Why They Give (Part 2)
Part 2
Want to understand the science of charitable giving? Start with Why They Give (Part 1), then keep reading to learn what giving behaviors economist John List has discovered after 15 years of charitable giving research.
Get a stampede going.
It may be a cliché, but the herd mentality drives donor behavior. If people hear that others are giving to a cause, they’re more likely to give to that cause themselves. Getting donors to recruit more donors, or publicizing who or how many people have already donated, can help your fundraising snowball.
According to List, “When others see a person of influence, or a person who they think has good knowledge of that charitable cause…If they see them giving, they are much more likely to give themselves. Likewise, if you see a friend giving to a cause, you’re much more likely to give to that cause as well.”
Offer high-value prizes.
The key here is big money. Nobody’s going to give just because they get a T-shirt or coffee mug. But offer a chance to win a Hawaiian vacation or a substantial cash prize, and you’ll have people pulling out their wallets.
“Donors love lotteries—a chance to win a big prize for donating a little bit of money,” says List. “You could think about linking the gift itself to a probability of winning a prize…say something like every dollar you give will give you one chance to win this lottery prize.”
What else works? “Matching grants are also a great idea,” List says, though he’s found that a 3-to-1 match is no better at raising funds than a 1-to-1 match.
And if all else fails, be sexy.
A few years ago, List sent East Carolina University students door-to-door, seeking donations to a hurricane relief fund. Students at a different college received photos of the East Carolina University student solicitors and ranked their attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10. The most successful solicitors were women who’d been ranked among the most beautiful.
“Scientifically this turns out to be really interesting, because if altruism was the sole [reason] people give, beauty shouldn’t matter,” says List. But in actuality, male solicitees ended up giving a lot more money to beautiful women solicitors—twice as much money to a woman ranked as a nine than to a woman ranked as a six.
Don’t get us wrong. We’re not saying that your hospital’s fundraisers should be Hooters-waitress attractive. So what is the point? Looks matter, and first impressions can be key to long-term success.
Want more fundraising factoids?
If you’re a research geek like us, check out List’s charitable giving research, then go out there and kick some fundraising booty!
