Peter Martinsson - The Impact of Suggested Donation and Social Information on Voluntary Donations: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Costa Rica

This study compares the effectiveness of two fundraising strategies: suggested donation and social information, and examines how different monetary amounts of suggested donation and social information impact donation behavior. Which fundraising strategy is more effective and how donation behavior changes with different monetary amounts are still open questions. We implemented a field experiment on voluntary donations among visitors to a national park. We find that both fundraising strategies positively and significantly affect donation behavior. However, the donation pattern differs significantly between the two strategies depending on the monetary amounts shown to visitors. Social information increases donations up to an inflection point. Suggested donations result in few visitors contributing more than the suggested amount, which is consistent with visitors interpreting this amount as a maximum. Our findings provide important insights for designing future fundraising campaigns.