The Effect of Media on Charitable Giving and Volunteering: Evidence from the `Give Five' Campaign

Abstract

Fundraising campaigns advertised via mass media are common. To what extent such campaigns affect charitable behavior is mostly unknown, however. Using giving and volunteering surveys conducted biannually from 1988 to 1996, I investigate the e¡èect of a national fundraising campaign, "Give Five", on charitable giving and volunteering patterns. The widely advertised "Give Five" campaign was aimed to encourage people to give five percent of their income and volunteer five hours a week. After controlling for selection into being informed about the "Give Five", I find that people who were informed about the campaign increased their weekly volunteering activity on average by almost half an hour, but their giving behavior was not significantly affected. I discuss the policy implications associated with this result and argue that although the "Give Five" campaign did not achieve its goal, its economic impact was considerable.