When Later is Better: Delay in Donation Reception by an NGO Increases Donors’ Generosity Available to Purchase

When donors are solicited to give money, their donation can be transferred almost immediately to the targeted NGO or later. Using a lab dictator game, we test experimentally whether the temporal distance between the donation time and the time at which it is received by the NGO influences the donated amount. We found that informing participants that the donation will be received after a given period increases the donated amount, in line with construal level theory. The effect is fully mediated by an increased perception of closeness with the issue addressed by the NGO. We draw some practical implications for organizations soliciting generosity.