Does Who Decides Really Matter? Causes and Consequences of Personal Financial Management in the Case of Larger and Structural Charitable Donations

We study causes and consequences of financial management in households in the specific case of charitable giving. We test hypotheses using couples in the Giving in the Netherlands Panel Study (n = 1,101). We find that more relationship specific investments lead to deciding on charitable giving as one economic actor. Furthermore, we find that the partner with the highest relative educational resources has most decision making power over charitable donations. Separately deciding couples are smallest charitable donors. Households in which the male partner decides are largest charitable donors when only larger and more structural donations are considered. This can be explained by their more conservative religious denomination.     

Data sources and estimates of charitable giving in Britain

This paper describes how estimates of individual charitable giving are derived from two major continuous surveys: the Family Expenditure Survey and the Individual Giving Survey. It explores the reasons for and the significance of the differences between the two estimates. Conclusions are drawn on the relative merits and demerits of the two survey datasets, and the circumstances in which it might be appropriate to use each of them.     

Social participation and charitable giving: A multivariate analysis

Despite an abundance of survey data on charitable giving, researchers have not analysed these data asking the kinds of theoretical questions and employing the kinds of multivariate statistical techniques that would advance our understanding of the social processes leading to charitable behaviour. This article reports the authors' first findings from their continuing efforts to develop and test such a multivariate causal model of the social, demographic, economic and motivational determinants of individual charitable giving. The first section outlines ouridentification theory of charitable giving. In the second section we discuss the data and how we operationalise our variables. The third section examines whether there is broad quantitative support for major tenets of the model developed if applied at the household level. In the fourth section we enquire about which factors are most strongly related to giving behaviour. We conclude with a discussion about the centrality of communities of participation for inducing charitable giving and about the practical implications for fundraising. An earlier version of this article was prepared for presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Berkeley, October 1994. The authors are grateful to the T. B. Murphy Charitable Trust, the Lilly Endowment and the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy for their support of this research. We are also grateful to Virginia A. Hodgkinson and Stephen M. Noga for providing data from theSurvey of Giving and Volunteering and for sharing their expertise. Finally, we wish to thank the Editor ofVoluntas and three anonymous reviewers for their careful and constructive suggestions.     

Charitable Giving as a Luxury Good and the Philanthropic Sphere of Influence

Using regression analysis, 41 years of charitable giving and income data was evaluated to determine if charitable giving is a luxury, normal, or inferior good, and to determine the income elasticity for separate nonprofit sectors. Total Giving to the nonprofit subsector as well as most nonprofit sectors (Religion, Education, Human Services, and Environment) is a normal good, while Arts and International giving are likely luxury goods. However, evidence suggests that Health and Public Benefit are likely inferior goods. This research makes three contributions. First, it offers quantitative data as evidence in the supply-side and demand-side debates. Second, owing to income elasticities, researchers propose the Philanthropic Sphere of Influence and postulate that as incomes rise, donors are more likely to give to causes from which they are less likely to personally benefit. Third, by evaluating charitable giving as a whole and then by each subsector, the research demonstrates that each nonprofit subsector responds uniquely to changes in income. Therefore, nonprofit sectors should be evaluated separately.     

The regulation of American foundations: Looking backward at the Tax Reform Act of 1969

The American Tax Reform Act of 1969 represented a major watershed in the law of philanthropy, introducing a new classification scheme —one that sharply distinguished between ‘private foundations’ and other charitable organisations- and, for the private foundation category, a new regulatory system, new regulatory sanctions, a new tax on investment income and new restricitons on the deductibility of property gifts. After briefly tracing the origins of this legislation, the paper sets forth five norms that should characterise the legislative process, and proceeds to explore, albeit in abbreviated fashion, the extent to which each of these norms was respected by the Congress in 1969. The paper then turns from an examination of regulatory principles to a consideration of regulatoryimpacts, dealing with several ways in which the 1969 Act appears to have caused diversion of resources, including: diversion of charitable giving from foundations to non-foundation charities (with consequences for the ‘birthrate’ of foundations); diversion of resources from charitable to non-charitable uses; diversion of funds from charitable channels to the US Treasury; and a diversion of resources from certain grantees to others. The mitigating effects of recent forms of deregulation are described, followed by the suggestion that more deregulation is desirable, in order to sustain the health and strength of America's private foundation sector. This paper has its origins in a talk (never published) that was given at a conference entitledTwenty Years Under the 1969 Act: Private Foundations 1969–1989, held on 2 May 1989 at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.     

