Donations

Buraschi, A and Cornelli, F (2001) Donations. Working Paper. London Business School IFA Working Paper.

Abstract

This paper is an empirical study of the motives for charitable donations. It is based on a unique dataset on the English National Opera (ENO) that includes detailed microlevel information on individual donations, tickets purchases, and the consumption of fringe benefits available to donors. This allows us to examine the extent to which individuals donate to fund a public good here, new productions or to have access to the private good here, fringe benefits. We find evidence that individuals behave as if they feel pivotal in the provision of a public good. Moreover, we find that the relative importance of these motives varies crosssectionally depending on the income level. Low income individuals, who buy cheap seats, are more sensitive to the private good motive. These results are important to show that individuals behave as if they were pivotal even in presence of a large number of potential donors. They may also help charities in developing their fundraising campaigns and the government its grant policy.