Fundraising factors
By SANDRA CHEREB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Marketers have long known the power of a pretty face. But new research into the economics of charitable giving says people are just as apt to open their wallets for a chance to win a prize.
When it comes to giving, the so-called "blonde effect," is just as effective as the "lottery effect."
Those were some of the findings of a study co-authored by Michael K. Price, an assistant professor of resource economics at the University of Nevada, Reno.
"Marketers have known that beauty sells," Price said Friday. "But here we were able to actually, in essence, price out the beauty effect."
In the 2004 study, 44 undergraduates at East Carolina University in North Carolina were hired as solicitors, provided training, then sent out into neighborhoods seeking donations for a new research center at the school.
The solicitors, divided into four groups, visited nearly 5,000 households.
One group simply asked for voluntary donations, while another used the lure of "seed" money - a suggestion that others had donated as well - as persuasion.
Two other groups used a "lottery" incentive in their spiel - telling potential donors they would be entered into a drawing for a prize, with their chances of winning tied to the size of their contribution.
At the same time, solicitors themselves were rated on their appearance by an economics class at the University of Maryland.
The researchers then compared the number and dollar amounts of donations received by each individual solicitor.
"We find that the effect of the physical appearance is a strong as the lottery incentive," said Price, one of five co-authors.
In the study, donations from households enticed by the lottery incentive averaged $1.70 - 70 cents more than those asked simply for a contribution without an incentive.
The ratio was similar to those solicited by women rated as "beautiful," as opposed to those of "average" looks, the study said.
The study, to be published next month in the "Quarterly Journal of Economics," was featured Friday night on ABC's "20/20," which replicated the test in Chicago for the news program, using the same protocols as the university researchers, Price said.
For the ABC News project, students in Price's Applied Economics class at UNR evaluated photographs of the solicitors from the University of Chicago to rate their attractiveness.
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On the Net:
Price Study:
http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/cabnr/newsletter/pdf/price.pdf
