Giving once, giving twice: A two-period field experiment on intertemporal crowding in charitable giving

Time to Give: A Field Experiment on Intertemporal Charitable Giving

We conducted a natural field experiment to understand intertemporal substitution in charitable giving. In partnership with nine nonprofit organizations, we sent e-mail match offers to over 39,000 potential donors prior to Giving Tuesday, a nationwide day of giving in the U.S. that has recently spread to nearly 100 countries. Potential donors were randomized to receive a time-limited match offer...

Charitable Giving

In 2005 charitable giving in the United States totaled over $260 billon, or around 1.9% of personal income, making it a significant fraction of the economy. Individual giving accounted for 77% of this total, while foundations accounted for 12%, bequests for 7%, and corporations for 5% (Giving USA, 2006). Almost 70% of US households report giving to charity. While the US typically has one of the...

Charitable Giving

Identity in Charitable Giving

How does priming identity affect charitable giving? We show that individuals are more likely to donate when a facet of their identity associated with a norm of generosity is primed in an appeal. In large charitable giving field experiments run by the American Red Cross, appeals that prime an individual’s identity as a previous donor to the charity or as a member of a local community generate mo...

(Un)Informed Charitable Giving∗

Evidence suggests little informed giving. To understand this behavior, we examine a model of charitable giving with costly information. We find that an individual who considers a smaller contribution is less likely to seek information, and thus the percentage of informed giving diminishes as the population grows. We also find that a direct grant to the charity exacerbates crowding-out by discou...