Donation Patterns Research Articles

Keeping Kids Learning: Online Crowdfunding Communities Respond to the COVID­-19 Pandemic

We study how digital crowdfunding platforms can help replenish the sudden economic deficiencies that accompany a global crisis. Specifically, we examine whether public schools, which suffered severe setbacks during the COVID-19 crisis, were able to generate support from online fundraising communities. We study how the shutdown of schools and the shift to online learning in the United States affected private fundraising on the DonorsChoose.org platform. We find evidence that, after the exogenous shock caused by the pandemic (and resulting stay-at-home orders), donations to schools increased, implying both demand-side and supply-side effects. We observe an increased level of concern from existing platform contributors through increased per-donor contributions, especially toward high-need schools. Moreover, we found a shift in donation patterns, wherein donors swiftly adapted to renewed priorities and redistributed their resources to immediate needs around digital learning infrastructure. Our findings reveal the pivotal role digital platforms can play in facilitating community resilience during times of crisis.

Use Donor Behavior, Donation Patterns to Shape Campaigns

Successful FundraisingVolume 27, Issue 12 p. 4-4 Donor Demographics Use Donor Behavior, Donation Patterns to Shape Campaigns Daniel Lindley, Daniel LindleySearch for more papers by this author Daniel Lindley, Daniel LindleySearch for more papers by this author First published: 13 November 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/sfr.31329Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume27, Issue12December 2019Pages 4-4 RelatedInformation

Knowledge Change and Donation Intentions of Field Day Attendees

Participation in field days increases adoption of new techniques and fosters learning. Since 1977, the Iowa State University (ISU) Department of Horticulture has hosted several Home Demonstration Garden (HDG) field days at ISU research farms each year to educate consumers on best practices and cultivars for growing annual flowers and vegetables. Gardens are planted at the farms and feature a specific topic or theme. In 2016 and 2017, 12 HDG field days were hosted in July or August. The objective of these field days was to showcase cultivars of vegetables that are in demand at food pantries and that home gardeners could grow easily for donation to these pantries. In addition to showcasing crops, presentations were delivered that focused on food insecurity implications in Iowa and how community members could impact food security locally. Of more than 400 field-day attendees in 2016, 151 (38%) participated in an optional survey at the end of the day. Similarly, in 2017, 140 of 350 (40%) attendees participated in the survey. Participants reflected on their food security knowledge and intentions to donate fresh produce before and after participation in the field day. Slightly more than a third (39.53% and 37.12%, respectively) of attendees reported some increase in food-security knowledge after participation. In addition, 85% and 72.5% of respondents reported that they will or would consider donating fresh produce to a local pantry after participation in this field day in 2016 and 2017, respectively. This was a change of more than 40% from previous donation patterns in both years. Results from this study are being used to focus future programming of the HDG field days and content of the field day surveys.

The Fickle Financiers of elections? The impact of moving on individual contributions

ABSTRACT What is the effect of a change in geographic location on the behavior of campaign donors? Looking at people who move presents a unique opportunity to assess the ways in which political behavior is altered by external circumstances. Holding the individual constant and observing how donation patterns vary under different external conditions allows us to explore donor behaviors in ways that are more difficult when using cross-sectional data. We use the DIME dataset to compare the donation behavior of over 7,000 individuals in the U.S. House election before and after they have moved. We observe the ways in which changes in the partisanship of the districts that they live in alter the share of their donations that go to each party. We find that the partisan composition of the districts that people arrive in influence their donation behavior – a move to a more Democratic district tends to increase the share of one’s donations that go to Democrats. We conclude by discussing what these findings can tell us about the partisan and strategic motivations of campaign donors.

Political Finance Regulation and Reform in New South Wales: Towards a Fairer System?

In recent years the regulation of political finance in Australia has moved from systems of laissez‐faire to systems of enhanced regulation, which aim to curb the scale and influence of donations. This article examines political finance regulation in New South Wales — the jurisdiction that has seen the most significant transformation of its regulatory setup — to assess whether and how the new regulations have affected donations to political parties in the state. We find, based on analysis of the pattern of donations before and after the reforms, that the regulations have made the financing system fairer and thus improved the quality of democracy in the state.

