The document describes a study that tested whether framing charitable donations as gifts rather than donations is more effective for soliciting donations. The study gave 161 undergraduate participants envelopes labeled either "Donation" or "Gift" and found that those given gift-labeled envelopes generally left more money, showing gift framing is more effective. However, gift framing may be less effective for donors who want to maintain social distance from beneficiaries.

1. From: Wang, Wang, and Jiang (2022)
Gift or Donation?
Framing charitable giving as gift rather than donation is more
effective in charitable solicitation.

2. From: Wang, Wang, and Jiang (2022)
Traditional Framing: Donation New Framing: Gift

3. From: Wang, Wang, and Jiang (2022)
Donation-framing Gift-framing
• Donors and beneficiaries are usually
anonymous to each other;
• Donors usually have a higher social status
HIGH social distance between donors
and beneficiaries
• A gift carries multiple symbolic meanings
• Gift giving is associated with social and
relational contexts
LOW social distance between donors
and beneficiaries
Gift or Donation?
Social Distance: The subjective feelings of distance from another person or
group. Donor-beneficiary social distance has a negative relationship with
donors’ charitable responses

4. From: Wang, Wang, and Jiang (2022)
An Experimental Demonstration
Participants: Hong Kong undergraduates, N = 161
Procedures:
• were invited to an experimental session
• at the end, received compensation: 5 HK$2 coins and 5 HK$1 coins
• were informed that we were collaborating with a local charity and given an envelope
labelled either “Donation” or “Gift”
• left money in the envelope for donation if they were willing to donate

5. From: Wang, Wang, and Jiang (2022)
Takeaways
• Is gift framing more effective than donation framing in solicitation?
Generally yes!
• Can we use donation framing and gift framing simultaneously?
No!
• When is gift framing less effective than donation framing (i.e., when will the
“gift framing superiority” disappear)?
When donors endorse high social distance from beneficiaries, they will
prefer donation-framing. For example, when donors have a relatively
high need for status…