The Role of Mental Budgeting in Philanthropic Decision-Making

Department or Administrative Unit

Management

Document Type

Article

Author Copyright

© The Author(s) 2013

Publication Date

7-8-2013

Journal

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

Abstract

Mental budgeting (also known as mental accounting) has examined how consumers allocate and expend resources. However, the mental budgeting literature has not yet examined the availability and use of mental budgets for philanthropic, as opposed to day-to-day, consumption. Depth interviews with donors in both the United States and Canada reveal that donors do maintain mental budgets for philanthropy, that charitable gifts are expensed against the mental budget for philanthropy as well as against other budgets, and that donors’ mental budgets are malleable. Study findings extend the literature on the management and malleability of mental budgets, and provide insight to nonprofit organizations (NPO) to better position appeals to maximize donations and strengthen long-term donor relationships.

Comments

This article was originally published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

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