Abstract In recent years, the development of China's nonprofit organizations has received more and more attention, but most of them are faced with shortage of funds and thus unable to effectively take on project activities. According to the experience of some developed countries, individual giving is an important resource for the development of nonprofit organizations. However, China's individual donations have long been at a comparatively low level due to some complicated factors. Therefore, it is meaningful to conduct research on the factors which constrain individual donations to nonprofit organizations in China. Firstly, we studied related literature and research models designed by domestic and foreign scholars and proposed research hypotheses based on the “external factor-endogenous motivation-output of behavior” framework of individual donations to nonprofit organizations. In the framework, external factors are made up of relationship utility, organizational brand performance and organizational credibility; endogenous driving factors include social utility, emotional utility and demonstrable utility, and the final giving behaviors are composed of frequencies, amounts and willingness to donate. Based on the above analysis, this paper constructs a research model of interaction among external influencing factors, endogenous driving factors and output of individual giving in order to explain the incentives of individual donation to non-profit organizations. Secondly, after studying related literature and consulting experts, we made the above six key variables operable and designed a structured questionnaire— “Questionnaire Regarding Factors Influencing Individual Donations to Nonprofit Organizations.” We conducted the questionnaire survey in Guangzhou, and recovered 516 valid samples with acceptable reliability and validity. Thirdly, statistical analysis of the survey data shows that the factors of individual giving are most positively associated with giving behavior. But the factor of demonstrable utility does not have significant correlations with frequencies and amounts of donations. With the results of regression analysis, we constructed some standardized equations in order to have a better understanding of the final giving behavior. Path analysis tells us that individual giving is actually influenced by both external factors and endogenous motivations. What is worth mentioning here is that external factors may not only directly affect an individual’s giving behavior but also indirectly affect it by stimulating his/her endogenous motivation. Finally, based on the above findings and from the perspectives of the nonprofit organization, the government and the society, we brought forward some proposals and measures, for example, improving the transparency and standardization level of nonprofit organizations, regulating the fund-raising behavior of nonprofit organizations and the use of donations, and raising people’s giving awareness and participation rate in order to promote the healthy growth of China's civil society.
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