Subsidizing Unit Donations: Experimental Comparison of Matches, Rebates, and Discounts

Diederich, Johannes published an experimental dataset on dataverse comparing the effectiveness of matching, rebate, and discount subsidies in unit donation schemes for charitable giving. The data originates from an online experiment investigating whether the established dominance of matching subsidies in monetary donations extends to unit-based solicitations. The dataset was last updated on June 7, 2026.

Use Cases

• Compare the overall effectiveness of different subsidy types (matches, rebates, discounts) in unit donation schemes.
• Analyze the trade-off between donor participation likelihood and donation size across subsidy types.
• Model donor decision-making in non-monetary, unit-based charitable solicitation contexts.
• Inform charity strategy by evaluating which subsidy type best aligns with specific fundraising goals (e.g., attracting donors vs. increasing average gift size).

Strengths

• Dataset is based on a controlled online experiment, allowing for causal inference.
• Examines a specific and popular alternative form of charitable solicitation (unit donation schemes).
• Compares three distinct subsidy mechanisms (matches, rebates, discounts) within a single study.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• The experimental nature of the data may limit generalizability to real-world fundraising contexts.

Provenance

Source

Diederich, Johannes via heiDATA Harvested Dataverse

Collection Method

Data was likely gathered through an online experiment.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-07 07:10:09; freshness should be verified.