The Bonus-Income Donation Norm

Can social norms affect fundamental patterns of behavior such as income effects? Studies of determinants of giving to charities and other individuals yield a wide range of income-effect estimates. We conduct two experiments to first test whether the effect of income on charitable giving depends on whether the income is earned and then test whether any difference in the effects by income source can be explained by social norms. Our first experiment induces random variation in both earned income and windfall bonuses and shows that only bonuses increases charitable donations. The second experiment uses an incentivized coordination game to investigate whether social norms can explain this donation pattern. Perceptions of what most people would consider a morally appropriate donation depend on the amount of income and whether it is a windfall. The norms elicited in the second experiment match the donation patterns in the first experiment both overall and across subject demographics, pointing to social norms as a key determinant of charitable giving.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding organ donation among adult Population of an Urban field practice area of a medical college in Durgapur, West Bengal, India

Background: Organ donation is either when a person allows healthy transplantable organs/tissues to be removed, after death, or when the donor is alive and transplanted into other persons. Common transplantations include eyes, kidneys, liver, heart, skin, and bone marrow. The present study was conducted to understand the knowledge, attitude, and practice pattern of organ donation among the participants and to find out the association between the knowledge of organ donation with selected variables of interest. Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted among adult participants of an urban area of Durgapur from October 18, 2016, to November 5, 2016. A predesigned and pretested pro forma was used for data collection. Results: About 73.3% of the participants had heard about organ donation. Majority of the participants were female, aged 31–40 years, illiterate, and with a monthly income less than Rs. 5000/month. Eye was the most common donatable organ identified by the participants. Majority of the participants were unaware about the existing law in India about organ donation. Not a single participant had donated any organ, but 6% of them had signed form for cadaveric donation. Participants those who have educational status above high school had better knowledge compared to those who have lesser educational qualification (P = 0.001). Similarly, participants with monthly family income ≥10,000 also had better knowledge compared to other groups (P = 0.029), and this relation was statistically significant. Conclusion: Awareness about organ donation is not satisfactory, but the community had a positive attitude toward organ donation.

'If someone donates $1000, they support you. If they donate $100 000, they have bought you'. Mixed methods study of tobacco, alcohol and gambling industry donations to Australian political parties.

Business corporations' use of political donations to garner political influence is especially troubling in relation to products that damage human health. We sought to investigate patterns of donations to Australian political parties from tobacco, alcohol and gambling industry actors and the experiences of key informants. We analysed public data on federal and state donations for 10 years to June 2015. We conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with current and former politicians, ex-political staffers and other key informants, concerning the role played by political donations of tobacco, alcohol and gambling companies in Australian politics. We examined temporal associations in donations data, and thematically analysed interviews. Australian political parties declared donations of A$14 million (US$11 M) from tobacco ($1.9 M), alcohol ($7.7 M), gambling ($2.9 M) and supermarket ($1.7 M) entities, excluding donations below the $12 800 reporting threshold. Donations to the governing party increased substantially during debates about an alcohol tax and gambling law reform. Alcohol industry donations to major parties spiked ahead of elections. Interviewees identified the function of donations in terms of: (i) buying immediate influence; (ii) building long-term relationships; (iii) exploiting a flawed political system; and (iv) the need to look beyond donations, for example, to favour exchange; and the public's right to know about corporate influence on policy-makers. The alcohol and gambling industries make substantial donations to influence particular decisions in the short term and build relationships over the long term. Banning corporate donations and publicly funding political parties warrant consideration to safeguard the integrity of public policy-making.

Using Spatial Filters and Exploratory Data Analysis to Enhance Regression Models of Spatial Data

Residual spatial autocorrelation is a situation frequently encountered in regression analysis of spatial data. The statistical problems arising due to this phenomenon are well‐understood. Original developments in the field of statistical analysis of spatial data were meant to detect spatial pattern, in order to assess whether corrective measures were required. An early development was the use of residual autocorrelation as an exploratory tool to improve regression analysis of spatial data. In this note, we propose the use of spatial filtering and exploratory data analysis as a way to identify omitted but potentially relevant independent variables. We use an example of blood donation patterns in Toronto, Canada, to demonstrate the proposed approach. In particular, we show how an initial filter used to rectify autocorrelation problems can be progressively replaced by substantive variables. In the present case, the variables so retrieved reveal the impact of urban form, travel habits, and demographic and socio‐economic attributes on donation rates. The approach is particularly appealing for model formulations that do not easily accommodate positive spatial autocorrelation, but should be of interest as well for the case of continuous variables in linear regression.

Undergraduate engagement is the engine that drives fund-raising

This study used undergraduate alumni information from three private, Ohio-based universities over a ten-year period, 1995–2005, to determine what impact, if any, alumni demographics, fields of study and experiences in on-campus academic, social and athletic pursuits have on alumni donations. Information gathered from alumni included giving history, demographic information and undergraduate involvements. Astin’s theory of student involvement1 served as the study’s framework, and the study is believed to be the first application of this theory to alumni donation patterns. A significant finding from this study is that involvement in more than one on-campus academic, social or athletic pursuit was the greatest predictor of alumnus total donations, the study’s criterion variable. Future researchers may identify even more opportunities to target philanthropic opportunities among alumni — and to seed a philanthropic mind-set among current students — to ensure more effective donor campaigns and fund-raising initiatives.

