(BPT) - According to results from a national survey1 released by Wells Fargo and Ipsos, Americans helped their neighbors on average six times in the last year without expecting anything in return and 77% did so at least once. Furthermore, 73% of Americans strive to support their communities by shopping local, and on average, shopped at or supported a local small business 11 times in the last year.
The survey showed they want to do more. More than half of Americans would like to volunteer more time (57%) and donate more money (57%) to local organizations; and 53% wish they knew where to go to learn which organizations in their community are looking for volunteers or donations.
“As The Bank of Doing, we have an important responsibility to help strengthen the communities we serve — and we’re glad to see our fellow neighbors are taking action to help others, too,” said Kristy Fercho, Head of Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion at Wells Fargo. “Doing goes far beyond the investments we make. It is the sum of the impact we have when we work together to tackle societal challenges.”
Wells Fargo commissioned the online survey of more than 5,000 adults in the U.S. to understand how Americans give back and what they prioritize most in their communities. The survey is part of The Bank of Doing campaign, which reinforces Wells Fargo’s longstanding commitment to putting people and communities first.
How would you spend $1 million to help your community?
In another question, those surveyed were asked how they would spend $1 million if given that amount to improve their communities. Americans answered — on average, they’d allocate the most money toward affordable housing investments.
Overall, they believe their local community needs additional financial investment in the availability of affordable housing (70%), the condition of roads and sidewalks (69%), and support for small businesses (67%).
The good news is Americans also believe progress has already been made in their communities. For example, many indicated they are satisfied that their local communities have made improvements in small business support (60%), internet infrastructure (60%), and job creation (46%).
Since 2019, Wells Fargo has donated $525 million to help address housing affordability, including supporting available and affordable rentals, homeownership, and housing stability.
Additionally, The Bank of Doing has funded $107 million in higher education scholarships and programming for diverse communities and has donated about $420 million to organizations that support small businesses through its Open for Business Fund, a recovery effort created in July 2020. That initiative has impacted a projected 178,000 small businesses to help them create or preserve more than 222,000 jobs.
1 An online survey was conducted among 7,067 total adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii by Ipsos on behalf of Wells Fargo from May 31 through June 15, 2023. The sample consisted of 5,077 adults 18+, divided evenly across each state in the U.S., for a minimum of 100 respondents from each state, and 1990 adults 18+, within 14 targeted media markets within the U.S. Weights were applied to national and state data cuts to match the Census on age, gender, region, race/ethnicity, and income. The targeted markets were also weighted to Census data on age, gender, race/ethnicity, and household income.
The precision of Ipsos online non-probability polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points for all respondents, plus or minus 1.7 percentage points for the national sample, and a range of 11.0-12.0 percentage points for the individual states.
