Giving Compass' Take:

• At this year's Indiaspora Philanthropy Summit, results of a survey were released showing that Indian-Americans give $1 billion a year, but there's potential for more.

• How can philanthropic catalysts like Indiaspora motivate donors to give more each year?

• Dasra outlines ways to give with impact to India.

Indian-Americans, who are among the ethnic groups with highest per capita income, donate about $1 billion per year, far less than their potential of $3 billion philanthropy in the US, according to the results of a first-of-its-kind survey.

The survey, which assessed the giving habits of Indian-Americans, concluded that the community donates in the range of 1.5 per cent of their income per year, compared to the average American donation rate of four per cent per year.

The survey found Indian-Americans are passionate about social impact, has a diversity of interests, are careful screeners and prolific volunteers.

An Indian-American donor typically volunteers 220 hours each year, far exceeding the US national average of 130 hours annually.

“We find there exists a large ‘giving gap’ in the realm of at least $2-3 billion. Further, we find a ‘passion-donation gap’, which means that the community does not necessarily give to those causes which it collectively claims to be most passionate about,” it said.

Read the full article about Indian-American charitable giving at indianexpress.com.