Identifying a single victim can increase willingness to donate by up to 36%

Emotions play a significant role in decision-making and can influence people’s decision to donate their money to a cause. Many charities and other non-profit organizations struggle to get individuals to contribute to a cause and could therefore benefit from better understanding what factors influence someone’s decision to contribute or not. Previous research had shown that people are more likely to give money to a cause where those that they are helping are identified, as it evokes a more emotional response. The researchers in this study wanted to study the identifiable victim effect and determine whether the impact was the same whether there was a singular victim, or a group of victims. In all three studies the researchers conducted, the researchers found that the identifiable victim effect only occurs for singular victims and did not have a significant effect for a group of victims.