A long literature has examined the effects of the price of giving – that is, the amount an individual must give for one dollar to accrue to the charitable activity itself – on donative behavior. We use data from DonorsChoose.org, an online platform linking teachers with prospective donors...

Charity rating agencies often focus on overhead cost ratios in evaluating charities, and donors appear to be sensitive to these measures when deciding where to donate. Yet, there appears to be a tenuous connection between this widely-used metric and a charity’s effectiveness. There is evidence...