Pell & Bales joins with leading academics to research ‘psychology of giving’

Fresh research into the psychological factors that encourage charitable giving is to be undertaken by Pell & Bales, the leading telephone fundraising agency for the not-for-profit sector.

Pell & Bales will collaborate on quantitative research with two leading academics in the field of fundraising, Jen Shang and Adrian Sargeant. Their work at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University has looked into the motives for giving and how this could be used to improve donations.

The new research for Pell & Bales will explore how social networks and identities influence the success of fundraising requests and the quality of an individual’s giving experience.

Brian Searle, Managing Director of Pell & Bales, says:

“This is a very exciting project that joins Pell & Bales’ expertise in dialogue and telephone fundraising with the leading academics in the fundraising field”

Jen Shang, the only philanthropic psychologist in the world, adds:

“Pell & Bales conducts millions of fundraising conversations every year. These will provide us with the opportunity to explore a number of behavioural variables that will increase our understanding of the solicitation process and the factors that affect its success and enhance the quality of the donor experience.”

The results of the research are expected to be completed in the summer of 2012 and the findings published later in the same year.