| In the Netherlands, philanthropy is big business. The total household contribution made to charity is estimated at 1,753,000 in 2001 (Schuyt, 2003). No less than 97% of the Dutch households contributed to this total, donating on average 232. What makes the Dutch donate their money so generously to charitable causes? This project studies the socio-economic determinants of charitable giving. To this purpose, several articles explaining charitable giving in the Netherlands will be written. These articles concern the effects of income and tax incentives on charitable giving, the effects of human, financial, and social resources on charitable giving, and the effects of financial management in households on charitable giving. Additionally, the project investigates the effects of mechanisms behind donating behaviour on the decision to donate money to particular charitable causes. Also, the success of telethons in the Netherlands -such as the telethon held for victims of the Tsunami in 2005- will be studied. Finally, the project addresses methodological problems in the analysis of charitable giving. |
