On the Limited Role of Efficiency in Charitable Giving

Performance measurement is considered useful in guiding donations to charities. We investigated whether efficiency rates predominately guide donations relative to available alternatives, or influence donation amounts. Across four studies (N = 460), participants evaluating charity advertisements saw randomly assigned efficiency rates presented as background information. Participants could pledge a portion of a gift card, offered in return for participation, to their pick of presented charities. Participants were sensitive to relative, but not absolute, efficiency, giving more often to more relatively efficient charities but generally did not pledge them more money. Even providing an explicit standard of efficiency did not create an absolute sensitivity to efficiency, suggesting that efficiency information, steers, rather than encourages, or discourages, donations overall.