Measuring Charitable Giving: How to Capture Charitable Behavior in Philanthropy Research

Charitable giving is a socially desirable behavior, and therefore prone to misreporting. In this article, we survey two decades of published research to understand the extent to which objective measures, capturing observed behavior, are used in philanthropy research. A systematic review of 437 articles found that 73% included at least one subjective (i.e., self-reported) measure and only 33% included at least one objective (i.e., observed behavior) measure. Objective measurement was more common in economics journals, research conducted in Western Europe, and studies using archival or experimental methods; and especially uncommon in nonprofit studies journals and survey research. We also generate an inventory of the diverse ways that charitable giving has been measured, both subjectively and objectively, as a resource for philanthropy scholars. Finally, we close with recommendations for future research detailing when and how we can include more objective measurement of charitable giving.