Avoiding guilt is a powerful motivator for charitable giving, according to a study. Masahiko Haruno and colleagues ran two experiments to determine the most effective psychological framing to encourage donations to WaterAid, an NGO working to provide clean water and sanitation worldwide. First, the authors surveyed 6,232 Japanese people online about their willingness to donate after seeing messages emphasizing altruism (e.g., “clean water improves the lives of women and children”), social expectation (e.g., “society depends on donors to help”), inequity aversion (e.g., “access to clean water is unequal”), sense of control (i.e., donors have the power to change recipients’ lives), or the warm glow of giving felt by the donor. In the second experiment, advertisements were placed on Yahoo and the authors measured click-through rates and donations rates associated with each message. In both cases, messages emphasizing social expectation were the most effective for motivating donations. Social expectation messages appeal to people’s desire to act in a manner consistent with a self-image as a person who meets social expectations, and people’s desire to reduce feelings of guilt. Inequity aversion and altruism were the least effective framings. According to the authors, testing these findings in other cultures could help show if the power of social expectations to activate prosocial giving is universal or culturally specific to Japan.
PNAS Nexus
Emphasizing society's expectations enhances charitable giving in NGO advertisements
21-Jul-2026