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The effects of solicitation framing on donations

Last registered on January 30, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The effects of solicitation framing on donations
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014552
Initial registration date
January 29, 2025

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
January 30, 2025, 11:19 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Slovakia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Matej Lorko
Affiliation
University of Economics in Bratislava
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Maroš Servátka
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Tomáš Malinovský
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-02-03
End date
2025-04-30
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
charitable giving
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Our goal is to examine the effect of different donation solicitation framings on the propensity to donate and donation amounts. In addition, we intend to examine the interaction between solicitation framing and donation matching. Finally, we are interested in examining the association between individual personality traits, solicitation framing and donation amounts.

We intend to test the following research questions:

1) Does donor-oriented solicitation frame lead to more donations than charity-oriented and recipient-oriented frame?
2) Is donation matching less effective for donor-oriented frame?
3) Does solicitation frame which is aligned with donor’s personality traits lead to more donations?
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lorko, Matej, Tomáš Malinovský and Maroš Servátka. 2025. "The effects of solicitation framing on donations." AEA RCT Registry. January 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14552-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We intend to employ three different solicitation frames. Orthogonally, we will manipulate donation matching.
Intervention (Hidden)
The details of the three frames are as follows:
1) charity-oriented "We" frame, e.g. "The charity will help 1 000 children to receive better education and escape poverty."
2) recipient-oriented "They" frame, e.g. "1 000 children will receive better education and escape poverty."
3) donor-oriented "You" frame, e.g. "Your contribution will help 1 000 children to receive better education and escape poverty."
Intervention Start Date
2025-02-03
Intervention End Date
2025-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
donation propensity, donation amount
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
beliefs about the behavior of others - donation propensity, donation amounts
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Two stages separated by few weeks. In Stage 1, subjects earns flat fee for completing a set of psychometric questionnaires, in Stage 2 subject can donate from her experimental earnings to a charity.
Experimental Design Details
Online experiment with 2 stages, separated by few weeks.

• Stage 1: Subject fills out a questionnaire (approximately 50 items) eliciting altruistic/warm-glow preferences, prosocial tendencies, psychological traits, past behavior, and demographics. Subject earns a flat fee for Stage 1 completion.

• Stage 2: Subject is informed that she can use the money (any integer amount) earned in Stage 1 for donations towards a charity. There are 6 across subject treatments (3 by 2 design). We manipulate the solicitation framing (charity-oriented, recipient-oriented, donor-oriented) and donation matching (none, 1:1). Next, we measure subjects' emotions (PANAS scale), familiarity with and impressions of the charity soliciting donations and subject beliefs about donations of others.
Randomization Method
Randomization done by web application.
Randomization Unit
Randomization on individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approximately 150-200 participants per treatment.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 900-1200 observations, one per participant.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately 150-200 participants per treatment.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethical Committee of the University of Economics in Bratislava
IRB Approval Date
2023-01-17
IRB Approval Number
EKEUBA-APVV-21- 0388-1/2023
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials