Want money for charity? Ask the poor

When it comes to consumer insights, you need to know more about human psychology than numbers. People hardly acts in a rational way - or rather... rationality is more complex than we can imagine.

One interesting piece of research shows that it´s the poor who are eager to give, not the rich. The reason being that the emotionally closer you are to people in need, the more you are willing to help. When feeling you could be next, people start to care.

In a study from Berkeley, presented in The Economist,  “upper-class participants” said 2.1% of incomes should be donated. “Lower-class individuals” felt that 5.6% was the appropriate slice.  When the rich were induced to believe they were lower class they suggested 3.1%. And lower-class individuals who had been ”psychologically promoted” thought 3.3% was about right.

People who were shown a compassion-inducing video behaved in a more sympathetic way than those shown emotionally neutral footage. That suggests the rich are capable of compassion, if somebody reminds them, but do not show it spontaneously.

According to another study by Richard Wiseman, the best way to "sell" charity is to ask people for small amounts - as that will add up to a lot! The researchers put 4 different charity boxes in shops, with 4 different messages. "Every penny helps" came top, containing an impressive 62 per cent of all contributions, while "Every pound helps" trailed in fourth place with just seven per cent of the total take.