Global Philanthropy: Does Institutional Context Matter for Charitable Giving?

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

The Price Elasticity of Charitable Giving: Does the Form of Tax Relief Matter?

This paper uses a survey-based approach to test alternative methods of channeling tax relief to donors – as a tax rebate for the donor or as a matched payment to the receiving charity. On accounting grounds these two are equivalent but, in line with earlier experimental studies, we find that gross donations are significantly more responsive to a match change than to a rebate change. We show tha...

Does Price Matter in Charitable Giving? Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment

We conducted a natural field experiment to explore the effect of price changes on charitable contributions. To operationalize our tests, we examine whether an offer to match contributions to a non-profit organization changes the likelihood and amount that an individual donates. Direct mail solicitations were sent to over 50,000 prior donors. We find that the match offer increases both the reven...

Basic Facts about Charitable Giving from the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study

Basic facts about the charitable giving of families are presented using the first wave of the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study, a new module in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The basic facts are about the relationship between giving and income and the distribution of giving. Basic Facts about Charitable Giving from the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study