Philanthropic differences between Natural Disaster donors and Donors to Other Causes

Abstract

Few research papers look into giving behavior towards natural disasters and little research have been published on the varying effects of solicitation requests on philanthropy. This study combines the two ideas to distinguish if people who give to natural disasters give differently than people who give to other types for charities where both the decision to donate and the amount given is investigated. It uses the Canadian Survey of Giving Volunteering and Participating (2010) which asks individuals if they gave in response to natural disaster. Only donors are included in the analysis. This study takes into account different types solicitation requests as well as socio-demographic characteristics to see how much they affect the decision to give and the amount to natural disaster donors and those that give to other causes.