Barriers to Giving

Last registered on July 28, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Barriers to Giving
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006238
Initial registration date
July 27, 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 28, 2020, 9:34 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ragan Petrie
Affiliation
Texas A&M University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Marco Castillo
PI Affiliation
Texas A&M University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2015-07-01
End date
2023-08-01
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
charitable giving, nuisance costs
JEL code(s)
D64, H41, C93, D91
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We develop a nonparametric test for the presence of nuisance costs in charitable giving and conduct a large-scale field experiment on giving to show that nuisance costs are sizable and impactful.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Castillo, Marco and Ragan Petrie. 2020. "Barriers to Giving." AEA RCT Registry. July 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6238-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Individuals are offered a fixed match for a charity if they make a donation at or above a minimum donation threshold. We partner with charities and an online giving platform to implement the study.
Intervention Start Date
2015-08-01
Intervention End Date
2022-08-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Donation rate, amount donated
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Individuals are offered a fixed match for a charity if they make a donation at or above a minimum donation threshold. There are three possible match offers, and one of the three is randomly assigned to an individual. We partner with charities and an online giving platform to implement the study.
Experimental Design Details
We partner with several charities and an online giving platform to implement the field experiment. Individuals on a charities supporter list are offered a fixed match for the charity if they make a donation of at least a minimum amount. There are three possible match offers, "give at least $1 and the charity will get a match of $5," or "give at least $5 and the charity will get a match of $25," or "give at least $10 and the charity will get a match of $50." Each individual was offered only one of the three possible match offers, and they were not made aware of the other offers. Each charity experienced all three match offers, randomly assigned to their supporters. Charities were blind to treatment assignment. Individuals were informed of the offer and had a week to make a donation and receive a match for the charity.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
18,000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
18,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
6,000 individuals 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
George Mason University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2013-12-17
IRB Approval Number
IRB 477710-6
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