I don't usually have this concern because I assume that the utility from extra money for an organization grows smoothly as the amount of money increases, and that there are not sharp cutoffs or thresholds (even if the fundraiser declares "milestone" amounts).
I think this is a factor in whether I feel motivated to donate, but because of unconscious associations and aliefs, not because of a rational thought-through 'I am concerned that…' thingie. I'm less inclined to give to fundraisers that look like they're failing because (a) failure is icky and I want to quickly click away from pages that seem failure-ish and direct my attention to something more happy and cheerful, and (b) it feels better to move a fundraiser from 90% completion to 92% completion than from 10% completion to 12% completion, because in the former case it feels like I've made a big difference by reducing a 10% gap to an 8% one, and in the latter case it feels like I've made a smaller difference by reducing a 90% gap to an 88% gap. Fundraisers that are closer to victory feel like ones I can make a more meaningful difference in (even when the opposite is the case in reality).
Comments
Eric Rogstad
I don't usually have this concern because I assume that the utility from extra money for an organization grows smoothly as the amount of money increases, and that there are not sharp cutoffs or thresholds (even if the fundraiser declares "milestone" amounts).
Rob Bensinger
I think this is a factor in whether I feel motivated to donate, but because of unconscious associations and aliefs, not because of a rational thought-through 'I am concerned that…' thingie. I'm less inclined to give to fundraisers that look like they're failing because (a) failure is icky and I want to quickly click away from pages that seem failure-ish and direct my attention to something more happy and cheerful, and (b) it feels better to move a fundraiser from 90% completion to 92% completion than from 10% completion to 12% completion, because in the former case it feels like I've made a big difference by reducing a 10% gap to an 8% one, and in the latter case it feels like I've made a smaller difference by reducing a 90% gap to an 88% gap. Fundraisers that are closer to victory feel like ones I can make a more meaningful difference in (even when the opposite is the case in reality).