added, “Many…nonprofit groups in this country are models of effectiveness—and they were not all founded in the last decade by the protagonists of Mr. Bishop and Mr. Green’s book.”

Research about what influences
charitable giving
Scholarly research about charitable
giving has become an important topic
for sociologists, economists, marketers,
and others, especially in the past decade.
During 2008, articles appeared covering
motivations for giving; the impact of
changes in income or changes in tax
rates on charitable giving; and the
potential role of family in teaching
children to give. Four studies reporting
on these topics in 2008 are summa-
rized here.

Creating empathy leads to giving more in experimental situations Fundraisers know the importance of having a strong connection between the organization’s work and the people asked to support that work. Two studies published in the Journal of Consumer Research’s special October 2008 issue on consumer welfare used scientific methods to explore the psychology that underlies this link.

In a series of experiments con- ducted with undergraduate students, Deborah Small and Uri Simohnson of the University of Pennsylvania demonstrated that both sympathy and donations are greater when the person knows someone affected by the circumstance to be addressed by the money raised. 24 The “knowledge” of someone else in the experiments was based on a simple series of conversations among people seated near one another.

In a series of experiments, Wendy Liu (University of California,

Los Angeles) and Jennifer Aaker (University of California, Berkeley) tested whether people gave more based on whether they were asked first, “How much time would you like to volunteer?”, or “How much money would you like to donate?” They found that asking first about time led participants to feel a higher emotional connection to the cause and to give more. 25

Both studies reached undergraduate participants and discovered a phenomenon similar to that found by Professor Schervish among older, high-net-worth individuals. People in their late teens

 

GOOD TO KNO W

Give your prospective donors a chance to meet people who benefit from your work (or those who have already benefited). Even short conversations can build a rapport that seems to be associated with higher giving, based on research reported here.

Ask prospective donors to give some time to your cause before you ask them for money. Research released in 2008 shows that the act of asking people to consider donating time is associated with higher giving.