We have talked in class about people's varying motives for giving. Many of these are religious reasons, giving because it helps the area/people around them, or giving because there's a loved one that the donation would have a positive effect on. One thing we have talked about throughout this semester, that I would like to further look into now, is the social pressures often put on us to give.
The National Bureau of Economic Research conducted an experiment between April and October of 2008 testing for altruism and social pressure in charitable giving. They designed a field experiment involving door-to-door fundraising drives. Some of the households that were approached in this experiment were given the opportunity to avoid the solicitor. One group of households got a flyer on their doorknob that notified them a day in advance about the exact time of solicitation, so they could avoid it. A second group also got the flyer, but this flyer included a box that could be checked if the household did "not want to be disturbed."
The conclusion was that the flyer reduces the amount of households opening the door to the solicitor by 10 to 25 percent. If the flyer allows checking a "do not disturb" box, it reduces giving by 30 percent.
These findings indicate to me that when given an option, many people would chose to not talk to a solicitor asking for donations for their charity. This is surprising to me because in 2008, the same year this experiment was conducted, 90% of Americans donated to some sort of charity. This leads me to believe that people do not like to be pressured into giving, and would rather give to charities on their own.
What led me to writing about social pressures of giving in this blog post is the constant solicitations I get at my dorm room on campus. I almost always donate, whether it be a dollar or loose change I find in my room, but I definitely feel their is pressure to give to these charities as there is something very personal about knocking on one's door and talking to them about your cause. I also give to these people because I myself have been one of them several times, as I've gone door-to-door on campus trying to raise money for different organizations I have worked with.
Questions for class:
What does everyone think about social pressures of donating?
Have you ever felt uncomfortable or pressured into giving to someone asking for donations at your door?
Have you ever been the person asking for money, and sometimes felt the pressure you were putting on the potential donor?
This is a very thought provoking post Cliff! I believe that the social pressures of donating are inevitable. I know that I have personally been in the shoes where a solicitor is at my door asking for a charitable donation as well as the position where I have asked people for money/time for various causes. I feel almost hypocritical because when solicitors come to my door I feel this overwhelming sense of frustration and anxiety, and most importantly guilty when people come to my door for donations. It is almost as if just because someone is standing right in front of me I have to say yes, not only because the person probably appealed to my ethos, but also because I have been in their shoes before and understand how desperately the money is needed. We have talked about meaningful giving and effective altruism, and the contrasting phenomenon that follows people giving as a result of peer pressure is known as "reluctant altruism" (http://journal.sjdm.org/12/12115/jdm12115.pdf). Your blog post has showed the social pressures of strangers and avoiding solicitors, and I feel that this study supplements how being in groups can also effect the giving process. This interesting case study that found a different kind of social pressure (peer pressure) can also influence people to donate more. It happens in a similar way that the door-to-door donations work. Donors are self-concious of the self-image in which they are portraying themselves. If they don't donate, they come of as greedy and selfish to the other person. But if they do donate, the other person will perceive them as good-hearted. The data, however, varies with your opinions on solicitation experiment. The people of the control group, who donated as individuals, gave less than people of the experimental group who donated with a partner. I agree with you, people probably don't want to be hassled by solicitors. However, without those solicitors, would the donation rates of Americans be so high? That being said, although I see both sides of philanthropy (donor vs receiver/advocate), I believe that solicitors, as well as social pressures in general, play an integral part in philanthropy.
ReplyDeleteI can think of many recent examples in which I have either tabled myself, or walked past someone else tabling asking for donations. Social pressure is most definitely present especially more so in these situations. Yesterday as I went to get groceries I walked past a group tabling for donations for a larger organization. Unfortunately I didn't have any cash on me, and was not planning to use cash for my purchase either. However, for the first time I think I also thought about the question of how effective my money would be in going to the organization they were working for. It was strange because normally I am very willing to make a donation to a cause that someone introduces as helping others. Then I also reflected on what happens often when I ask other people to donate to a cause at tabling. Most look down, and in fact very few were even willing to engage in conversation about what I was working for even when they donated. I love your example that you found mentioning the effects of knowing the arrival of solicitations, because it does represent that people may not want to donate when they feel pressured to or in contrast as you said for yourself, people automatically feel obligated to do something because of the pressure that is put on them. I suppose this really does negate the purpose of helping others when we feel obligated or pressured to do so and therefore our passion for the matter is lacking. Great post, and thanks for bringing up the idea of social pressures again!
ReplyDeleteHi Cliff, great job. It kind of relates to my last post in which I described both viewing the social pressures of giving and myself personally asking for donations and therefore pressuring others. I think the social pressures exist and always exist for one reason or another, whether it be the receiver personally pressuring you or experiencing pressure from friends and family when it seems like everyone else is doing it and that it is what good people do. Who wants to be a bad person? Also, I think that if social pressures encourage giving, that is a good thing. There isn't anything wrong with an organization getting the money they need in order to execute their mission. More recently, I have felt somewhat uncomfortable when people come to my dorm asking for a donation or participation in some kind of fundraising. But primarily that is because I don't really have spare cash laying around that I can donate and I would really like to help if I could. Also, it's a little uncomfortable when someone comes to your door and you're caught off-guard in your pajamas and and your hair in a towel. But that's more of a personal issue. At home, I have never felt uncomfortable when people have come to my door to ask for something because there I am more likely to have funds available to me to donate. But as I wrote in my blog post, I definitely put pressure on others to donate and saw that happen to others by other people and while it was awkward pressuring peers, we definitely saw results as far as money we raised.
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