| NSF Org: |
SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 9, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | October 15, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 1947464 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong
kgyimahb@nsf.gov (703)292-0000 SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $205,072.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $205,072.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
880 MAIN ST WILLIAMSTOWN MA US 01267-2600 (413)597-4352 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
880 Main St. Williamstown MA US 01267-2600 |
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Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| NSF Program(s): | Economics |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
Charities receive significant amounts of non-cash donations (in-kind donations) even though cash donations would be more efficient since non-cash donations involve significant inventory and storage cost, and possibly damages and loss in value over time. Relatively little is known about why people give, and charities accept in-kind donations. This research project will use economic theory and experimental methods to study the motives, beliefs, and behavior as to why donors give and charities accept in-kind donations. Understanding the motives and beliefs behind in-kind giving is important because a significant amount of giving occurs as in-kind donations. Second, understanding why people give, and charities accept in-kind giving will allow inefficiencies in in-kind giving to be addressed with well-designed interventions. The results of this research will contribute to improve efficiency in charitable giving and increase the prosperity and welfare of the country by providing inputs into policies to increase efficiency in charitable donations. By benefiting charities, the research results further benefit donors, recipients of charity services, and local communities. The results will also help establish the US as the global leader in improving the efficiency of charitable giving.
This project develops a theoretical framework to study charity and donor behavior. It proposes a two-part study to investigate charity and donor motivation, beliefs, and behavior regarding in-kind gifts: a telephone survey of charities, and a suite of laboratory human subject experiments to learn about donors. The theoretical model, charity survey, and laboratory experiments will identify factors associated with in-kind giving and advance understanding of the micro-foundations of behavior and the science of generosity. The theoretical model and experiment include a charity with multiple inputs compared to past studies that either omit a charity or focus only on overhead cost. The charity survey will provide insights into charities? production functions and how charities assess and influence donor behavior. The laboratory experiments will test whether the ability to give in kind affects overall giving as well as test four key explanations for the prevalence of in kind gifts: preferences, information, and beliefs, overhead and waste, and mistrust combined with moral wiggle room. The results will provide new insights into the complex interacting effects of preferences, beliefs, and information on generosity. The results will also have direct implications for theoretically related phenomena, including social preferences and individual decision making, volunteering, restricted cash gifts, and donor demand for control. The results of this research will also help establish the US as the global leader in improving the efficiency of charitable giving.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Charitable giving is a large portion of the U.S. economy, with donations hovering around 2% of GDP. For many causes, such as hazard relief, medical aid, homeless shelters, food banks and animal shelters, organizations accept donations both in cash and in kind (goods and services). In 2015, non-cash gifts totaled $30 billion (excluding financial instruments) on U.S. tax returns. While in-kind donations can often be used toward the charity’s mission, cash donations are almost always more efficient. Why, then, do donors often give, and charities accept or even encourage, in-kind gifts? The overarching goal of the project is to understand the reasons for this on both the donor and nonprofit organization side.
In the work funded by this grant, we developed a theoretical model of charity and donor behavior. We also conducted three waves of a survey of U.S. charities to understand their experiences with and perceptions of in-kind donations. Our first manuscript documents patterns of the prevalence of different types of in-kind giving and associated practices by charities, and also highlights potential links between the personal perceptions of nonprofit managers, organizational practices, and prevalence of in-kind gifts.
We have also conducted lab and online experiments to study how potential donors feel about in-kind donation as compared to cash donations, and why they might feel this way. Preliminary results show that donors do prefer to give goods rather than cash. Additional analysis will study the roles of factors like whether the donor is visible, what they are told about in-kind donations and about the charity, and their perceptions of the charity. We will also examine how people perceive other donors who give goods as compared to those who give cash.
The project has engaged several students in the research process, including five undergraduate students and three graduate students.
Last Modified: 12/27/2024
Modified by: Sarah A Jacobson
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