(2015) The Selective Generosity Of Donors: How Victim Identifiability Affects Philanthropy

2015-11-18T14:00:00

Dr. Traci Freling & Devin Lunt

Researchers and practitioners in the nonprofit sector have long noted the tendency for people to offer greater aid to a specific, identifiable person who is suffering, rather than to a large, abstract group with the same need. This bias is called the “identifiable victim effect” (IVE), and it can have a considerable impact on philanthropy, fundraising, and disaster relief efforts.

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