A Glimpse into the World of High Capacity Givers: Experimental Evidence from a University Capital Campaign

Levin, Tova; Levitt, Steven D.; List, John A.

doi:10.3386/w22099

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…Similar results are found for the choice between a traditional bank and an SR bank (question Q6). This is in line with the low interest found by Levin et al (2016) when they tried to increase donations to a university by giving away signed copies of Superfreakeconomics. Note: Each cell presents the fraction of those who made the given choice in the SP question Q8.…”

Section: Actual and Stated Behavior: Descriptive Analysissupporting

confidence: 69%

“…In line with Levin et al (2016), we hope that this paper has also highlighted the benefits of partnering with academics in the analysis of potential new financial products and markets. Rigorous quantitative methods and innovative survey designs could help financial institutions targeting more efficiently potential customers and identifying which tools may (or may not) be used to attract these individuals.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 55%

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Household preferences for socially responsible investments

Rossi

Sansone

Soest

et al. 2019

Journal of Banking & Finance

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We analyze revealed and stated household preferences for socially responsible investments (SRI). Using a questionnaire specifically designed for this purpose and administered to a Dutch representative household panel, we investigate the actual and latent demand for SRI products. Respondents reported whether they owned SRI products and why or why not, but also answered stated choice questions on traditional investments and hypothetical socially responsible products with an explicit return penalty and/or an inkind compensation associated with lower return. Our results show that investors attracted by socially responsible financial products are more interested in the social product as such and show little interest in compensation. The magnitude of the penalty for investing in SRI is not diluting their investment intentions.Given the increasing size of Social Responsible Investments, the room for financial products with a specific devolution, i.e. going into a well-specified program, is of special interest for the financial industry.Our analyses aim to answer two main research questions. First, while most studies on the consumers' interest in SRI focus on financial market participant, we aim at analyzing the potential demand for specific SRI products in the complete population, using a representative survey of the Dutch adult population with questions on actual SRI investing and on hypothetical choices between specific SRI and non-SRI products. Using a representative sample is a clear advantage as it does not limit the size of the market and is also informative on the preferences of individuals who indirectly invest in financial assets, e.g. through their mandatory occupational pension.Second, we want to investigate whether potential investors accept a higher cost associated to ethical products (i.e. lower return or higher risk) or are just driven by the possibility of a higher return and see SRI as a good investment "niche" in the market. To this end, in the stated choice questions, two possible products are proposed: the first offers a lower monetary return due to the donation component, the second compensates more for the social choice, albeit with a non-monetary compensation (in kind).Results of our research are important for a large and diversified set of investors. Indeed consumer preferences for SRI are not only relevant for households who directly invest in financial markets. In the Netherlands, and many other countries with fully funded pensions, most individuals and households also save through mandatory participation in an occupational pension fund. In the Netherlands, most of these pensions are of a defined benefit nature, where the pension fund decides how participants' retirement savings are invested. Recent reform plans, however, tend towards increasing choice opportunities for participants, and one of the issues that has come up in this context is to give participants a say in the extent to which their pension savings will be invested in socially responsible products (de Beer et al, 2014). This raises...

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Section: Actual and Stated Behavior: Descriptive Analysissupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Household preferences for socially responsible investments

Rossi

Sansone

Soest

et al. 2019

Journal of Banking & Finance

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Here, we focus on experimental studies that compare rich and poor subjects, focusing on differences in their response to fundraising practices. In a field experiment targeting a sample of high-capacity potential donors (those who were estimated to have a median annual giving capacity greater than US$25,000), Levin et al (2016) find that the behavior of wealthier alumni is consistent with many prior studies of ordinary donors. Andreoni et al (2017) and Smeets et al (2015) find different results that wealthy donors are more prosocial in specific settings.…”

Section: Previous Researchsupporting

confidence: 68%

High-Capacity Donors’ Preferences for Charitable Giving

Alston

Eckel

Meer

et al. 2021

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

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How can charities solicit high-capacity donors to provide the funds for matching grants and leadership gifts? In conjunction with Texas A&M University’s fundraising organizations, we conducted a field experiment to study whether high-income donors respond to nonpersonal solicitations. We also designed the experiment to test the impact of allowing for directed giving on the giving behavior of high-income donors and their willingness to direct their donations toward overhead costs. High-income donors are not responsive to letters or emails, regardless of whether they have the option to direct giving; we cannot conclude, therefore, that giving behavior is different for those who could direct giving compared with those who could not. Our results highlight the difficulties of motivating some high-income donors, especially when only impersonal communication is used.

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“…This would suggest that organizations like GiveWell, ImpactMatters, and The Life You Can Save-which aim to maximize the impact of giving-might struggle to market charity effectiveness/efficiency to a mass audience and may have more appeal to small groups of large donors (see also Karlan & Wood, 2017). High-capacity donors may be driven by other motives than modal donors (see Levin, Levitt, & List, 2016), but more research is needed to determine whether they care intrinsically more about effectiveness. Aside from facing greater compliance pressure, they may also consider effectiveness for reputational reasons: A person donating $5 to an ineffective charity is unlikely to pay a reputational cost, but a person donating $1,000,000 may look thoughtless and careless.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathic and Numerate Giving: The Joint Effects of Victim Images and Charity Evaluations

Bergh

Reinstein

2020

Social Psychological and Personality Science

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Helping behaviors are often driven by emotional reactions to the suffering of particular individuals, but these behaviors do not seem to be upregulated when many people need help. In this article, we consider if these reactions are also “innumerate” to information about how charities spend their money. Across six experiments, we examined how images of identified victims interact with information about charity efficiency (money toward program) and effectiveness (program outcome). We further examined if the images primarily get people to donate (yes/no), while efficiency/effectiveness might provide a tuning mechanism for how much to give. Results showed that images influenced the propensity to donate and induced participants donate their full bonuses, indicating heuristic effects. Efficiency and effectiveness information had no effects on donations.

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A Glimpse into the World of High Capacity Givers: Experimental Evidence from a University Capital Campaign

Cited by 9 publications

References 7 publications

Household preferences for socially responsible investments

Household preferences for socially responsible investments

High-Capacity Donors’ Preferences for Charitable Giving

Empathic and Numerate Giving: The Joint Effects of Victim Images and Charity Evaluations

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