Study finds Facebook popularity hampers fundraising efforts

www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-12/uow-sff122314.php

Public Release: 23-Dec-2014
University of Warwick

People with fewer friends on Facebook raise more money for charity than those with lots of connections, research by an economist at the University of Warwick has found.

Professor Kimberley Scharf analysed data from JustGiving.com and found a negative correlation between the size of a group and the amount of money given by each donor - with the average contribution by each person dropping by two pence for every extra connection someone had on Facebook.

This research builds on and supports earlier analytical findings, published in the November issue of the International Economic Review by Professor Scharf, a Research Director at the University's Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE), that finds large social groups are less likely to share information about charitable causes when compared to those who are part of smaller circles - and that this results in less fundraising success.

In that paper, the phenomenon of 'free-riding' on information sharing is the main driver behind the findings - when people are part of a larger social group, they feel less of a need to share information about well performing charities because they're expecting other friends to share the information; but this concept of free-riding also extends to giving in social groups - friends expect other friends to stump up most of the cash and so they don't bother themselves.

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But Prof Scharf also discovered that the amount a person can raise doesn't only depend on the number of friends they have online - those who complete tougher fundraising activities generate more cash.

"Whilst running is by far the most popular event on JustGiving, it is in fact individuals who complete triathlons that typically attract the largest number of donations and raise the most money in total," she added. "So doing something physically demanding and asking a small group of friends for their support is much more effective than relying on donations from lots of people for what would be perceived as a relatively less exerting activity."

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