Relational Warm Glow and Giving in Social Groups

Arbeitspapier

We study charitable giving within social groups. Exploiting a unique dataset, we establish three key relationships between social group size and fundraising outcomes: (i) a positive relationship between group size and the total number of donations; (ii) a negative relationship between group size and the amount given by each donor; (iii) no relationship between group size and the total amount raised by the fundraiser. We rule out classic free-riding to explain these relationships since the number of social group members is only a subset of total contributors. Instead, the findings are consistent with the notion that giving in social groups is motivated by “relational” warm glow.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 4879

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers ; Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology: General ; Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household
• Subject: online giving ; fundraising ; social groups ; donations ; charity ; warm glow

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Scharf, Kimberley Ann ; Smith, Sarah
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/102131
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET