"I'll Pay Later!" – People Promise the Stars and Moon to Charities, but Donations Remain Unsent
hubie writes:
More than half of charitable giving via payment apps is "forgotten" as soon as a fundraiser leaves:
Small groups of volunteers ring doorbells year round to raise money for an array of causes. Many organisations and interest groups rely on the generosity of ordinary people to fund their charitable work.
But when volunteers ring nowadays, they are increasingly asking for digital donations. Here, payment platforms like Apple Pay, or the Danish MobilePay app let donors contribute without their needing to fish cash or coins from their pockets.
On the other hand, digital solutions also make it easier for people to delay their charitable giving until a later date. But without an immediate donation, the risk of funds never being transferred is high. This is the conclusion of a new study from the University of Copenhagen's Department of Food and Resource Economics.
"We investigated how the possibility of digital contributions to charity fundraisers influences donor behaviour. The results demonstrate that we as humans want to come off as kind-hearted donors, but at the same time we'd prefer not to pay," says Toke Reinholdt Fosgaard of the Department of Food and Resource Economics.
[...] "Social pressure seems to be a key driver of people's charity, alongside the inherent motives of contributing to a positive cause. Bluntly stated, people basically give when asked to because they have a negative experience if they say no," he explains.
Journal Reference:
Toke R. Fosgaarda and Adriaan R. Soetevent, I will donate later! A field experiment on cell phone donations to charity [open], J Econ Behav Organ, 202, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.08.025
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