Pamala Wiepking

A Literature Review of Empirical Studies of Philanthropy: Eight Mechanisms That Drive Charitable Giving

The authors present an overview of the academic literature on charitable giving based on a literature review of more than 500 articles. They structure their review around the central question of why people donate money to charitable organizations. They identify eight mechanisms as the most important forces that drive charitable giving: (a) awareness of need; (b) solicitation; (c) costs and benefits; (d) altruism; (e) reputation; (f) psychological benefits; (g) values; (h) efficacy. These mechanisms can provide a basic theoretical framework for future research explaining charitable giving.

Resources That Make You Generous: Effects of Social and Human Resources on Charitable Giving

In this study we examine whether and why human and social resources increase charitable giving. Using the Giving in The Netherlands Panel Study 2003, we find that people with more extended networks and higher education are more generous. However, these effects can be completely explained by financial resources, church attendance, requests for donations, and pro-social personality characteristics. People with more extended social networks are mainly more generous because they receive more solicitations for donations, and are more integrated in extended religious networks that promote charitable giving. The generosity of people with higher formal education can be explained by their larger financial resources, and stronger verbal abilities. Whereas the effect of education seems mainly causal, that of network extension appears largely spurious.

Who gives? A literature review of predictors of charitable giving. Part two: gender, marital status, income, and wealth

This is the second of two articles in which we present a comprehensive review of the multidisciplinary academic literature on philanthropy. In this article, we identify the following predictors of charitable giving by individuals and/or households: gender, family composition and income. For each predictor, we discuss the evidence for the mechanisms that may explain why the predictor is correlated with giving. We conclude with a brief agenda for future research.

To give or not to give, that is the question : How methodology is destiny in dutch giving data

In research on giving, methodology is destiny. The volume of donations estimated from sample surveys strongly depends on the length of the questionnaire used to measure giving. By comparing two giving surveys from the Netherlands, the authors show that a short questionnaire on giving not only underestimates the volume of giving but also biases the effects of predictors of giving. Specifically, they find that a very short module leads to an underestimation of the effects of predictors of giving on the amount donated but an overestimation of their effects on the probability of charitable giving. Short survey modules may lead researchers to falsely reject or accept hypotheses on determinants of giving due to underreporting of donations.

A Literature Review of Empirical Studies of Philanthropy

The authors present an overview of the academic literature on charitable giving based on a literature review of more than 500 articles. They structure their review around the central question of why people donate money to charitable organizations. They identify eight mechanisms as the most important forces that drive charitable giving: (a) awareness of need; (b) solicitation; (c) costs and benefits; (d) altruism; (e) reputation; (f) psychological benefits; (g) values; (h) efficacy. These mechanisms can provide a basic theoretical framework for future research explaining charitable giving.

The palgrave handbook of global philanthropy

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy is a comprehensive reference guide to the practice of philanthropy across twenty-six nations and regions. In addition, thematic chapters examine cross-national issues to provide an indispensable guide to the latest research in this field. Drawing on theoretical insights from sociology, economics, political science, and psychology, and including a stellar international line-up of leading philanthropy scholars, this essential reference work describes the non-profit sector and analyzes philanthropic endeavours country by country, providing a global overview that covers Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and the Americas. In addition, thematic chapters examine cross-national issues, including the social origins of the non-profit sector and charitable giving; the influence of government support; the role of religion; fiscal incentives; and fundraising to outline how major country-specific differences in governmental, economic, and legal policies for philanthropic actors and nonprofit organizations shape philanthropic giving, demonstrating how country-specific factors may facilitate or inhibit charitable giving. Nonprofit organizations provide important public goods and services in societies across the world. In times of economic crisis, when governments are forced to decrease public spending, these organizations become even more important in meeting demands for these goods and services. But what motivates individuals to voluntarily give away portions of their own financial resources to benefit the public good and to enable nonprofit organizations to carry out their work? Why do people in one country give more frequently and more generously to nonprofit organizations than those in another? The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy provides an indispensable guide to the latest research in philanthropy, the non-profit sector and charitable giving.

Giving in the Netherlands: A strong welfare state with a vibrant nonprofit sector

The Netherlands has a rich philanthropic history, dating back to the late Middle ages (Prak, 1998). Before the modern welfare state, poor relief in the Netherlands was predominantly provided by the religious elites. As early as 1500, local clergy and noble men provided poor relief to those who lacked substantial means (Prak, 1998). The main motive for these elites to provide poor relief was to maintain order in the municipalities (De Swaan, 1988). However, the elites also received some private benefits by providing poor relief: they gained status, involvement in influential networks and salvation for their soul (Van Leeuwen, 1994). A famous example of Dutch private poor relief are the ‘hofjes,’ a privately funded courtyard with almshouses built around it. These almshouses provided social security in the form of housing for primarily older women, who had no other place to live (Looijenstein, 2011). Well into the 20th century, Dutch poor relief remained organized locally by religious institutions. During the first half of the 20th century, Dutch society was divided vertically along its four ‘pillars’ — Roman Catholic, Protestant, social democratic and liberal — to which all people belonged. All four pillars had their own political parties, broadcasting associations and nonprofit organizations, including educational institutions, hospitals, sport clubs and leisure organizations (Bax, 1988). The social distance between people from different pillars was large, and people from one pillar rarely interacted with people from another pillar.

Explanations for Cross-National Differences in Philanthropy

In this chapter, we will provide a theoretical overview to answer the question of why some people in some countries donate more often and higher amounts to nonprofit organizations than others. There are two types of answers to this question. First of all, aggregated individual-level differences between people can account for cross-national differences in philanthropic behavior. If people in some countries on average have more of the individual factors known to promote philanthropic giving, this can explain why people in that country are more likely to give and give higher amounts. These are compositional explanations. An example of a compositional explanation is educational level. We know that people who are higher educated display higher giving behavior (Brown & Ferris, 2007; Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011b) among others because they have more resources available in the form of income and knowledge about nonprofit organizations and their needs. If people in a country are on average higher educated, this can explain why people in that country are more generous donors. Other aggregated individual-level factors that are known to influence philanthropic behavior are, for example, financial, human and social resources and religious, political and prosocial values (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2007).

The Practice of Philanthropy: The Facilitating Factors from a Cross-National Perspective

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy provides a broad and in-depth view into philanthropy across a large range of countries, mostly situated in Northern America, Europe and Asia. The authors of this volume describe in detail how philanthropy is organized in the countries under study and explain which factors unique for their country facilitate or inhibit the nonprofit sector and philanthropic giving. In this concluding chapter, we start by summarizing the general patterns of the nonprofit sector and philanthropic giving in the countries included in this edited volume. We present the typical characteristics and developments, illustrated with quotes from the different country chapters. We end this conclusion with the eight contextual factors that facilitate philanthropic giving, which we distilled from the factors identified as facilitating or inhibiting philanthropy in the countries under study. These eight factors can be used as instruments to shape a society with the best conditions for philanthropic giving.

A literature review of empirical studies of philanthropy: eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving.

The authors present an overview of the academic literature on charitable giving based on a literature review of more than 500 articles. They structure their review around the central question of why people donate money to charitable organizations. They identify eight mechanisms as the most important forces that drive charitable giving: (a) awareness of need; (b) solicitation; (c) costs and benefits; (d) altruism; (e) reputation; (f) psychological benefits; (g) values; (h) efficacy. These mechanisms can provide a basic theoretical framework for future research explaining charitable giving.