A recent study confirms what fundraisers typically do: writing a list of possible donation amounts increases what people give. According to the study, “Giving Suggestions: Using Quantity Requests to Increase Donations,” published in the Journal of Consumer Research, fundraising letters or web pages with “donate” buttons will bring in more if they include specific amounts. This is relevant to students developing campaigns for nonprofit organizations and other ventures.

Alice Moon, the first author and an assistant professor of operations, information, and decisions at The Wharton School, explains the phenomenon: “They might just not want to appear stingy by giving a lower amount than they should. But unlike the other types of requests, [quantity requests] clarify those amounts by providing some norm about how much to give.” Other types of requests include offering a list of organizations.

This research parallels tipping research in restaurants, which suggests that servers receive higher tips when customers have higher tip options. But too much inflation could affect online reviews negatively. We could expect the same for donation requests.