Recently, I’ve been reading a book called The Science of Giving. It covers a range of basic studies about the psychology of giving and charity, and they have a number of different theories about how things work. But there is one in particular that stood out to me. Christopher Olivola has recently written his own book, publishing various studies on what he calls the “martyrdom effect.” The bottom line is that people feel more motivated to give when it hurts. [...]

Non-profits provide a tax shelter for both the individuals running it and others. Whether you happen to be on the board, members of which often make a considerable amount of money, or you are donating to that organization, you get tax breaks and they motivate you in other ways to take part. It’s not all charity, and I’ve been surprised by some of the groups that quality to call themselves “non-profits”, especially when some board members are being paid ridiculous [...]