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What triggers you to donate?

Posted by Rehuel on 5/28/07 • Categorized as General

If you like this article, buy me a beer.

This line suddenly appeared on the bottom of posts from a couple of blogs. This is the author’s way of asking for donations. But my question to the readers is: What triggers you to donate to a person/organization/event?

  • The cause?
    Is it the reason why the person asks for some contribution? One may want a beer, another may need donations to continue working for free, another may need sponsoring to visit an event, some just need your help, like starving children. Some need help covering the costs of basic services when they start off doing business online, or when they work on projects used by a lot of people, like creating themes, plugins and scripts.
  • The person?
    Do you donate depending on the person who asks for it? Will you rather donate to someone famous than to someone without “name”?
  • The amount?
    Do you donate when there’s no set limit? How much does a minimum donation influence your decision? What impact does a “Total amount to raise” notification have on your decision?
  • Type of donation?
    Does it matter what kind of donation is asked? Most of the time financial donations are requested, but it also happens that food, clothes, life’s necessities are asked for.
  • The reward?
    Are you expecting something back when you donate? The mentioning of your name, maybe? Or is donating purely to unconditionally give?
  • Any other factor?
    Which other factors can influence you to donate to someone?

So, What DOES trigger you?

Please let me know in a comment what makes you consider donating to someone or to a cause. That might very much be part of your donation to this blog.




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  • Ok, So when someone does something for free, you could donate to say "thank you".
  • I recently donated to the author of the 'Share This' plugin I installed on my blog. I sent the donation as I felt it was a truly useful tool.

    The interesting thing is, were the author to have charged for the plugin I never would have paid what I donated!

    - Martin Reed
  • @Dudu
    So you say the need to donate is created by the requests for donation and vice versa? So no more donors, no more requesters.

    @Maki
    Sounds reasonable enough. Thanks for your comment.
  • I usually donate if I can trust that the money is going to the stated goal. I usually donate to larger charity organizations but I'll also donate to people who I find that I can trust, either through the way they behave and the integrity that have shown.

    If they've helped me out by providing me information that I've enjoyed and used, I usually won't hesitate to donate.

    It'll also help a great deal if the cause was a good one. :)
  • Dudu
    I think we don't need to donate so much. People rely on it and they know we will donate sometime. If we stopped donating for ever, they wouldn't rely on it.
    Makes sense?
  • Good point you make there Andrew. Not having access to ways to donate may also be an obstacle for people to donate.
  • What triggers me? A good reason. Give me a good reason and I will do it. If someone worked on a project that I use a lot, I would donate. If someone I knew pretty well asked for it, I would donate. Problem is.... I don't have a way to do it :( Once I get a paypal account with money in it, then I can do something :)
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