Empirical analysis of motives underlying individual contributions to charity

Bequest motives and barriers to giving: The case of direct mail donors

“…Although there is now a very diverse and detailed literature on giving behavior (for reviews, see Burnett and Wood, 1988;Guy and Patton, 1989;Bendapudi, Singh, and Bendapudi, 1996;Sargeant, 1999), comparatively little work has been done in the specific context of legacy/bequest giving. Although one might speculate that generic motives for giving-such as the ability to express one's religious faith (Edmundson, 1986;Halfpenny, 1990), empathy (Coke, Batson, and McDavis, 1978;Fultz and others, 1986), sympathy (Schwartz, 1977;Fultz and others, 1986;Batson, 1990;Clary and Snyder, 1991), or a need for association with a cause (Amos, 1982)-might have a role to play, this has not been empirically demonstrated. Indeed, one would suspect that the motives for giving at the end of life could be somewhat different from motives for support during one's lifetime.…”

Social entrepreneurship: understanding consumer motives for buying The Big Issue

“…Economic reasons for giving that have emerged, most notably in research conducted in the USA, are tax advantages and enhancing chances of career progression (Dawson, 1988). Social and emotional rewards identified include public recognition, self-esteem, the satisfaction of expressing gratitude for one's own wellbeing, relief from feelings of guilt and obligation, the anticipation of reciprocation and simply feeling good about oneself (Burnett and Lunsford, 1994;Bruce, 1994;Dawson, 1988;Amos, 1982). Research has not identified a similar range of dimensions of empathy; however, evidence advanced in models of helping decision making suggests that there is some complexity to the empathetic motive.…”

Generosity and Philanthropy: A Literature Review

“…Crowding out estimates appear to be stronger in the human services sector with a number of studies finding considerable crowding out (Amos 1982;Ferris & West 2003;Hungerman 2005;Payne 1998;Schiff 1990), though other studies find smaller or no crowding out effects (Brooks 2002;Lindsey & Steinberg 1990;Long 2000;Reece 1979;Steinberg 1985). One study from the U.K. found slight crowding in (Posnett & Sandler 1989).…”

“…Early analyses of charitable donations reported on tax returns reveals that donations are higher in time periods (Schwartz 1970) and states with more poverty (Abrams & Schmitz 1984;Amos 1982), which suggests that donors respond to need with increased contributions. Recent studies (Bielefeld et al 2005;Gittell & Tebaldi 2006) do not uniformly support this conclusion.…”