Publications

30 May 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Non-Standard Matches and Charitable Giving

Keywords: by Michael Sanders, Sarah Smith & Michael I. Norton

October 1998 (Revised April 2001)
Case

United Way of Massachusetts Bay

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

The United Way of Massachusetts Bay held the monopoly on workplace giving for 50 years. In the 1990s it has experienced a dramatic change in the workplace itself and in donor attitudes toward giving and toward the United Way organization. This case investigates the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Monopoly; Relationships; Attitudes; Internet; Massachusetts

May 2025
Case

IQanat: Empowering Rural Youth in Kazakhstan

By: Boris Groysberg and Maxim Pike Harrell

In June 2025, IQanat CEO Aliya Salikova considered scaling opportunities for the foundation, which provided educational opportunities for children from rural regions of Kazakhstan. Established by Kazakhstani businessman and philanthropist Aidyn Rakhimbayev, IQanat... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Social Enterprise; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Education Industry; Central Asia

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Keenan studies barriers to and motivators of prosocial behavior, using a combination of field, laboratory, and online experimental methods. Her recent work investigates donors’ aversion to overhead spending by nonprofits, including its negative effects on the... View Details

October 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra: Cultural Entrepreneurship

By: Rohit Deshpande and Annelena Lobb

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (LA Phil), under the leadership of Deborah Borda, had enjoyed great successes in the 2000s and 2010s, even as other U.S. orchestras faltered. The architecturally acclaimed Walt Disney Concert Hall had opened its doors. The... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Arts; Music Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Los Angeles

Article

Excusing Selfishness in Charitable Giving: The Role of Risk

By: Christine L. Exley

Decisions involving charitable giving often occur under the shadow of risk. A common finding is that potential donors give less when there is greater risk that their donation will have less impact. While this behavior could be fully rationalized by standard economic... View Details

Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Altruism; Risk Preferences; Risk and Uncertainty; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Behavior

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Spring 2014
Article

The Market for Blood

By: Robert Slonim, Carmen Wang and Ellen Garbarino

Donating blood, "the gift of life," is among the noblest activities and it is performed worldwide nearly 100 million times annually. The economic perspective presented here shows how the gift of life, albeit noble and often motivated by altruism, is heavily influenced... View Details

Keywords: Altruism; Philanthropy; Analysis Of Health Care Markets; Market Design; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Health

June 1990 (Revised February 1991)
Case

In the Shadow of the City

Traces the history of a collaborative effort to create an organization to manage a major international development project in the slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Focuses on a serious set of disagreements which develops several months into the project between the two... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Conflict and Resolution; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Ethiopia

Teaching Interest

Investing for Impact

By: Archie L. Jones

The Field Course: Investing for Impact was born out of the efforts of HBS students and faculty in the spring of 2020 and offered for the first time in fall semester of 2021.

This course seeks to help students understand why certain... View Details

August 2020 (Revised November 2022)
Case

George Soros: The Stateless Statesman

By: Geoffrey Jones and Wendy Ying

This case traces the business career and philanthropic activities of George Soros. The Hungarian-born Soros made a fortune as a hedge fund investor after establishing Quantum Fund on the tax haven island of Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles in 1973 where he was... View Details

Keywords: Hedge Fund; Philanthropy; Populism; Finance; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Political Elections; Personal Development and Career; Leadership Style; Financial Services Industry; Europe; Hungary; United Kingdom; North and Central America; United States

April 2008
Case

The Energy Foundation

By: Jane Wei-Skillern and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

The Energy Foundation, a philanthropic foundation established through a partnership among major donors with a mission to promote clean energy technology, is the largest funder in the U.S. focusing on the energy sector. The $60 million foundation operates through a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Networks; Expansion; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

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Research Summary

The Political Economy of Bilateral Foreign Aid

Despite its developmental justification, aid is deeply political. This paper examines the political economy of aid allocation first from the perspective of the donor country, and then the political economy of aid receipt and implementation from the perspective of... View Details

2024
Working Paper

The Effects of Medical Debt Relief: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments

By: Raymond Kluender, Neale Mahoney, Francis Wong and Wesley Yin

Two in five Americans have medical debt, nearly half of whom owe at least $2,500. Concerned by this burden, governments and private donors have undertaken large, high-profile efforts to relieve medical debt. We partnered with RIP Medical Debt to conduct two randomized... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Outcome or Result; Well-being; Personal Finance

Article

Contingent Match Incentives Increase Donations

By: Lalin Anik, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

We propose a new means by which non-profits can induce donors to give today and commit to giving in the future: contingent match incentives, in which matching is made contingent on the percentage of others who give (e.g., "if X% of others give, we will match all... View Details

Keywords: Matching Donations; Social Proof; Prosocial Behavior; Charitable Giving; Plausibility; Motivation and Incentives; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

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06 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 6

http://www.cambridge.org/US/academic/subjects/economics/economics-general-interest/democracy-and-its-elected-enemies-american-political-capture-and-economic-decline August 2013 Journal of Marketing Research Contingent Match Incentives Increase Donations By: Anik,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2011
Working Paper

Charitable Giving When Altruism and Similarity Are Linked

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This paper presents a model in which anonymous charitable donations are rationalized by two human tendencies drawn from the psychology literature. The first is people's disproportionate disposition to help those they agree with while the second is the dependence of... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Mathematical Methods; Attitudes; Interests; Perception; Wealth and Poverty

December 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Opportunity International: Measurement and Mission

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Melissa Tritter

After a "first career" in business, HBS graduate Christopher Crane becomes CEO of a worldwide microfinance network. The organization's twin challenges are: 1) developing metrics to give it an accurate picture of its situation and impacts, and 2) generating rapid... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Measurement and Metrics; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Model; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry