Framing Charitable Solicitations in a Behavioral Experiment: Cues Derived from Evolutionary Theory of Cooperation and Economic Anthropology

Abstract

Philanthropic giving is a classic example of prosociality. Important for funding charitable and not-for-profit organizations, research on philanthropic giving is particularly relevant as competition for donors has increased in recent years. This chapter investigates the influence of social cues on philanthropic solicitation using one-shot anonymous public goods games. The results of these experiments indicate that an individual’s life history experience with volunteering, coupled with level of trust in the community, provides the strongest solicitation effects. We find that characteristics of the individual being solicited interact with particular social cues of the solicitor. The social cues we use are derived from prominent theories of helping behavior, corroborated with the ethnographic record. We connect evolutionary theory of cooperation and economic anthropology to the literature on charitable giving.