To Get Rich People to Donate Money, Appeal to Their Sense of Self

Is it really that easy?

An interesting study out of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology considers the notion of donations and how best to appeal to the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy. It turns out that if you want rich people to part with their money for your cause, the easiest way to do that is to appeal to them on a personal level, by acknowledging that their “self-concepts” are different from those who are not rich at all.

How to Convince the Rich to Donate Money

The research correctly suggests that our self-concepts — the way we see ourselves in the world at large — is inextricably linked to class. If you’re someone with eyes, ears and any sort of self-awareness, you already know this. What the research also shows is that if you consider yourself upper class, by dint of either actual money in the bank or social standing or some nefarious combination of the two, appealing to your sense of individuality is the easiest way to get you to throw some coin towards a charity that could really use it.

From Pacific Standard:

“Lower-class individuals typically develop more communal self-concepts, whereby the self is primarily designed by one’s social connection to others,” the researchers write. In contrast, for members of the upper class, “the self is primarily defined by one’s individual capacity for personal control.”

In the study, researchers presented subjects with two messages from a charity asking for donations. One message appealed to the would-be donor’s sense of self as an individual, while the other appealed to the donor’s contribution as part of a community effort. The research showed that subjects on the lower end of the class spectrum (those making $50,000 or less a year) were more willing to donate if they thought that their contribution was part of a group effort. Those on the upper end of the class spectrum (those making $90,000 or more) were more likely to donate if they read the messaging that appealed to their sense of individuality.

Put another way — if you make the upper-class feel like they’re special by appealing to the innate sense of specialness that comes with being rich, I guess, they’re more likely to donate money. If you make those who have less feel like their minuscule effort is contributing to the greater good, you’ll get their money, too.

Is this right? While I love nothing more than grouping the upper class into a monolith and dissecting their social mores in an attempt to understand what it feels like to have lots and lots of money, I want to err on the side of optimism for once, and assume that there are some people out there with a lot of money that don’t need to feel like snowflakes in order to give some money to those who don’t have it. The more money you have, the less likely you are to get rid of it, I guess. Maybe having money and understanding that once that money is gone, more will rush in to fill the void makes you choosy about your investments.

What good is money, even, if you don’t spend it on something? If you’re working with a little and trying to build it to a lot, I can understand wanting to hold onto it unless absolutely necessary. If you have a lot, holding onto it is good, but loosing the vise grip on your lucre is okay too. But, I guess there aren’t really that many stories of rich people throwing buckets of money at charity, so this study probably just proved what everyone knew to be true and wasn’t really ready to admit.

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