Donation after brain death followed by circulatory death, a novel donation pattern, confers comparable renal allograft outcomes with donation after brain death

BackgroundOrgan donation after brain death (DBD) is the standard strategy for organ transplantation; however, the concept of brain death is not universally accepted due to cultural beliefs and barriers amongst billions of people worldwide. Hence, a novel donation pattern has been established in China which outlines the concept of donation after brain death followed by circulatory death (DBCD). Differently from any current donation classification, this new concept is formulated based on combination of recognizing brain death and circulatory death. Should approval be gained for this definition and approach, DBCD will pave a novel donation option for billions of people who cannot accept DBD due to their cultural beliefs.MethodsA multi-center, cohort study was conducted from February 2012 to December 2015. 523 kidney transplant recipients from four kidney transplant institutions were enrolled into the study, of which, 383 received kidneys from DBCD, and 140 from DBD. Graft and recipient survivals following transplantation were retrospectively analyzed. Postoperative complications including delayed graft function,, and acute rejection, were also analyzed for both groups.ResultsDBCD could achieve comparable graft and recipient survivals in comparison with DBD (Log-rank P = 0.32 and 0.86,respectively). One-year graft and recipient survivals were equal between DBCD and DBD groups (97.4% versus 97.9%, P = 0.10;98.4% versus 98.6%, P = 1.0, respectively). Furthermore, DBCD did not increase incidences of postoperative complications compared with DBD, including delayed graft function (19.3% versus 22.1%, P = 0.46) and acute rejection (9.1% versus 8.6%, P = 1.0). Additionally, antithymocyte globulin as induction therapy and shorter warm ischemia time decreased incidence of delayed graft function in DBCD group (16.8% on antithymocyte globulin versus 27.2% on basiliximab, P = 0.03; 16.7% on ≤18 min versus 26.7% on > 18 min group, P = 0.03).ConclusionsKidney donation through DBCD achieves equally successful outcomes as DBD, and could provide a feasible path to graft availability for billions of people who face barriers to organ donation from DBD.

ORGAN DONATION AND TRANSPLANTATION IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN 2017 10TH REPORT OF THE NATIONAL REGISTRY

Aim. To analyse the status and trends in the development of organ donation and organ transplantation in the Russian Federation according to 2017 data.Materials and methods. The survey of heads of transplantation centers was conducted. A comparative analysis of the data obtained in the dynamics of years, between individual subjects of the Russian Federation, the centers of transplantation is performed.Results. According to the register in 2017 in Russia there were only 41 centers for kidney transplantation, 24 liver and 16 hearts. The waiting list for kidney transplantation in 2017 included 5,531 potential recipients, which is approximately 13.8% of the total number of 40,000 patients receiving dialysis. The level of donor activity in 2017 was 3.8 per million of the population, while the share of multiorgan seizures was 66.5%, the average number of organs received from one effective donor was 2.8. In 2017, the level of kidney transplantation was 8.0 per million of the population, the liver transplantation index was 3.0 per million of the population; the rate of heart transplantation is 1.7 per million of the population. In 2017 the number of transplants in Russia increased by 11.3% compared to 2016. There are 11 transplantation centers on the territory of Moscow and the Moscow Region, and half of all kidney transplants and 70% of all liver and heart transplantations are performed. The number of patients with transplanted organs in the Russian Federation is approaching 13,000.Conclusion. In the Russian Federation there is a strong tendency to increase the number of effective donors and to increase the number of organ transplants, and the number of transplant centers is also increasing. In recent years, the country has created prerequisites for the development of organ donation and transplantation: the regulatory and legal framework, public donation funding, material and technical base, etc. In the coming years, positive experience and organizational patterns of organ donation and transplantation from successful regions in Other subjects of the Russian Federation for building effective programs. The leading role in this process should be played by the Academician V.I. Shumakov Federal Research Center of Transplantology and Artifi cial Organs.

Inferring Roll‐Call Scores from Campaign Contributions Using Supervised Machine Learning

AbstractThis article develops a generalized supervised learning methodology for inferring roll‐call scores from campaign contribution data. Rather than use unsupervised methods to recover a latent dimension that best explains patterns in giving, donation patterns are instead mapped onto a target measure of legislative voting behavior. Supervised models significantly outperform alternative measures of ideology in predicting legislative voting behavior. Fundraising prior to entering office provides a highly informative signal about future voting behavior. Impressively, forecasts based on fundraising as a nonincumbent predict future voting behavior as accurately as in‐sample forecasts based on votes cast during a legislator's first 2 years in Congress. The combined results demonstrate campaign contributions are powerful predictors of roll‐call voting behavior and resolve an ongoing debate as to whether contribution data successfully distinguish between members of the same party.

