Social Identification and Charitable Giving: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

To enhance their effectiveness, nonprofit fundraisers may wish to harness the power of identification. Informed by Social Identity Theory and Charitable Triad Theory, we meta-analyzed 40 years of research on social identification and charitable giving to quantify the overall relationship and conducted meta-regressions to investigate moderators. Across 109 effect sizes drawn from 89,570 participants, we found a medium-sized relationship (r =.29). Identification with other donors (r =.23), beneficiaries (r =.24), and fundraisers (r =.36) were all positively associated with giving. Strength of identification (r =.32) was more strongly associated with giving than was shared identity (i.e., in-group vs out-group target; r =.15). Effects were smaller for actual behavior (r =.20) than for self-reported giving (r =.33) and were only found when giving was mediated through charities (r =.34) but not when giving directly to individuals (r =.04). We include practical recommendations for ways that fundraisers can effectively leverage the power of identification in recruitment campaigns, copywriting, and selection of spokespeople.