Comparative Demographic Profiles

Abstract

The comparative profiles of voluntary and paid blood donors point out that paid donors are significantly younger, more likely to be male, single, and Afro‐American. With regard to socioeconomic dimensions, paid donors are more likely to have had less formal education and a greater tendency toward unemployment and underemployment. The paid donor is also much more likely to earn less than $4,000 a year. The philanthropic predisposition of paid donors is considerably lower than that of voluntary donors, as operationally measured by the number of organizations to which one contributes time and money. Though specific religious preferences were not significantly different among the various groups of donors, religious activity was. Paid donors are less likely to attend religious services weekly and have a much greater tendency to visit houses of worship only once a year or never. Paid donors also tend to be slightly more prone to change their residence.