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Does online fundraising increase charitable giving? A nationwide field experiment on Facebook

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  • Adena, Maja
  • Hager, Anselm

Abstract

Does online fundraising increase charitable giving? Using the Facebook advertising tool, we implemented a natural field experiment across Germany, randomly assigning almost 8,000 postal codes to Save the Children fundraising videos or to a pure control. We studied changes in the donation revenue and frequency for Save the Children and other charities by postal code. Our georandomized design circumvented many difficulties inherent in studies based on click-through data, especially substitution and measurement issues. We found that (i) video fundraising increased donation revenue and frequency to Save the Children during the campaign and in the subsequent five weeks; (ii) the campaign was profitable for the fundraiser; and (iii) the effects were similar independent of video content and impression assignment strategy. However, we also found some crowding out of donations to other similar charities or projects. Finally, we demonstrated that click data may be an inappropriate proxy for donations and recommend that managers use careful experimental designs that can plausibly evaluate the effects of advertising on relevant outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Adena, Maja & Hager, Anselm, 2024. "Does online fundraising increase charitable giving? A nationwide field experiment on Facebook," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2020-302r2, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, revised 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2020302r2
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charitable giving; field experiments; fundraising; social media; competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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