Reveal previous donations
Tell potential donors about previous individual or average contributions; perhaps report selectively to make these seem particularly large. Donors may respond by giving more when they hear of larger previous donations.
Alternative tool name:
Tool variation:
Category: Social
Sub-category:
Relevant theories: Social signaling, Leadership giving, Reputation-seeking/prestige, Incomplete information and signaling, Fairness, Conformity
Type of evidence: Natural experiment , Field-exp-charity, Field-exp-charity, Field-exp-charity, Field-exp-charity, Causal-observational (IV etc)
Evidence strength (ad hoc assessment): 9
Main findings
Revealing larger previous donations (in a range) increases giving; larger targets can be ineffective
Discussion
Practical relevance
Orthogonal. Relevant to question of 'should EA donors give on social fundraising pages'? To what extent can EA giving be spread by peer norms? Relevant to question of 'should EA donors give on social fundraising pages'? To what extent can EA giving be spread by peer norms?
Use cases
Prevalence:
Medium?
Key papers
Secondary papers
Contributors David Reinstein
Discussion