Charitable donations are often made through intermediaries who can fund themselves from these same donations. Donors who purchase charitable output through an intermediary incur a principal-agent problem with unobservable prices. We compare charitable giving in an experiment with and without...

This paper examines the effect of message characteristics on donation behavior using an economic model of giving. The utility of giving can come from one's own contribution and possibly from the combined contributions of others. Donors are assumed to be constrained utility maximizers, and the...

We study the relationship between workers' opportunities to help others on-the-job and volunteering behavior outside the workplace. We predict that there is substitutability between workers' contribution to other peoples' well-being by exerting effort on-the-job and outside the workplace. We...

This study uses panel data on a sample of non-government organizations (NGOs) to estimate the factors that motivate donors to contribute to them. The results of empirical estimation suggest that a mix of conventional and tax factors influence donors. The results are consistent with the...

Theory commonly posits agents who care both for the level of provision of a public good and the extent to which they personally contribute to the cause. Simply put, agents feel some "warm glow" from the donations they make. I discuss a fundraiser devised to exogenously vary the incentive to give...

Charitable donations provide positive externalities and can potentially be increased with an understanding of donor preferences. We obtain a uniquely comprehensive characterization of donation motives using an experiment that varies treatments between and within subject. Donations are increasing...