# The Science of Giving: Experimental Approaches to the Study of Charity

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/the-science-of-giving-experimental-approaches-to-the-study-of-charity/
- Published: 2015-11-26T09:41:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Why do people give to charity? What makes some appeals succeed and others fail?
And what do rigorous experiments — rather than fundraisers’ intuitions or correlational
surveys — actually tell us about the psychology of giving? This landmark collection
brings together leading researchers to provide the most authoritative scientific
account of charitable giving yet assembled.**

Fundraising has always been as much art as science. Practitioners develop intuitions
about what works – the right story, the right ask, the right moment. But these intuitions
are rarely tested in controlled conditions, and the research that does exist often
relies on surveys that can establish correlation but not cause. The Science of Giving
sets out to change that.

Edited by psychologists Daniel Oppenheimer and Christopher Olivola, the book gathers
experimental research from leading academics across psychology, economics, and behavioural
science. Focusing on US nonprofit sector statistics, each chapter reports findings
from studies in which variables were deliberately manipulated, such as donation 
amounts, framing, social cues, identifiability of beneficiaries, and payment mechanisms.
In this way it makes it possible to draw genuine causal conclusions about what drives
giving, rather than merely describing patterns.

 * [**Buy the book**](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1138981435?tag=219)

The chapters are organised into four parts: the value of giving (including the psychological
benefits to donors); the impact of social factors (peer effects, social norms, scrutiny);
the role of emotion and cognition; and practical implications for fundraising strategy.
Highlights include findings on the power of identifiable victims over statistical
lives, the counterintuitive effects of matching gifts, the role of guilt and moral
licensing, and the conditions under which public recognition increases or decreases
donations.

The book is not a practitioner manual: it is a work of academic social science, 
and readers should be prepared for methodological rigour alongside the practical
insights. But for any serious fundraiser, communications director, or charity leader
who wants to understand the evidence base behind donor psychology, it is invaluable.

As one Amazon.co.uk reviewer put it simply: “Best book I ever spent my money on.
I would recommend it for those looking to create fundraising ideas.”

## About Daniel M. Oppenheimer and Christopher Y. Olivola

Daniel M. Oppenheimer is a professor at UCLA with a joint appointment at the Anderson
School of Management and the Department of Psychology, where he researches charitable
giving, metacognition, and decision-making. He was previously on the faculty at 
Princeton. He won the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize in Literature for his research demonstrating
that simpler writing makes authors appear more intelligent than complex writing.

Christopher Y. Olivola is an assistant professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon
University’s Tepper School of Business, whose research focuses on behavioural economics,
social influence, and charitable giving.

## Reviews

“The Science of Giving will be of interest to psychologists and economists interested
in understanding how people decide whether, when, and how much to donate to charitable
causes. This book will also give all readers much to consider about their own charitable
giving.”
**Catherine A. Sanderson, Amherst College, in PsycCRITIQUES**

“The Science of Giving is full of information that may help a fundraiser make better
decisions about how to approach donors. The book is a fine reference for the science
of charitable giving as it stands today and will yield many insights that can be
applied to any organisation’s fundraising approach.”
**Joanne Fritz, About.com**