Longer the deadlines, higher the donations

Turns out, we become more generous if we don't feel pressurised to charitable donations.

Researchers from Aarhus University found that longer deadlines make people donate more money.

The deadline given to trigger the additional donation from the anonymous contributor varied. For one group of email recipients, the deadline was three days. For others it was 10 days, and a third group was given until the first day of the following month. The text message gave slightly shorter deadlines.

The results showed that the donations increased when the deadline was longer.

"We know from other studies that people don't like pressure when donating money, so we interpret the results to mean that if you pressure people with a short deadline, it creates a sort of give-and-take mindset in the recipient: 'Alright, I'll agree to donate quickly, but you're not getting as much'," said researcher Mette Trier Damgaard

The study is published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.