Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-141).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1975. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-171).

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

This thesis explores three topics in the study of charities and charitable giving. The first chapter studies a classic question in public economics which deals with how charities react to government grants. In recent years this question of understanding crowd-out from the charity's perspective has been extended by numerous authors. This chapter is an extension of this work by using the framework from Andreoni, Payne, and Smith (2014) which studied the impact of a specific granting program in the UK. We use a grant program for charities from a Canadian provincial government agency to explore the extent to which these grants crowd out revenue from other sources. We are able to explore more than 15,000 applications by charities for funding over a 10-year period and have constructed a rich data set that captures information about the application and the revenues and expenses of the charity. We demonstrate that the overall revenues of the charity increases approximately 20% and that the effect of the grant extends several years. We also find that the grant raises revenue nearly dollar-for-dollar for small charities and by more than dollar-for-dollar for medium and large charities. The second chapter further explores how charities operate by studying how managers of charities influence the charity's finances. Using a novel dataset of Canadian charities that links the manager of a charity to the charity's financial data I employ a multi-leveled fixed effects model to estimate the effect the manager of a charity has on the charity's financial outcomes. I find that a one standard deviation increase in manager quality leads to a 0.516 standard deviation increase in total revenue, which amounts to over $500,000, with similar magnitudes for other measures of revenue and expenditures. I then use characteristics of the manager such as gender and marital status to find which characteristics are more prevalent in managers with higher estimated ability. Finally, I present evidence of positive match effects between managers and charities suggesting that good managers are assigned to good charities, and that the effect of a manager can persist even after the manager leaves the charity. Finally in the third chapter we explore the extent to which donation decisions are influenced by government policies. Specifically we study the extent to which the salience of a tax-induced incentive for charitable giving influences donors behaviour. Previous academic work has focused on estimating the price elasticity of giving and differences between permanent and transitory effects of changes in the price. This paper focuses on the timing and salience of tax incentives for giving. The Quebec provincial government responded to the January 12, 2010 Haiti Earthquake by permitting donations for the relief effort to be reported on the 2009 tax return. Residents in the rest of Canada reported their donations for Haiti relief efforts on their 2010 tax return. This difference in policy as well as the widespread announcement of the Quebec policy provides a natural experiment for testing whether the timing associated with reporting donations on one's tax return and the salience of the announcement of the policy affects charitable giving. In Canada, all tax filers with a tax liability can benefit from the reporting of donations and the credit available for such donations is tied to the level of the reported donations. We find that Quebec taxpayers gave more than taxpayers in the rest of Canada during this period and that this effect is driven by both an extensive (increased givers) and intensive (increased giving) margin. This result has important policy implications and contributes to current debates on the use of tax incentives to encourage charitable giving. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Sonya Britt / The purpose of this research study was to investigate the determinants that explain and predict Christian’s intentions to make lifetime gifts to charities. The research was guided by the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) utilizing an expanded model that anticipated Christians who have (a) a favorable attitude toward giving, (b) a perceived pressure from social norms, (c) high levels of perceived behavioral control in their ability to make gifts, (d) a positive moral responsibility toward charitable giving, (e) a history of charitable giving, and (f) a faith based spiritual desire to pursue the Christian way of life would be more inclined to have giving intentions. Survey data were obtained through two pilot studies and a main study (N = 250). The pilot study participants were recruited through the researcher’s social network. The main study participants were enlisted through a contract with Qualtrics, an online survey organization that maintains panels of likely research subjects. Hierarchical linear regression identified support for traditional and expanded models of the theory of planned behavior. In the traditional model, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, all predicted donative intent. In the expanded model, not moral norms, past behavior, and the Christian way of life predicted donating intentions; however, perceived behavioral control a significant predictor in the traditional model, did not predict donative intent. The traditional theory of planned behavior accounted for 65%, and expanded predictors added 11% to the explanation of intention to donate to non-profit organizations in the coming year. The current research has both theoretical and applied implications. Consistent with Fishbein and Ajzen’s (2010) encouragement to improve the traditional model, the expanded model enhanced the predictive ability of the theory of planned behavior with a new determinant, the Christian way of life. The current research also reaffirms the predictive ability of the previously tested factor past behavior and not moral norms. Non-profit organizations may apply these findings by targeting the salient beliefs that are foundational to all predictors of intentions. The current research has identified beliefs associated with attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioral control, moral norms, past behavior, and the Christian way of life that offer non-profit organizations educational opportunities to intervene with donors to improve charitable behavior.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship among selected demographic variables and donor or nondonor status of alumni and employees at the participating university. The variables involving alumni were gender, highest degree earned, and college of major study. The variables regarding employees were gender and position. The study was conducted using archived alumni data from the Alumni Association’s database program and the archived employee data from the Office of Human Resources’ database program. The population for this study consisted of the 76,728 alumni and the 2,279 full-time employees of a mid-sized southeastern university during the fiscal year 2009-2010. The results of the data analysis gave insight into what degree alumni and employees gave back to their university and place of employment. For example, 3.9% of alumni were found to be donors while 18.4% of employees were shown to be donors. The percentage of alumni who donated increased with each advanced degree earned. Males in both categories, alumni and employees, donated at a higher percentage than females. In the employee category, faculty were shown to donate at a higher percentage than administrators or staff. The study provided an increase in the body of knowledge of the variables of alumni giving and employee giving at the participating university.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-145).

