The counterintuitive effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving

Six experiments examined the effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving. Results indicate that although people expect that the offer of thank-you gifts will increase donations, such offers actually reduce charitable donations. This effect was obtained across a wide variety of charities and gifts types, regardless of whether the donations were hypothetical or real, the gift was desirable or undesirable, the charity was familiar or unfamiliar, or the gift was more or less valuable. Moreover, such patterns cannot solely be explained in terms of inferences about the charity’s quality (e.g., either their efficacy or current wealth), the undesirability of the gift itself, or simple anchoring effects. These results are discussed within a broader theoretical framework concerning the effects of extrinsic incentives on altruistic behavior.

► People predict that thank-you gifts will increase donations to charity.
► However, the offer of thank-you gifts reduces charitable donations.
► Occurs because the offer of a gift reduces feelings of altruism.
► Reframing the gift as consistent with altruistic motivations attenuates the negative effect.