Time Is Precious — Here’s How to Convince People to Donate It

Posted by University of Pennsylvania on June 29, 2015

Time Is Precious — Here’s How to Convince People to Donate It

Most charitable organizations survive through the help of donations. But what motivates a person to write a check versus signing up for some volunteer hours? And how can an organization convince donors to give time instead of money?

In a new paper, “I Don’t Want the Money, I Just Want Your Time: How Moral Identity Overcomes the Aversion to Giving Time to Pro-social Causes,” Wharton marketing professor Americus Reed and his co-authors find that one way to do this is through cues that speak to a person’s moral identity — or the degree to which concerns like kindness or generosity are central to your sense of who you are.

The paper’s co-authors are Adam Kay, a doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, Stephanie Finnel, a marketing support services specialist at BAYADA Home Health Care, Karl Aquino, a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, and Eric Levy, a professor at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School. The paper is forthcoming in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Reed recently discussed the findings with Knowledge@Wharton. An edited transcript of the conversation appears at the link below.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-to-convince-people-to-donate-time/