Feed the world or help the heroes? Exploring how political attitudes influence charitable choice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Very few examples of donor intention and donor segmentation based on individual attitudes are evident in the literature. Given the common use of the domestic-versus-international charity binary by donors when selecting types of charity to support, and the suggestion that political attitudes and charitable giving are potentially difficult to separate, the current study investigates if charitable choice is linked to attitudes towards immigration and military action. Data from 398 online survey respondents using regression analysis identifies the most significant combination of donation predictors based on political and charitable attitudes. Political attitudes play only a limited role in explaining donation intention. Further k-means cluster analysis leads to the development of four segments who vary in their donation intentions, political attitudes and preferred types of charities. This work extends existing knowledge on donor segmentation, charitable marketing and the interplay between politics and charitable giving.