Relational Warm Glow and Giving in Social Groups

Kimberley Scharf and Sarah Smith

No 10051, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We study charitable giving within social groups. Exploiting a unique dataset, we establish three key relationships between social group size and fundraising outcomes: (i) a positive relationship between group size and the total number of donations; (ii) a negative relationship between group size and the amount given by each donor; (iii) no relationship between group size and the total amount raised by the fundraiser. We rule out classic free-riding to explain these relationships since the number of social group members is only a subset of total contributors. Instead, the findings are consistent with the notion that giving in social groups is motivated by ?relational? warm glow.

Keywords: Online giving; Fundraising; Social groups; Donations; Charity; Warm glow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D64 H31 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Relational Warm Glow and Giving in Social Groups (2014)
Working Paper: Relational Warm Glow and Giving in Social Groups (2014)
Working Paper: Relational Warm Glow and Giving in Social Groups (2014)
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