. There was a flooded trail they'd driven past for eight years and never once explored. On a whim, they turned down it. In this story by Erik Barnes, the two friends describe what they spotted in the clearing, and the two faint words that proved they were not too late.

On September 22, 1994, six mostly little-known actors gathered in a Manhattan coffee shop, at least on TV, for the first episode of Friends. The NBC sitcom ran for 10 seasons, turned its cast into global stars, and left an outsized mark on everything from hairstyles and catchphrases to the way sitcoms portrayed friendship as a kind of chosen family. 

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💬 From the group text…

OK, if your name is Steven, this is very specifically for you. It is ALSO for you if you love brain-tickling harmonies, sight-reading music, or the weird, quirky brain tickle of seeing the notes color-coded to the sweaters.

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