THE CHARITY OF THE EXTREMELY WEALTHY

In this article, we show that, compared to billionaires who have inherited their wealth, billionaires who have made their own wealth are more likely to sign the Giving Pledge and more likely to be in the Million Dollar Gifts list or the Philanthropy Top 50 list of big givers. If they give, self‐made billionaires also tend to donate more money. We explore several possible explanations for this correlation between the origin of billionaires' wealth and their charitable giving, and present evidence that suggests that self‐made billionaires tend to spend more money, both by giving money away and by buying expensive items. (JEL D03, H40)     

Information Source Reliance and Charitable Giving Decisions

This study examines the relationship between donor reliance on information and donors’ subsequent charitable giving decisions of both time and money. To examine this relationship, we utilize data from an original survey of residents in San Diego County, California (n = 1,002), asking donors about their charitable activities and the information sources that they use to facilitate their charitable decisions. Our findings reveal that relying on information from both nonprofit accrediting agencies and personal experiences positively influences donors’ decision to give time to nonprofit organizations (that is, volunteer), but has no significant impact on decisions to give money. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

The influence of religiosity on charitable behavior: A COPPS investigation

We examine the role of religion in charitable giving and find that the religious preference of both the donor and the recipient organization influence giving behavior. By exploiting a panel survey of charitable giving, we demonstrate that traditional empirical analysis on charitable giving masks important differences among donor groups. Religious giving by religious individuals is least responsive to changes in price and income, while secular giving by secular individuals has the greatest sensitivity.     

The Philanthropic Poor: In Search of Explanations for the Relative Generosity of Lower Income Households

In this study we investigate the relationship between income and charitable giving. Previous research shows inconsistent findings regarding both the effect of income on the probability of giving and the proportion of income spent on charitable giving. We test hypotheses with the Giving in The Netherlands Panel Study 2003 (N = 1,316). We do not find an effect of income on the probability of giving, but a consistent negative effect of income on both total and religious donations as a proportion of income. This effect cannot be explained by stronger religious affiliation of lower income groups, or by other differences such as age, and price of giving. We find evidence in favor of a giving standard: Norms concerning the level of donations in specific situations that people in different income groups share, leading lower income groups to donate a higher proportion of their income.

Using NTEE to classify non-profit organisations: an assessment of human service and regional applications

The National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) constitutes a major contribution to the field of non-profit research, but is beset by conceptual and practical problems. The application of the taxonomy to the list of charitable organisations recognised by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is also an important resource for research, although it has limitations as well, especially for industry-specific and regional analyses. Using survey data from the Chicago metropolitan region, I show that regional estimates for human services based on only those charitable organisations which are required to file tax returns may miss over 40 per cent of the total number of organisations and under-estimate total revenues by almost half. Finally, I point to conceptual, technical and institutional challenges that must be addressed if the NTEE is to gain maximum utility.     

Examining the Association of Welfare State Expenditure,Non-profit Regimes and Charitable Giving

This paper explores cross-country variations in charitable giving and investigates the association of welfare state policies with private philanthropy. Hypotheses are drawn from crowding-out theory and considerations about the influence of a country’s mixed economy of welfare. We add to the on-going discussion concerning the crowding-out hypothesis with empirical evidence by looking at specific charitable subsectors people donate to across countries. Using Eurobarometer survey data that include 23 countries, we find no evidence for a crowding-out effect, but rather a crosswise crowding-in effect of private donations. Moreover, giving behaviour differs between non-profit regimes.     

The more you know,the more you give: Influence of online disclosure on European community foundations' donations

Competition is high in the charitable contributions market, and donors demand to know how nonprofit organizations use the money they receive. In scrutinizing the variables that affect the capacity of nonprofits to attract donations, previous research has highlighted the positive influence of the amount of financial and performance information that nonprofits disclose through their websites. This study explored whether the depth of the organizations' online disclosures also affects these donations. In line with existing studies on regression‐based economic models of giving, this study considered community foundations—focusing on the United Kingdom and Italy—and its results indicated that managing the depth of the information provided through financial reports can influence donors' sensitivity and willingness to donate.     

Foundations as investment managers part 1: The process

Foundations in the United States manage more than $130 billion in investment resources. In managing these assets, foundations must balance the competing goals of promoting charitable good deeds through the distribution of grants and stewarding the assets that can support such grants in the future. This paper examines how foundations perform the function of managing their financial assets and whether they follow modern practices of portfolio management in doing so. The data presented here provide reason to suspect that many foundations are giving insufficient attention to preserving and enhancing the available philanthropic resources under their control. Analysis of actual investment performance is the subject of a sequel article in the next issue of Nonprofit Management and Leadership.     

Company giving in Europe: What are the policy issues for the European Commission?

