Yes. Or rather, the reading seemed to give a clear message - which was then flatly contradicted by the professions of ignorance at this Cass Business School event I went to. And that was what spooked me.

Adam, Intelligent Giving

Adam

 There's a lot of literature out there on this subject - has your reading brought confusion rather than conclusion?

Phil Ant: I take your point, and I agree that working out why people give is remarkably complex. However, I disagree with you when you say it's not worth analyzing these motivations. If we do find out what motivates people to give, then there's a chance that they can be persuaded to give more, and more effectively - and I think that's something it's worth trying extremely hard to encourage.

Adam, Intelligent Giving

" Both sides cannot be right. Either we do know why people give, or we don’t. So who’s wrong?"

I'm not sure if this is an affective first statement, or following question. The complexities of charitable giving surely constitute more than this (somewhat) simple breakdown; don't they?

Motivation to 'give' could be representaive of many other things about an individual - or, indeed company. Tax 'breaks'; feelings of self worth, 'do gooding', reward, compassion,presentation, guilt, pride, social conscience,humility, grandeur...could all be reasons. They are not right or wrong - they are just what they are. The important thing is that people do give; at all. A point, perhaps, to be accepted rather than analysed.

Of course, I meant to say that giving was more of an anthropological question, not an anthropomorphic one. Clearly it's not like some sort of animal. D'oh!

Steve, Adam, I'd agree with you both there too, and add *people* to the list too.

From the perspective of Justgiving, our site has been successful because of the premise that people give to people. When you are asked by someone you know to support a cause that you *know* is close to them, or important to them, you feel compelled to support them. But it is a whole mixture of emotions that drives that compulsion.
And I think it is the emotional nature of giving to charity that makes it a unique experience, and so hard to pin down the exact reasons and compulsions behind doing so - it's arguably more an anthropomorphic or psychological question for research than anything else.

I think you're right with your emphasis on empathy - yet discussion of the emotional reasons for giving was perhaps strangely absent at the shindig last night. Which frankly I found weird.

Adam, Intelligent Giving

Good question. I don't know the answer either, but guess it is a mixture of things like wanting to make a difference, ego, guilt, inspiration, impact, recognition, paternalism, meaning, values... and a biggie for me, EMPATHY.