The Number but not the Variety of Nonprofit Organizations Affects Donations: Evidence from an Experiment

We provide experimental evidence on the total and the per-capita amount of collected donations at the increase of the number and variety of organizations available for donations. We vary the number of organizations, their type (nonprofit associations and community foundations) and their charitable purposes (to help people with economic difficulties or disabilities). We show that the number, but not the variety, of nonprofit organizations positively affects the total collected donations. Moreover, we find that, when the number of organizations increases, the inelasticity of total donations to the increase in the number of organizations leads to a reduction in the average amount of collected donations.