Over the past two years, a loosely-formed group known as the Company Giving in Europe Initiative has been examining the prospects for corporate social responsibility in the increasingly competitive marketplace of the European Community post 1992. As firms capitalise upon the EC's unerring commitment to remove the fiscal, technical and physical barriers to intra-Community trade, many observers are confident that progressive companies will extend their charitable giving programmes in order to mirror their commercial aspirations. A recent study commissioned by members of the Initiative argues that opportunities for increased corporate social responsibility are a consequence of changed political circumstances as much as of improved market conditions (Dabson, 1991). This paper explores this premise and argues that there are still certain changes of policy which the EC institutions could make to maximise the potential of corporate giving.     

Economic and Sociological Theories of Individual Charitable Giving: Complementary or Contradictory?

This article first sets out the principles of neoclassical microeconomic analysis and examines the advances in our understanding of individual giving to charitable organizations achieved within this framework of analysis. It then turns to sociology and considers alternative conceptions of sociological analysis, especially rational-action theories and the qualitative tradition. The contribution of these to our understanding of charitable giving is explored. The article concludes that rational-choice sociology can complement economic analyses in two ways but that qualitative sociology is contradictory to the economic approach.     

An unseen lens: The relationship between philanthropists’ developmental meaning making and philanthropic activity

To solve complex problems such as poverty, nonprofit leaders must think in increasingly complex ways. Research on philanthropy has not yet explored the complexity of philanthropists’ thinking while making philanthropy‐related decisions. Developmental psychology indicates that adults develop an increasingly complex mental map over the course of a lifetime and that this map emerges as a series of successive stages. This study asked: How, if at all, does this mental map inform philanthropy? This four‐phase mixed‐methods multi‐case study (n = 11) used constructive developmental theory to empirically assess philanthropists’ developmental levels and, then, compare identified levels with data about the donor's philanthropic activities such as donations and board memberships. The contributions of the study are twofold: (a) the findings suggest philanthropists’ developmental levels are related to their thinking processes about charitable giving and the rationales they employ to make decisions about their philanthropic activities (specifically, how they form ideas about the problem and how they engage in empathy), and (b) this study makes a methodological contribution by demonstrating a novel (and apparently useful) approach to researching philanthropic giving. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Reintegration as an Emerging Vision of Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking

This article examines the discoursal shift to “reintegration” within trafficking protection programmes and policy, with emphasis upon Cambodia. The evidence indicates that non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) are progressively making “reintegration” their primary protective objective. Yet a lack of conceptual clarity prevails and is being exacerbated by models and forms of guidance which position NGOs as directly undertaking or providing for the achievement of reintegration. This article argues that NGOs and their practitioners cannot “reintegrate” anyone – at least not in any substantive sense. Drawing upon the discourse within the field of protection practice, a dualist conception of reintegration is proposed as comprised of “procedural” and “substantive” elements. Accordingly, the procedural delivery of assistance may or may not support the substantive attainment of reintegration. It is argued that the emerging focus upon reintegration reflects a broadened vision of justice which warrants further research into the social and cultural foundations necessary for its achievement.     

A general concept of scoring rules: general definitions,statistical inference,and empirical illustrations

We develop the general conceptual, mathematical and statistical foundations of behavioral social choice for scoring rules. Traditional scoring rules are difficult to assess empirically because one rarely observes the deterministic complete linear orders that they require as input. We provide a general concept of scoring rules in terms of a broad range of mathematical representations of preference or utility, namely arbitrary finite binary relations, probability distributions over such relations, real valued multi-criteria utility vectors and real valued random utility representations. We extend Regenwetter et al.’s (Behavioral social choice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006) statistical framework to a more general setting. We illustrate the general modeling and statistical tools by applying them to four well known sets of survey data. We illustrate two potential problems that have previously received little attention and that deserve systematic study in the future: (1) Scoring rule outcomes can suffer from model dependence in that the social welfare functions computed from ballot, survey, or hypothetical data may depend on implicit or explicit modeling assumptions. (2) Scoring rule outcomes may suffer from low statistical confidence in that the correct assessment of social orders from empirical data can be far from certain. We also illustrate the empirical congruence among conceptually competing social choice methods.     

The Family Tribute in Charitable Bequest Giving

The propensity for charitable bequest giving is much lower than for current charitable giving. Some nonexperimental evidence suggests that this difference may be due to the relatively greater importance of family benefit considerations in charitable bequest giving than in current charitable giving. To test this concept experimentally, the effects of a family–charity conflict reduction message (that is, a reminder of family connections to a cause and an opportunity to make a tribute gift) are measured for both current and bequest giving. For those with family connections to a cause, the message generated increased interest in charitable bequest giving but not in current charitable giving. This result provides experimental support for previous suggestions regarding the special role of family considerations in charitable bequest giving. Managers may profitably consider the use of tribute messages to encourage bequest, but not necessarily current, charitable giving. Such messages were effective at increasing bequest intentions for all organization types and demographic groups tested, especially where the tribute was in honor of an ascendant such as a mother, grandmother, grandfather, or uncle.