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How responsive are charitable donors to requests to give?

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Author Info
Yörük, BarIs K.

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Abstract

People are more likely to contribute to a charity when they are asked to. Although this so-called [`]power of asking' is well-known among fundraisers, the existing literature does not pay much attention to the role of donation requests in charitable giving. This paper uses a unique survey that includes a question on whether the respondent is asked to give to estimate the causal effects of charitable solicitations on giving behavior. In order to address the endogeneity of the donation requests due to non-random solicitation of charitable donors, I link this survey to IRS data on charitable organizations and propose identifying instruments. After controlling for the endogeneity, I find that donation requests increase the propensity to give by about nineteen percentage points for those who are asked to give. This effect is robust under different specifications and with different sets of instruments, and is much larger than the estimates from univariate models, which assume that charitable solicitations are exogenous. I argue that this result is counterintuitive and discuss some possible explanations.

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File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V76-4WH8C4H-1/2/8100b77435d6acb757cd41f73b94f0d1
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Public Economics.

Volume (Year): 93 (2009)
Issue (Month): 9-10 (October)
Pages: 1111-1117
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Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:93:y:2009:i:9-10:p:1111-1117

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578

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Related research
Keywords: Charitable contributions Fundraising Power of asking;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Duncan, Brian, 2002. " Pumpkin Pies and Public Goods: The Raffle Fundraising Strategy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 111(1-2), pages 49-71, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Chiara Monfardini & Rosalba Radice, 2008. "Testing Exogeneity in the Bivariate Probit Model: A Monte Carlo Study," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(2), pages 271-282, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Evans, William N & Schwab, Robert M, 1995. "Finishing High School and Starting College: Do Catholic Schools Make a Difference?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(4), pages 941-74, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Greene, William, 1999. "Marginal effects in the censored regression model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 43-49, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    Other versions:
  6. Craig E. Landry & Andreas Lange & John A. List & Michael K. Price & Nicholas G. Rupp, 2006. "Toward an Understanding of the Economics of Charity: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 121(2), pages 747-782, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. James Andreoni & Eleanor Brown & Isaac Rischall, 2003. "Charitable Giving by Married Couples Who Decides and Why Does it Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1). [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Nicholas Economides & Susan Rose-Ackerman, 1992. "Differentiated Public Goods: Privatization and Optimality," Working Papers 92-3, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
  9. Duncan, Brian, 1999. "Modeling charitable contributions of time and money," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 213-242, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Glazer, A. & Konrad, K.A., 1991. "A Signalling Explanation for Private Charity," GSIA Working Papers 1991-38, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
  11. Andreoni, James, 1989. "Giving with Impure Altruism: Applications to Charity and Ricardian Equivalence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(6), pages 1447-58, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Harbaugh, William T., 1998. "What do donations buy?: A model of philanthropy based on prestige and warm glow," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 269-284, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Andreoni, James, 2006. "Philanthropy," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Andreoni, James, 1990. "Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(401), pages 464-77, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Freeman, Richard B, 1997. "Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages S140-66, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Romano, Richard & Yildirim, Huseyin, 2001. "Why charities announce donations: a positive perspective," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 423-447, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. James Andreoni & Eleanor Brown & Isaac C. Rischall, . "Charitable Giving by Married Couples: Who Decides and Why Does it Matter?," Canadian International Labour Network Working Papers 32, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Rose-Ackerman, Susan, 1982. "Charitable Giving and "Excessive" Fundraising," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 193-212, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. John A. List & David Lucking-Reiley, 2000. "The Effects of Seed Money and Refunds on Charitable Giving: Experimental Evidence from a University Capital Campaign," Working Papers 0008, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
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  20. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-85, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. James Andreoni & A. Abigail Payne, 2003. "Do Government Grants to Private Charities Crowd Out Giving or Fund-raising?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 792-812, June. [Downloadable!]
  22. David Dreyer Lassen, 2004. "The Effect of Information on Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," EPRU Working Paper Series 04-03, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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