Opinion: Specific Sense of Connection Motivates Bigger Giving

Research on behavioral economics indicates that people who feel a sense of agency and belonging when approached about giving donate in greater amounts, suggesting new ways for cause-driven groups to marshal support, a Yale University economics professor writes in The New York Times.

Robert J. Shiller cites a recent experiment in which prospective donors to a university fundraising campaign were divided into a control group solicited only to give to the institution as a whole and an experimental group whose members could specify an academic college to benefit. Members of both groups gave in about the same proportion, but those in the experimental cohort donated in much larger amounts, even if they chose to give to the general fund.

Mr. Shiller says the experiment shows promise for benefit corporations—for-profit firms set up to meet social goals as well as earn profits—because they can “inspire loyalty, cooperation, and real purpose” among stakeholders. The results should also encourage charities to try out “various other organizational forms to foster philanthropic or community impulses,” he writes.