Who, Republican or Democrat CEOs, Laughs Last? Political Cycles in the Market for Corporate Directors

In this paper, we explore the relationship between CEO’s political preference and post-retirement directorship holding by individual CEOs. We test a hypothesis that CEO’s political preference might be a signal for (potential) political network in the professional labor market. We use a data set on the political donations of CEOs to major political parties from 2003-2014 in the U.S. Firstly, we provide direct evidences that one of main candidates in the market for corporate directors is a retired CEO. The proportion of retired CEO outside directors for all outside directors in the S&P 500 firms is 20.62%. Second, our empirical evidence suggests that the political donations of CEOs are more likely to reveal a preference, not strategic behavior. 71.3% of CEOs do not change the pattern of donation according to the ruling party. 75.0% of CEOs do not change donation behavior before vs. after CEO retirement, either. Third, the success in the market for corporate director depends on the ruling party. Republican partisan CEOs hold larger outside directorships than Democratic partisan CEOs only under a Republican regime. These regressions results are robust for controlling the endogeneity problem. We use the presidential election result at a state where a headquarter of CEO firm is located as the instrumental variable. Fourthly, Democratic CEOs have more variations on outside directorships across political regimes. Democratic CEOs hold 0.72 directorships two years after retirement and 0.71 directorships three years after retirement under a Democratic regime, which are statistically larger than 0.35 and 0.13 under a Republican regime. However, Republican CEOs hold stable outside directorships across different ruling parties. Finally, the political cycle in the market for corporate director could be partially explained by the connection value in the regulated industry, but the regulated industry does not fully drive our main outcomes.

Modeling and Measuring Scale Attraction Effects: An Application to Charitable Donations

Charities seeking donations typically employ an “appeals scale,” a roster of suggested amounts presented to potential donors, along with an “Other” category. Yet little is known about how the amounts comprising appeals scales affect whether a donation is made and, if so, jointly exert “pull” on its magnitude. Availing of multi-year panel data and a field experiment, we develop a model accounting for individual level donation incidence, amount, and appeals scale attraction effects. The model incorporates heterogeneity across donors in both upward and downward scale point attraction, as well as in donation patterns (e.g., seasonality), and accommodates multiple operationalizations of internal and external referents to summarize the effects of prior donation history and scale points, respectively. Overall results suggest that scale points do exert substantial attraction effects; that these vary markedly across donors; that they are in fact referent-based effects; that donors are more easily persuaded to give less than more; and that, while all scale points exert pull, influence wanes with distance. The modeling framework applies not only in donation contexts, but whenever an ordered categorical scale is used to collect data regarding an underlying latent response.

Pattern of blood donation and characteristics of blood donors in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria.

Despite increasing need for blood donation in medical practice, little is known about pattern of blood donation and characteristics of blood donors in some African populations like Nigeria. This information is necessary in designing strategies and policies for improving blood transfusion services in Africa. The aim of this study is to determine the pattern of blood donation and characteristics of blood donors in Enugu, Southeast, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study of 3377 blood donors at a tertiary hospital in Enugu, Nigeria from May 1, 2016 to April 30, 2017. Information sought included donors' sociodemographic characteristics; type of blood donor: Voluntary nonremunerated donor (VNRD), family replacement donor (FRD), or paid donor (PD); willingness to become VNRD in the future after counseling and education (at point of entry to blood bank) on its benefits to clinical practice; hemoglobin (Hb) level; and transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs). Mean age of blood donors was 28.8 ± 8.5 years, majority were male (3011, 89.2%) and students (1289, 32.8%). FRDs were the highest in number (1998, 59.2%), followed by PDs (746, 22.1%) and finally VNRDs (633, 18.7%). Of the 3377 persons that came for blood donation, 2537 (75.1%) were found eligible to donate while 840 (24.9%) were deferred on account of low Hb (602/3377, 17.8%) or positive infectious screening test (238/3377, 7.0%). The odds of a male donor being a VNRD were about one and half times that of a female donor (582/3011 [19.3%] vs. 51/366 [13.9%]; odds ratio: 1.48; 95% confidence interval: 1.09-2.02; P = 0.01). After counseling of FRDs and PDs, majority (54.3%) were willing to become VNRDs in the future. Donors' age >30 years, being of male sex, having tertiary level of education, and being employed were strongly associated with willingness to become VNRDs in the future (P < 0.001). VNRD made up <20% of the total number of donors in Enugu, Nigeria. There is a need for improvement in public enlightenment on the need for VNRDs and employment opportunities of the populace to improve voluntary blood donation.

