Charitable donations to forest conservation: Evidence from field experiments

Last registered on October 17, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Charitable donations to forest conservation: Evidence from field experiments
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006152
Initial registration date
July 19, 2020

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 20, 2020, 11:37 AM EDT

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

Last updated
October 17, 2021, 2:57 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Japan
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Takahiro Kubo
Affiliation
National Institute for Environmental Studies
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2020-07-20
End date
2020-12-31
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Biodiversity conservation, Charitable donation, Forest conservation, Information provision, Natural field experiment, Voluntary contribution
JEL code(s)
C93, H41, Q23, Q50, Q57
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Donations are an important way to address funding shortfalls in conservation. However, few behavioural studies have tested the impact of ‘messaging’ on conservation donations. We will conduct two types of randomized field experiments to examine the effects of information provision on donation behaviour for forest conservation. Specifically, we measure the impacts of two types of information. The first relates to funding by informing potential donors about the percentage and total amount of current donations compared to the targeted amount. The second concerns the conservation importance of the targeted forest and provides information about the high number of threatened species that live there. We will test whether those messages enhance the donation behaviour among Japanese citizens using traditional mailshot (first experiment) and advertisements on Facebook (second experiment).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kubo, Takahiro. 2021. "Charitable donations to forest conservation: Evidence from field experiments." AEA RCT Registry. October 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6152-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will conduct randomized information manipulations using solicitation mails (letters) and Facebook ads. Subjects will be randomly assigned to three groups.
Intervention Start Date
2020-07-20
Intervention End Date
2020-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
At the subject-level:
- Whether or not a subject donates to charity
- How much a subject donates to charity

At the daily level:
- Number of people who see the Facebook ads (i.e., Reach and/or Impression)
- Number of people who click on the Facebook ads (i.e., Link clicks)
- Number of contributions to over entire time period
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will conduct randomized information manipulations using solicitation mails (letters) and Facebook ads. Subjects will be randomly assigned to three groups.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization has been done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
In the experiment using mailed letters , we will implement a stratified randomization by considering the member type (individual or corporate). In the Facebook experiment, we will apply individual-unit randomization (i.e., between-subjects design).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
797 members (individual and corporate NGO members), and 3000 Facebook users (individuals)
Sample size: planned number of observations
797 members (individual and corporate NGO members), and 3000 Facebook users
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Control: 266 members + 1000 Facebook users,
Seed-money treatment: 266 members + 1000 Facebook users,
Ecological treatment: 265 members + 1000 Facebook users
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Ethics Committee of the School of Anthropology and Conservation of the University of Kent, UK
IRB Approval Date
2020-06-12
IRB Approval Number
011-ST-20
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
December 21, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
December 21, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
630 individuals in the experiment using mailed letters
1287764 Facebook users (Impression) in the experiment using Facebook ads.
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
630 individuals in the experiment using mailed letters
1287764 Facebook users (Impression) in the experiment using Facebook ads.
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Mailed letter / Facebook - Control: 210 members (Mailed letter) / 320332 Impressions (Facebook) - Seed money: 210 members (Mailed letter) / 463107 Impressions (Facebook) - Ecological: 210 members (Mailed letter) / 504325 Impressions (Facebook)
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials