Subsidizing charitable contributions: a natural field experiment comparing matching and rebate subsidies

Catherine C Eckel () and Philip Grossman ()
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Philip Grossman: Department of Economics, St. Cloud State University

No 2008-08 Classification-C93, D64, H41, L3, Working Papers from Saint Cloud State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We report the results of a field experiment conducted in conjunction with a mailed fundraising campaign of a nonprofit organization. The experiment is designed to compare the response of donors to subsidies in the form of matching amounts or refunded amounts. Matching subsidies are used by many corporations as an employee benefit; the US federal tax system subsidizes giving by making it tax deductible. The design includes a control group and two levels of subsidy of each type. Our main result is that matching subsidies result in larger total donations to charities than rebate subsidies. The results are qualitatively the same, and quantitatively very similar in magnitude to the lab results, validating lab estimates of responsiveness to subsidies of charitable giving.

Keywords: Field experiment; rebate subsidy; Matching subsidy; Charitable giving (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
Date: 2006-05, Revised 2007-12
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http://www.stcloudstate.edu/economics/documents/Ec ... sidizing12_18_07.pdf (application/pdf)

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Journal Article: Subsidizing charitable contributions: a natural field experiment comparing matching and rebate subsidies (2008)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:scs:wpaper:0808

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