New Factors Predicting Delayed Graft Function: a Multi-Center Cohort Study of Kidney Donation After Brain Death Followed by Circulatory Death

Background/Aims: Delayed graft function (DGF) is a common complication following kidney transplantation adversely affecting graft outcomes. Donation after brain death followed by circulatory death (DBCD), a novel donation pattern, is expected to correlate with high incidence of DGF. However, little information is available about factors associated with DGF in DBCD. Methods: A total of 383 kidney transplants from DBCD donation in three institutions were enrolled. Associations of DGF with the clinical characteristics of recipients and donors were quantified. Results: In this retrospective multi-center study, the incidence of DGF was 19.3%. Lower incidence of DGF was found in recipients for whom antithymocyte globulin was used for induction (p < 0.05), which was an independent protective factor against DGF (odds ratio [OR] = 0.48; 95% CI 0.27-0.86). Two novel explicative variables were recognized as independent risk factors, including use of vasoactive drugs (OR = 3.15; 95% CI 1.39-7.14) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (OR = 2.51; 95% CI 1.05-6.00), which contributed significantly to increased risk of DGF (p < 0.05). Prolonged warm ischemia time (> 18 min; OR = 2.42; 95% CI 1.36-4.32), was also predictive of DGF in DBCD. A prediction model was developed and achieved an area under the curve of 0.89 in predicting DGF when combined with reported parameters. Conclusion: The novel factors, confirmed for the first time in our study, will help to improve risk prediction of DGF and to determine optimal interventions to prevent DGF in clinical practice.

Patterns of organ donation in children in Australia and New Zealand

Patterns of organ donation in children in Australia and New Zealand

Comparison of donor and general population demographics over time: a BEST Collaborative group study.

We compared donor and general population demographics over time to provide insight into current donation patterns and the future adequacy of the blood supply. Seventeen blood center members of the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative from 12 countries provided the number of donors and people in the general population by demographic category for 2001 and 2011, changes in age criteria, and percentage of first-time donors. We calculated the median age of donors and the general population and determined the percentage of each group in age and sex cohorts. Age criteria vary, with upper limits recently liberalized in several countries. In 2011, the percentage of first-time donors ranged from 10% to 41%. The median age of the donor and general population increased from 2001 to 2011 in most countries, as did the percentage of the general population over 60. The youngest donor cohort is overrepresented to a variable degree; this tendency increased over time. Although still underrepresented, older donors contributed more in 2011. A large middle-aged cohort is aging at a rate exceeding the progression of time, while 25- to 45-year-olds are relatively underrepresented. All participating countries are experiencing aging of their general population. Donor demographics differ substantially between countries; this can be only partly explained by population demographics and age criteria. Many countries have an aging middle-aged donor and population cohort and are increasingly relying on their youngest donors to contribute disproportionately to the blood supply.

Motives of corporate political donations: industry regulation, subjective judgement and the origins of pragmatic and ideological corporations.

What motivates corporate political action? Are corporations motivated by their own narrow economic self-interest; are they committed to pursuing larger class interests; or are corporations instruments for status groups to pursue their own agendas? Sociologists have been divided over this question for much of the last century. This paper introduces a novel case - that of Australia - and an extensive dataset of over 1,500 corporations and 7,500 directors. The paper attempts to understand the motives of corporate political action by examining patterns of corporate political donations. Using statistical modelling, supported by qualitative evidence, the paper argues that, in the Australian case, corporate political action is largely motivated by the narrow economic self-interest of individual corporations. Firms' interests are, consistent with regulatory environment theory, defined by the nature of government regulation in their industry: those in highly regulated industries (such as banking) and those dependent on government support (such as defence) tend to adopt a strategy of hedging their political support, and make bipartisan donations (to both major parties). In contrast, firms facing hostile regulation (such as timber or mining), and those without strong dependence on state support (such as small companies) tend to adopt a strategy of conservative partisanship, and make conservative-only donations. This paper argues that regulatory environment theory needs to be modified to incorporate greater emphasis on the subjective political judgements of corporations facing hostile regulation: a corporation's adoption of conservative partisanship or hedging is not just a product of the objective regulation they face, but also whether corporate leaders judge such regulation as politically inevitable or something that can be resisted. Such a judgement is highly subjective, introducing a dynamic and unpredictable dimension to corporate political action.