Science of Giving 5: How Much Do Social Norms Inspire Giving?
- Tue, January 04 2011
- Filed under: Fundraising essentials
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been blogging the fascinating book, The Science of Giving, which covers a range of seminal studies about giving psychology. As noted in previous posts, the book is packed with interesting findings for fundraisers and nonprofit marketing folks, but the content is in the form of academic research papers. I urge you to read the book, but if you don’t have the time or means, enjoy my ongoing “Cliffs Notes” version.
Today we’re taking on my favorite part of the book: Rachel Croson and Jen Yue Shang’s work on social influences in giving. Unlike the rest of the book thus far, which has a lot of research in which subjects predict what they would do in certain circumstances, this chapter details field experiments during real fundraising campaigns. I think people are notoriously poor predictors of their own behavior - especially when it comes to charitable giving - so I couldn’t wait to delve into this series of studies based on real-world events.
The studies discussed in this chapter were all in the context of actual public radio fundraising drives. They found social information heavily influences donations in mail and on the phone:
1. People who called in during a public radio fundraising drive gave more money when the volunteer answering the phone said another caller had given a generous gift of a certain amount ($75 - the average gift - $180 and $300). Mentioning a prior donation of $300 lifted giving by 29%! And when volunteers answering the phone said the prior donation was made by someone of the same gender as the caller, the average gift increased 34%.
2. The same effect was seen in direct mail.
3. The higher giving continued in future years. Individuals who were provided with social information were significantly more likely to renew their membership and give more than those who hadn’t gotten the social information.
4. The suggestion of other donors’ gifts also had the power to reduce donation levels. When direct mail recipients received social information lower than their previous year’s contribution, they lowered their giving an average of $24. The downward effect was big - twice as big - as the upward effect!
5. The authors recommend using this power of social information and based on their findings, they feel the sweet spot is to highlight a gift level from other donors that is at the 90-95th percentile of the contribution distribution.
In another study, the authors decided to test social networks and giving. They wanted to see if the size of the donors’ social networks affected the levels of their contributions—especially if they were primed to think about the size of their social network. So during another fundraising drive, a public radio station asked callers how many friends and family also listened to the station - in some cases before the donation and in others, immediately after. Interestingly:
1. People with bigger networks gave more when reminded of the size of their network. .
2. The authors believe that when people have small networks, reminding them of that fact may depress giving.
3. They also recommend organizations seek to increase the size of their donors’ networks through friends-to-friends campaigns.
Fascinating stuff! Bottom line: use social proof, cite big donations and encourage networking among your supporters!
Comments
You’ve convinced me, Katya! I’m ordering The Science of Giving today.
I’ve made it a point to regularly include donor testimonials in communications - from direct mail to email to the organization’s website - for as long as I’ve been a fundraiser, but have never highlighted the actual amount.
Can’t wait to read this!
This is exactly what I was looking for,Now this is highly recommended post for me.I am impressed with all this useful information.Thank you very much.
Thank you for a great preview from the book. There is another book that gives sold examples on persuation. Its name is Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. I listen to its audio version and it was very helpful.