Allocation Choice in Charitable Giving : A Natural Field Experiment

This study examines whether charitable giving increases if donors have more choice about how their donations are used. In a field experiment, employees of large Albanian companies were asked to donate to projects administered by Down Syndrome Albania. Treatments varied in whether participants were allowed (or forced) to choose between different projects, and in the amount of information they were given. Giving donors a choice substantially increased giving; information did not. Our setting allows us to consider various mechanisms that could underlie this behavior. We conclude that allocation choice mainly increases donations because donors can target projects they like