RESEARCH for PEOPLE WHO WORK IN DEVELOPMENT OFFICES (Cleveland is a big foundation town.)

A Simple Trick for Tripling People’s Charitable Donations
Offered a choice of donating 150 euros to one poor woman or 450 euros to three, research participants frugally chose the lower option 2-to-1. But they became much more generous and chose the 450-euro option 2-to-1 if they were also offered a choice of donating 500 euros to benefit just two women, say Enrico Rubaltelli and Sergio Agnoli of the University of Padova in Italy. In the second scenario, choosing the 450-euro donation was the most popular option because it allowed participants to help the highest number of people without giving away the highest amount of money. Charitable organizations should take heed, the authors say.

What do you think?

From Harvard University’s Daily STAT