Toward an Understanding of why Suggestions Work in Charitable Fundraising: Theory and Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment

James T. Edwards and John List

No 19665, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: People respond to those who ask. Within the charitable fundraising community, the power of the ask represents the backbone of most fundraising strategies. Despite this, the optimal design of communication strategies has received less formal attention. For their part, economists have recently explored how communication affects empathy, altruism, and giving rates to charities. Our study takes a step back from this literature to examine how suggestions-a direct ask for a certain amount of money-affect giving rates. We find that our suggestion amounts affect both the intensive and extensive margins: more people give and they tend to give the suggested amount. Resulting insights help us understand why people give, why messages work, and deepen practitioners' understanding of how to use messages to leverage more giving.

JEL-codes: C9 C93 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-nps
Note: EEE PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published as Edwards, James T. & List, John A., 2014. "Toward an understanding of why suggestions work in charitable fundraising: Theory and evidence from a natural field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-13.

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Journal Article: Toward an understanding of why suggestions work in charitable fundraising: Theory and evidence from a natural field experiment (2014)
Working Paper: Toward an Understanding of why Suggestions Work in Charitable Fundraising: Theory and Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment (2013)
Working Paper: Toward an Understanding of why Suggestions Work in Charitable Fundraising: Theory and Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment (2013)
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