Thesis advisor: Richard McGowan / This thesis seeks to better understand the state of philanthropy in China via a quantitative and qualitative comparison of philanthropy between the United States and China. Due to the United States’ historical background in philanthropy and the current success of its philanthropic campaigns, it is an ideal target for the basis of comparison. Through the analysis, the paper concludes that philanthropy is similar enough between the two nations and created two regression models for China based on variables that explain giving in the U.S. The models explain three variables that influence giving in China. Two more regression models were constructed with more complex variables. However, the latter two models did not have enough statistical significance to be able to properly explain the variables as being factors that influence giving in China. The paper ultimately recommends China to focus on the variables of tax, GDP, as well as population growth. The thesis also included non-measurable factors that China needs to focus on, such as ridding itself of corruption and bureaucracy to regain the public’s trust in philanthropy. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Carroll School of Management Honors Program. / Discipline: Management.

When donating to a charity there is an implied assumption that a proportion of the donation will be used to support the administration functions of the charity. The present study investigated whether it was possible to obtain direct donor support for the administration function of a charity. A ‘donation splitting’ technique was used, whereby participants could split a donation into a proportion that the charity could use for administration, and a proportion that could be used to deliver the charity’s programmes and services. Two experiments were conducted using an on-line format. All participants were reimbursed $5 for participating, and this money was made available for the participants to donate with. The primary aim of Experiment 1 was to determine whether participants were willing to allocate a proportion of their donation directly to the administration function of the charity. Sixty-two students from the University of Canterbury participated in Experiment 1, with 37 participants making a donation to the charity. Results from Experiment 1 confirmed that it was possible to obtain direct donor support for administration. Experiment 2 aimed to replicate this finding, and to examine the influence that providing information about the charity’s administration expenditure had on the donation split. Sixty students from the University of Canterbury participated in Experiment 2, with 38 making a donation to the charity. Results from Experiment 2 replicated those of Experiment 1, and indicated that it may be beneficial for a charity to provide donors with information about the nature of their administration expenditure, but this information should be kept to a minimum. The donation splitting approach gives the donor an element of control over how their money is used, as well as providing the charity with valuable information to guide administration spending. Results are discussed in terms of how the donation splitting approach can help generate and maintain the public’s trust in a charity.

Thesis (B.Sc. (Honours) in Economics)--Singapore Management University, 2004. / Senior thesis in part fulfillment for the BSc (Honours) in Economics degree presented to the School of Economics and Social Sciences, Singapore Management University 2003-2004. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41).