Donor behaviour towards non-governmental organizations: A randomized discrete choice experiment

Last registered on March 04, 2026
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Donor behaviour towards non-governmental organizations: A randomized discrete choice experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013891
Initial registration date
June 26, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 01, 2024, 11:58 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
March 04, 2026, 3:06 AM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ivar Kolstad
Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-06-26
End date
2024-06-28
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We will perform an online randomized controlled trial studying how various types of information treatments affect donation behaviour towards non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Effects on donations will be measured through a discrete choice experiment (DCE).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kolstad, Ivar. 2026. "Donor behaviour towards non-governmental organizations: A randomized discrete choice experiment." AEA RCT Registry. March 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13891-2.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-06-26
Intervention End Date
2024-06-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
NGO choice in discrete choice experiment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Please see attached pre-analysis plan for details.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will perform an online randomized controlled trial studying how various types of information treatments affect donation behaviour towards non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Effects on donations will be measured through a discrete choice experiment (DCE).
Experimental Design Details
Please see attached pre-analysis plan for details.
Randomization Method
Randomization by computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
800 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
800 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
About 320 individual in main treatment and in control, about 160 individual in a treatment arm used for robustness
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NHH IRB
IRB Approval Date
2024-05-10
IRB Approval Number
NHH-IRB 76/24
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
June 27, 2024, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
June 27, 2024, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
759
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
301 (effective altruism treatment), 302 (control), 156 (robustness treatment)
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
Yes
Public Data URL
https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/k45wxv28j7/1.

Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/k45wxv28j7/1.
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
In a pre-registered randomised online experiment, we test the effect of an effective altruism
information treatment on donations to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Donor behaviour is measured
through an incentivised discrete choice experimental approach. Despite power to pick up reasonably
small effects, we find no effect of the treatment on donations to advocacy organisations, suggesting that the
critique against effective altruism as ignoring institutional, systemic, and political issues meets with little
empirical support. Some results even suggest that effective altruism may increase donor support for advocacy.
In addition, effective altruism leads to increased support for organisations with an international focus, a
result driven by respondents with less universalistic distributional preferences and less trust in NGOs. This
suggests that effective altruism may reduce parochialism in donor behaviour.
Citation
Berge, J. W., Berge, L. I., Chiu, W. and Kolstad, I. (forthcoming), “Impacts of effective altruism on donor behaviour: A randomized discrete choice experiment”, Journal of Development Studies
URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2025.2601583

Reports & Other Materials