Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP10051
Authors: Kimberley Scharf; Sarah Smith
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: charity; donations; fundraising; online giving; social groups; warm glow
JEL Codes: D64; H31; Z1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| number of Facebook friends (C92) | total number of donations (D64) |
| number of Facebook friends (C92) | average amount given per donor (D64) |
| number of Facebook friends (C92) | total amount raised (Y10) |
| total number of donations (D64) | total amount raised (Y10) |
| average amount given per donor (D64) | total amount raised (Y10) |