Natural Disasters and Private Donations to NGOs: The Effects of Being Present after the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean

NGOs are widely perceived to raise their flag in humanitarian hot-spots with strong media presence in order to attract higher private donations. We assess this hypothesis by comparing the changes in donations between US-based NGOs with and without activities in the four countries most affected by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004. Performing a difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) approach, we find only weak indications that private donors systematically and strongly preferred active over inactive NGOs