Examining Donor Preference for Charity Religious Affiliation

Abstract

This paper uses a laboratory experiment to determine how charity religious affiliation drives donor preference and giving. Subjects choose from one of eight charities, with each charity varying in religious affiliation. Masked and unmasked sessions differ in the knowledge of the religious affiliation of half the charities, with masked sessions omitting the religious affiliation of the aforementioned charities. My results show that adding additional religious language decreases donation frequency for Christian charities competing exclusively against other religious charities. Additionally, adding religious language increases the average donation size for secular charities competing against Christian charities, but decreases average donations for Christian charities competing exclusively against other religious charities. Subjects prefer charity religious affiliation to match their own religious identity; however, subject strength of religiosity is more predictive in charity choice than religious affiliation of the donor. My results indicate that religiously affiliated charities have financial incentive to selectively display their affiliation.