Using Charity Performance Metrics as an Excuse Not to Give

Link post

This is a link post to highlight a recent Management Science paper on the role of charity performance metrics in giving.

Exley, C. L. 2020. “Using Charity Performance Metrics as an Excuse Not to Give,” Management Science (66:2), pp. 553–563. (https://​​doi.org/​​10.1287/​​mnsc.2018.3268).

The main gist is an argument that self-serving motives can influence the interpretation of performance metrics and lead to excuses for not giving. I have not read the paper in depth but still wanted to give interested people the opportunity to check the paper out themselves. The main conclusion of the paper is cited below:

This paper documents how individuals may use charity performance metrics as an excuse not to give. The relation between policy and this novel channel through which individuals exploit factors in a self-serving manner is clear. When considering the benefits of providing performance metrics as a tool to encourage more effective giving, it is important to consider the potential downside of facilitating the development of excuses not to give. How to construct solicitations that balance this tension, and that mitigate the potential downside, is worthy of future work.