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Quality certifications for nonprofits, charitable giving, and donor's trust: experimental evidence

Author

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  • Adena, Maja
  • Alizade, Jeyhun
  • Bohner, Frauke
  • Harke, Julian
  • Mesters, Fabio

Abstract

In an experiment, we test the impact of quality certificates on donations to a charity. When presented with a quality certificate, participants chose higher donations by approximately 10%. This effect is significant for donations out of prize money and actual own money donations, and not significant but positive for own money intended donations. Moreover, this effect persists over time. We also find a nega-tive but not significant effect of information about certificate fees. We find that the certificate increases trust in the nonprofit organization. There is some evi-dence pointing to the causal role of trust for donation probability.

Suggested Citation

  • Adena, Maja & Alizade, Jeyhun & Bohner, Frauke & Harke, Julian & Mesters, Fabio, 2017. "Quality certifications for nonprofits, charitable giving, and donor's trust: experimental evidence," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2017-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2017302
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    Cited by:

    1. Diederich, Johannes & Epperson, Raphael & Goeschl, Timo, 2021. "How to Design the Ask? Funding Units vs. Giving Money," Working Papers 0698, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    2. Adena, Maja & Huck, Steffen, 2019. "Giving once, giving twice: A two-period field experiment on intertemporal crowding in charitable giving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 127-134.
    3. Na-Eun Cho & Yue Maggie Zhou, 2021. "Profits, Reputation, and the Risk of Medical Malpractice Liability," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(3), pages 228-243, September.
    4. Maja Adena & Anselm Hager, 2024. "Does Online Fundraising Increase Charitable Giving? A Nationwide Field Experiment on Facebook," CESifo Working Paper Series 10954, CESifo.
    5. Feine, Gregor & Groh, Elke D. & von Loessl, Victor & Wetzel, Heike, 2023. "The double dividend of social information in charitable giving: Evidence from a framed field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Nadine Chlaß & Lata Gangadharan & Kristy Jones, 2023. "Charitable giving and intermediation: a principal agent problem with hidden prices," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(4), pages 941-961.
    7. Chandrayee Chatterjee & James C. Cox & Michael K. Price & Florian Rundhammer, 2020. "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Understanding How State Tax Credits Impact Charitable Giving," NBER Working Papers 27163, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Maja Adena & Anselm Hager, 2024. "Does Online Fundraising Increase Charitable Giving? A Nationwide Field Experiment on Facebook," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 493, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    9. Johannes Diederich & Catherine C. Eckel & Raphael Epperson & Timo Goeschl & Philip J. Grossman, 2022. "Subsidizing unit donations: matches, rebates, and discounts compared," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(2), pages 734-758, April.
    10. Adena, Maja & Hager, Anselm, 2020. "Does online fundraising increase charitable giving? A nation-wide field experiment on Facebook," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2020-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    11. Baudier, Patricia & Kondrateva, Galina & Ammi, Chantal, 2023. "Can blockchain enhance motivation to donate: The moderating impact of religion on donors' behavior in the USA's charity organizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    12. Chandrayee Chatterjee & James C. Cox & Michael K. Price & Florian Rundhammer, 2020. "Competition Among Charities: Field Experimental Evidence from a State Income Tax Credit for Charitable Giving," Experimental Economics Center Working Paper Series 2020-01, Experimental Economics Center, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    non-profit certification; charitable giving; experiment; trust;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • C99 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Other
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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