We Usually Give Like This: Social Norms Describe Typical Charitable Causes Supported by Group Members

Cassandra M Chapman; Lucas Dixon; Ann Wallin; Tarli Young; Barbara M Masser; Winnifred R Louis

doi:10.1177/08997640231160467

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We Usually Give Like This: Social Norms Describe Typical Charitable Causes Supported by Group Members

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

We Usually Give Like This: Social Norms Describe Typical Charitable Causes Supported by Group Members

Cassandra M Chapman, Lucas Dixon, Ann Wallin, Tarli Young, Barbara M Masser and Winnifred R Louis

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol.53(1), pp.29-53

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640231160467

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Abstract

charitable giving

donations

donor psychology

norms

preferences

Millions of nonprofits compete for a share of the billions of dollars donated to charity each year. Yet how donors select which charities to support remains relatively understudied. Social norms influence whether people give to charity at all, but no research has yet considered whether norms also communicate information about which causes group members typically support. To address this important question, we surveyed 1,735 people from 117 countries to understand whether they identified normative causes typically supported by their social groups. We found different normative giving profiles for men, women, older people, younger people, conservatives, progressives, religious, and nonreligious people, with varying degrees of consensus within each social group. Results demonstrate empirically—and for the first time—that social identities contain normative content about which charitable causes group members typically support. Some causes were relatively universally approved of or avoided. Results can inform nonprofit fundraising strategy around segmentation and targeting.

Details

Title: We Usually Give Like This: Social Norms Describe Typical Charitable Causes Supported by Group Members
Authors: Cassandra M Chapman (Corresponding Author) - The University of Queensland
Lucas Dixon - The University of Queensland
Ann Wallin - The University of Queensland
Tarli Young - The University of Queensland
Barbara M Masser - The University of Queensland
Winnifred R Louis - The University of Queensland
Publication details: Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol.53(1), pp.29-53
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc.
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1177/08997640231160467
ISSN: 1552-7395
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Grants: Charitable triad: How donors, beneficiaries, & fundraisers influence giving, DE220100903 , Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991217452002621
Output Type: Journal article

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