Читать книгу Achieving Excellence in Fundraising - Группа авторов - Страница 97

Many of us believe that if we only had more time and money, we would be happier. In fact, there is much research finding that giving away our time and money makes us happier, even though after giving we have less for ourselves (for reviews, see Hui et al. 2020; Konrath 2014).

Research finds that volunteers have higher happiness, life satisfaction, and psychological well‐being than those who do not volunteer. Of course, volunteers are different than nonvolunteers in a number of ways that could explain why they are happier. For example, they tend to have higher incomes and more social and psychological resources than nonvolunteers. But most research finds that these differences do not fully explain the happiness effects of giving time. Even when scientists statistically control for these variables, the results remain similar.

Similarly, lots of research finds that giving away money also promotes more well‐being in givers. There are also similar benefits for everyday kind acts like helping strangers, sharing with neighbors, and supporting loved ones. For example, a meta‐analysis that examined 201 studies with 198,213 participants found that various types of giving and helping were associated with higher well‐being (Hui et al. 2020).

The best evidence for the causal effects of giving uses a randomized control trial (RCT), a method that is also used to test if a new drug or vaccine works. Scientists start with a group of people who are pretty similar at the beginning, and then ask half of these people to give time or money. The other half are in the control group (e.g., spend money or do kind acts for themselves). For example, one study asked participants to spend a small amount of money (either $5 or $20) on themselves versus another person, and then the researchers measured participants' mood at the end of the day. People who spent their money on someone else were happier than those who spent it on themselves, regardless of the amount of money spent.

Randomized control trials consistently find that giving money, volunteering time, and doing kind acts all lead to more psychological benefits for givers, compared to control groups.