Charitable donations decision-making research
How can we increase the good people choose to do with their donations?

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This profile is tailored towards students studying economics, media and communications and psychology, however we expect there to be valuable open research questions that could be pursued by students in other disciplines.

Why is this a pressing problem?

The amount of money donated to charitable causes in the US alone was over $484 billion in 2021, with the largest proportion of that amount donated by individuals. There is a reason to believe that differences in the effectiveness of various charitable interventions are vast. However, donors rarely decide where to donate based on how effective their donations will be, and research suggests most donors significantly underestimate the differences in how effective different charities are. 

Most research done in this area is focused on increasing the amount donated, however it seems plausible that more research on increasing the effectiveness of donations would create a greater positive impact. Further research to identify interventions that create desirable behavioural change would likely be more valuable than descriptive research (i.e. how donors behave).

Explore existing research

Find a thesis topic

If you’re interested in working on this research direction, below are some ideas on what would be valuable to explore further. If you want help refining your research ideas, apply for our coaching!

David Reinstein is an economist at the research organisation Rethink Priorities who has the following open research projects, and offers opportunities to engage, particularly for research students with strong aptitudes in statistics, data science, and writing:

This post from the charity The Life You Can Save suggests the research questions below:

  • How can we design intermediaries and resources that promote better giving decisions AND that donors will want to use?
  • How do personal differences impact the way people think about giving?

This post from the charity The Life You Can Save suggests the research questions below:

  • How can we design intermediaries and resources that promote better giving decisions AND that donors will want to use?
  • Which beliefs lead to good giving behaviour, and which beliefs obstruct it?
  • How do personal differences impact the way people think about giving? 
 

Relatedly, it could be useful to explore who is more likely to be motivated to give effectively.

You could also explore what interventions decrease biases and false beliefs that might lead people to ineffective giving (e.g. scope neglect; the belief charity effectiveness can’t be measured). See more discussion and data in this paper.

The paper What Works to Increase Charitable Donations? A Meta-Review with Meta-Meta-Analysis also has suggestions for further research. 

Further resources

Apply for our coaching and we can connect you with researchers already working in this space, who can help you refine your research ideas. You can also apply to join our community if you’re interested in meeting other students working on this research direction.

Apply for our database of potential supervisors if you’re looking for formal supervision and take a look at our advice on finding a great supervisor for further ideas.

You could also join this community of behavioural scientists to connect with other researchers interested in this area and explore this directory of researchers to find other researchers working on this research direction. Luke Freeman, Executive Director at Giving What We Can, may also be able to support students tackling these questions.

Our funding database can help you find potential sources of funding if you’re a PhD student interested in this research direction.



If you’re interested in understanding why people make altruistic decisions, you could also look at our profiles on attitudes on existential risk and longtermism, behavioural and attitudinal change in animal product consumption and moral circle expansion.

Contributors

This profile was last updated 31/12/2022. Thanks to Samantha Kassirer, Philipp Schoenegger, David Reinstein and Izzy Gainsburg for helpful feedback. All errors remain our own.

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