Working Paper: NBER ID: w25290
Authors: Mackenzie Alston; Catherine Eckel; Jonathan Meer; Wei Zhan
Abstract: How can charities solicit high-capacity donors to provide the funds for matching grants and leadership gifts? In conjunction with one of Texas A&M University’s fundraising organizations, we conducted a field experiment to study whether high-income donors respond to non-personal solicitations, as well as the effect of allowing for directed giving on high-income donors and their willingness to direct their donations towards overhead costs. We found that high-income donors are not responsive to letters or e-mails. The option to direct giving had no effect on the probability of donating or the amount donated. Our results suggest that motivating high-income donors requires more personal communication.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: D64; H41
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| nonpersonal solicitations (L84) | lack of donor engagement (F35) |
| directed giving (D64) | donor behavior (D64) |