Giving it away: charitable donations to overseas disasters

Abstract

Several major natural disasters over the past twenty years have attracted the attention of donors, but not as much from philanthropy researchers. This paper contributes to an expanding literature on donations for disaster relief by analyzing a large survey of Canadian donations that asks about disaster relief. We identify several individual characteristics associated with donations for international causes generally, and disaster relief specifically. We find that university education, religious activity, and living in cities are all highly associated with donating to international causes and disaster relief. Contrary to most domestic charitable activity, immigrants are more likely to support overseas causes than Canadians born in Canada. We conclude that the evidence is more consistent with theories of philanthropy that emphasize awareness and empathy, as opposed to those based on public goods provision or reciprocity.