Research from across the pond confirms what we’ve suspected all along: giving is actually contagious.
According to a study highlighted in The Guardian, “seeing others give makes an individual more likely to give, and gentle encouragement from a prominent person in your life can make also make a big difference to your donation decisions—more than quadrupling them….”
And here’s another axiom confirmed: people give from the heart, not the head.
“Many people are also aware that they should donate to the causes that have the highest impact,” the article states, “but facts and figures are less attractive than narratives. In a series of experiments, it was found that people are much more responsive to charitable pleas that feature a single, identifiable beneficiary than they are to statistical information about the scale of the problem being faced.”
Finally, this may seem counterintuitive, but it’s good news for nonprofits—”spending money on others,” research shows, “actually makes us happier than spending it on ourselves.”
Philanthropy is indeed the gift that keeps on giving.