In 2001 my associates and I  tried a grand experiment.  We offered to send one dollar to the favorite charity of anyone who returned our completed questionnaire.  When we offered the respondent the dollar, the return rate was about 40%.  When we offered to help others, the return rate fell to about 25%.  We actually had to go out with a second wave of questionnaires to give us adequate sample for our study.

Receiving one dollar for completing a survey will buy you a candy bar.  When added together, donations to charity can add up to a charity receiving  thousands of dollars.  While we finished the project with about $68,000 to major national charities, the differences were significant.  Why the difference?

I visited a casino last week and observed players at slot machines.  Overall, you lose about everything you intended to invest and all your winnings.  I  watched one woman lose a bucket of quarters - it had to be several hundred dollars (or maybe a thousand), but we can't get those same type of people to give $1.00 to charity.  Why the difference?

It has been noted that billions are given to charity each year, but that is usually by pockets of givers.  What stands in the way of each of us making small offerings that would add up to a great deal.  If everyone in the study donated their dollar, charity would have about $90,000. 

Today, I don't have answers, but I know that hundreds of thousands of people will give billions to casinos.  If we had the answers, the whole nation would prosper.

Perhaps it's the cynicism associated with administrative costs versus what actually gets to those who need help.  I wish I knew.  The conclusion:  what can we do to break through? The respondents keep the dollar. It is an insignificant amount, but if each dollar was donated, collectively we could do significantly good work.