Partitioned Prosociality: Why Giving a Large Donation Bit-by-bit Increases Moral Praise

Abstract

Donating money to worthy social causes is one of the most impactful and efficient forms of altruism. However, skepticism often clouds people’s perceptions of donors' intentions, leading donors to switch to less effective forms of giving. We propose a solution to this issue: instead of giving a single large donation, donors can split the donation into smaller amounts over time. Six preregistered studies with 2,255 participants support this idea. Donors who divided their contributions received more moral praise than those who gave all at once, regardless of the partition size, frequency, or method of displaying the partitions. This effect arose because partitioning a donation signaled that the donor had more impulses to give. Accordingly, the effect was smaller when people gave on consecutive days (e.g., once a day for one workweek) than on nonconsecutive days because giving on consecutive days signaled that the donor had fewer prosocial impulses. Further speaking to the process, this effect emerged across both joint and separate evaluations of partitioned versus lump sum giving, indicating that this effect reflects how people think moral praise should be doled out. Overall, these findings underscore the connection between perceptions of donors’ motives and moral praise, and they offer practical strategies for donors seeking to enhance the perceptions and impact of their charitable donations.

Keywords: Moral praise, donations, altruism, corporate social responsibility