1. The University of Bristol’s Festival of Social
Sciences and Law presents:
SCHOOLS CHARITY
CHALLENGE 2013
8 November 2013
Tweet @UobFutures #TF2013

2. Introduction
Sarah Smith
(University of Bristol)

3. The challenge
• How to encourage (more) people to give to
charity in the workplace
• Using insights from behavioural economics
• Drawing on experience of recent “giving trials”

4. What you will get from this
• Insights into
– behavioural economics
– applied economic research
• A “warm glow” from thinking about charity

5. Homo economicus
• Independent
• Rational
• Utility-maximising
Good 1
x1
U
Good 2
x2

6. How to get homo economicus to give more?
Other goods
x1
U
x2
Donation to charity

7. How to get homo economicus to give more?
Make it cheaper for people to give
Offer a match
Or a (tax) rebate
Other goods
x1
U
x2
Donation to charity

8. How to get homo economicus to give more?
Make it cheaper for people to give
Offer a match
Or a (tax) rebate
Other goods
x1 ’
x1
U’
U
x2
x2 ’
Donation to charity

9. Payroll giving schemes
• Allow people to give out of their gross (before tax)
earnings – which means giving up less of the other
things they want to buy
• Many firms offer a match on top of this
• But take up is low: <1% at the majority of firms with
payroll giving schemes

10. Behavioural Economics Insights
• Does not do away altogether with homo
economicus paradigm
• But makes different/ more realistic
assumptions about the way people make
decisions

11. Behavioural Economics Insights (1)
• Making rational decisions is a
costly activity
• People may not always have –
and/ or process – all the
relevant information
• Small processing/ transactions
costs have a big effect

12. Behavioural Economics Insights (1)
• Practical insights:
– The way options are
presented matters
– Simplifying choices can have
an effect on decisions
– Defaults (opt in/out)

13. Behavioural Economics Insights (2)
• People are social
– They care what other
people think
– They are influenced by
what other people do

14. Behavioural Economics Insights (2)
• Practical insights
– People respond to
information on what other
people have done
– Personal relationships matter
– Group dynamics are
important

15. Charitable Giving Experiments
Michael Sanders
(University of Bristol
And Behavioural Insights Team)

16. Experiments – why?
• If we observe the world around us, we can
learn a lot
• However, without a source of random
variation, we can’t tell if one thing causes
another.
• Random allocation – we expect two groups to
be the same.

17. Charitable Giving Experiments
• Two experiments
• Carried out in two very different workplaces
• Very quick examples of what can be done

18. Experiment 1
• Inflation erodes the value of donations
• Charities Trust offers a solution – 3% annual
increases, to keep the value of your giving
• Take-up quite low

19. Experiment 1
• Switch the default –
• Tick to opt in
• Tick to opt out
• Very simple intervention, which can be very
powerful

20. Experiment 1: Results
Enrollment into annual increases
60%
48%
40%
20%
6%
0%
Opt-in
Opt-out

21. Experiment 2
• Investment bank
• Asking people to give one day’s salary
• 63 Offices

22. Volunteers

23. Fliers

24. Sweets

25. Experiment 2: Results
Giving One Day’s Salary
20%
11%
5%
5%
Control Group
Fliers
0%
Sweets

26. The University of Bristol’s Festival of Social
Sciences and Law presents:
SCHOOLS CHARITY
CHALLENGE 2013
8 November 2013
Tweet @UobFutures #TF2013

27. The importance of giving in the workplace
Why choose payroll giving?
• Tax efficient
• Payroll giving is the most tax effective way for
employees to support charities and good causes
• Social and community engagement
• Giving in the workplace delivers the feel good factor
• Flexible
• Complete choice over the charities they donate to and
the amount

28. Engaging employees in workplace giving
• What works?
• Chocolate!
• Match funding
• The last 3 feet…
• What doesn’t work?
• Poor promotion/communication = lack of awareness
• A complicated/time consuming sign-up process

29. The University of Bristol’s Festival of Social
Sciences and Law presents:
SCHOOLS CHARITY
CHALLENGE 2013
8 November 2013
Tweet @UobFutures #TF2013

30. Now over to you
• Design an intervention to increase the level of
giving in the workplace
• Prepare a brief (5 mins presentation)
• Your idea will be judged on:
– Innovation
– Potential to increase giving
– Incorporation of behavioural economics insights

31. The context
• Retail company; 600 stores across the country
• 11,000 employees; 212 signed up to payroll giving
• Presentations at HQ (no visits to outlets)
• Company matches first month’s donation
• Company supports Unicef; employees can choose
which charity to give to

32. The University of Bristol’s Festival of Social
Sciences and Law presents:
SCHOOLS CHARITY
CHALLENGE 2013
8 November 2013
Tweet @UobFutures #TF2013