Authors
Garth Heutel
Publication date
2014/3
Journal
Public Finance Review
Volume
42
Issue
2
Pages
143-175
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Description
A large literature examines the interaction of private and public funding of charities, much of it testing if public funding crowds out private funding. In this article, the author looks for two alternative phenomena using a large panel data set gathered from nonprofit organizations’ tax returns. First, the author looks for crowding out in the opposite direction: increased private funding may cause reduced public funding. Second, the author tests whether one type of funding acts as a signal of charity quality and thus crowds in other funding. The author finds evidence that government grants crowd in private donations. Crowding in is larger for younger charities. This is consistent with signaling, if donors know less about younger charities and the signal value is stronger. The author finds no evidence of an effect of private donations on government grants.
Total citations
200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320241256108101114161519181716219