‘Show me the money’ – The effects of ...

‘Show me the money’ – The effects of refunds and rebates on donations to fundraisers. 3 mins

The Elevator Pitch
•    Lab Experiment
•    Looking at charitable fundraisers
•    Studies the impact on donations of offering refunds and rebates to donors in the event that a fundraiser raises less or more than the target amount
•    Motivation: to help charities design fundraisers that maxamise funds raised

Key Terms
•    Voluntary Contribution Mechanism (VCM)
•    Provision Point Mechanism (PPM)
•    Refund
•    Rebate

Motivation of study
•    The provision of public goods are essential to our modern economy
•    A large array of public goods are provided through voluntary contributions
•    Voluntary contribution mechanisms suffer from free-riding - leading to under-provision of public goods
•    Mechanisms that are proven to reduce free-riding are valuable to society because they increase the provision of public goods towards an optimal level







Literature Review 3 mins

Bagnoli & Lipman 1989
•    Game Theory model of giving
•    Suggested fundraiser which best mitigates free-riding: a provision point mechanism (PPM) with refund and rebate


List & Lucking-Reiley (2002)
•    Tested Bagnoli & Lipman’s model in the field
•    Found PPM with Refund significantly increased donations vs. open request for donations


Marks & Croson (1998)
•    Tested Bagnoli & Lipman’s model in the lab
•    Looked at the impact on giving of different rebate rules on a PPM with Refund
•    Utilisation Rebate
•    Proportional (cash) Rebate
•    No Rebate
•    Found results consistent with Bagnoli & Lipman
•    Donations under Utilisation Rebate significantly higher than No rebate
•    No difference between Proportional Rebate and No Rebate









My Study 3 mins

Aims
•    Look at the impact of rebates in the field
•    Purpose is to determine whether Marks & Croson’s findings can be generalised outside of the lab
•    By doing so improve the field picture regarding Bagnoli & Lipman’s predictions about voluntary contributions

Hypotheses
•    A PPM + Refund fundraiser which has a utilisation rebate will raise more funds than a fundraiser with a proportional (cash) rebate
•    A PPM + Refund fundraiser (regardless of rebate) will raise more funds than a fundraiser with no refund

Design
•    Partner with a charity (Life Goes On)
•    Allow them to conduct three separate fundraisers
    o    Fundraiser 1: No rebate or refund
    o    Fundraiser 2: Refund + Proportional Rebate
    o    Fundraiser 3: Refund + Utilisation Rebate
•    Receive De-personalised data from charity
•    Number of prospective donors that donated, and the amount they donated











Progress, Plans and Questions 1 min

My Progress to Date
•    Literature Review
•    Study Design
•    Secured in-principle support of Life Goes On
•    In discussion with The Salvation Army and Oak Tree to also involve them in the study

My Proposed Next Steps
•    Ethics Approval
•    Confirm involvement of The Salvation Army and The Oak Tree Foundation
•    Allow charities to conduct their fundraisers
•    Collect de-personalised data & conduct analysis


Questions I Have
•    What are your thoughts regarding the ethics approval process - and knowledge of past studies
•    What are your thoughts on the statistical tests we should use?