Avoiding the Ask: A Field Experiment on Altruism, Empathy, and Charitable Giving

39 Pages Posted: 12 Dec 2011 Last revised: 23 Mar 2023

See all articles by James Andreoni

James Andreoni

University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

Justin M. Rao

Microsoft Research; Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft Research - Redmond

Hannah Trachtman

Harvard College

Date Written: December 2011

Abstract

If people get joy from giving, then why might they avoid fundraisers? We explore this in a randomized natural field experiment during the Salvation Army's annual campaign. The familiar bell-ringers were placed at one or both of two main entrances to a supermarket, making the ask for a charitable donation either easy or difficult to avoid. Additionally, solicitors either simply rang the bell, or asked "please give" to passersby. Verbally asking dramatically increases the number of givers and the amount of giving, as does having solicitors at both main entrances. However, we also found dramatic avoidance of verbal solicitation, between 26.2% and 32.6%, but negligible avoidance of non-verbal solicitation. Asking has a powerful effect on both giving when asked, and on avoidance. We argue that this pattern likely illustrates givers' sophisticated awareness of the empathy-altruism link, rather than pernicious social costs of fundraising.

Suggested Citation

Andreoni, James and Rao, Justin M. and Trachtman, Hannah, Avoiding the Ask: A Field Experiment on Altruism, Empathy, and Charitable Giving (December 2011). NBER Working Paper No. w17648, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1971471

James Andreoni (Contact Author)

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0508
United States

HOME PAGE: http://econ.ucsd.edu/~jandreon/

Justin M. Rao

Microsoft Research ( email )

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7th Floor
New York, NY 11249
United States

Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft Research - Redmond ( email )

Building 99
Redmond, WA
United States

Hannah Trachtman

Harvard College ( email )

Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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