According to a poll of 200 charitable organizations, donations of money to nonprofit groups increased by nearly 25 percent last year, though not all charities gained equally. Religious groups gained the most (30 percent), followed by environmental groups (23 percent), whereas educational institutions experienced only a very small increase in donations (3 percent). This poll indicates that more people are willing and able to give money to charities but that funding for education is not a priority for most people. These differences in donation rates must result from the perception that educational institutions are less in need of donations than are other kinds of institutions.

The above argument gives the details of donations received by non profit groups in the last year. As per the poll conducted among 200 charitable organizations, religious groups gained 30% , followed by environmental groups which gained 23% of increase in the donations. The polls showed that education institutions gained only 3% increase in the donations received. The given argument attributes this to the perception of people that education institutions are in less need of donations.

Although, there has been a comparatively less increase in the percentage of donations received by educational institutions, no one reason can be assumed to be the cause in the absence of any substantial survey or proof. Among the various possibilities for less increase in percentage of donation in charitable educational institutes, few can be as follows.

First, among the charitable institutions considered for the poll, there may be a much lesser number of educational institutes when compared to other non profit groups. Such a case would definitely result in lesser increase in the percentage of donation received by the former.

Second, the argument states the results of a poll conducted last year. Maybe, there were lesser donations for educational institutes in last year due to no new charitable school buildings being constructed. Or may be, there were huge donations for the same in the previous year. Since, no educational institute seemed to be in much need of money in the last year, lesser donations were given. This does not mean that this is a regular pattern in which people donate money.

Third, the non profit education institution may have got marginal increase in percentage of donations because of some possible scandal related to the misuse of some school’s charity fund. Further, people may be funding lesser for the education institute because of a possible hike in their fee structures. By giving less charity, people may be expressing their displeasure over the issue.

Another reason for the comparable amounts of donations received by environmental groups could be due to some wide scale environmental drive being started. There may have been excessive pollution or fast extinction of animals and woods being reported. Such alarming cause may have drawn more charity. Similarly, there is a possibility of some new religious building being built. It is also likely that there may have been some natural calamity struck in the area and people donated more money to the victims via their trusted religious channels.

Fourth, a little increase in the percentage of donation received does not necessary mean that the donations received were less. Possibly, the educational institutes received far more donations in the previous years and the 3 percent increase in the last year was an addition to it. In other words, the educational institutes had been receiving plenty of donations as compared to other non profit groups, leaving little scope for further increment.

In summary, it would be wrong to assume people’s perception of educational institutes in less need of donations or simply being unwilling to fund them. Thus, the above argument is rejected due to lack of any sound proof.