The happiness of giving: The time-ask effect

This research examines how a focus on time versus money can lead to two distinct mind-sets that affect consumers ’ willingness to donate to charitable causes. The results of three experiments, conducted both in the lab and in the field, reveal that asking individuals to think about “how much time they would like to donate ” (vs. “how much money they would like to donate”) to a charity increases the amount that they ultimately donate to the charity. Fueling this effect are differential mind-sets activated by time versus money. Implications for the research on time, money, and emotional well-being are discussed. Imagine that you are working for a nonprofit organizationand have been charged with organizing a fund-raiser to elicit contributions from potential donors. As a first step, you run a simple survey to gauge people’s interest in con-tributing. You create two versions of the survey. In one version, potential donors are first asked about their interest in making a monetary donation (a “money-ask”), followed by a question about their interest to help through volun