Does Public Campaign Funding Crowd Out Private Donation Activity? Evidence from Seattle's Democracy Voucher Program

During each election cycle, the city of Seattle distributes four \$25 vouchers to every registered voter, which may be donated to and redeemed by campaigns for city office. Through a difference-in-differences research design, we study the causal effect of Seattle's program on various outcomes in city council elections in the first two cycles after implementation, with two comparison groups drawn from other cities in Washington and California. We find that the program led to an approximately 62-100% increase in total contributions and a 400% increase in number of unique donors. The effects on dollars and donors are entirely driven by small donors, defined as those who contribute less than $200 to a campaign. We find statistically insignificant evidence of decreases in private donations, although our point estimates suggest moderate-to-substantial crowd-out ratios. We further show that the program led to a 76-86% increase in candidates for city council. These results provide some of the first causal evidence on the effect of decentralized public campaign finance schemes, while also speaking to broader questions measuring the effects of money in politics, campaign regulation, and the effects of public funds on private giving.

Seroprevalence and Trends of HTLV-1/2 among Blood Donors of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2012-2017

Objectives. Being a Caribbean country, the Dominican Republic is considered endemic for HTLV-1. Viral screening in blood banks is recommended for this blood borne infection. The purpose of this work is to analyze the seroprevalence and trends of HTLV-1/2 in the Dominican Republic blood donors; it is focused on Santo Domingo, the capital of the country, which has the largest blood donation activity. We also aim at comparing our findings with published data from neighboring countries. Patients and methods. We performed a retrospective cross-sectional study of 10 blood centers of Santo Domingo, which reported HTLV and the other blood-transmitted infections in full. They represent more than 40% of the province’s blood donations. Annual seroprevalence of HTLV-1/2, period prevalence (2012-2017), and time trend were determined. Results. A total of 352,960 blood donations were evaluated. The HTLV-1/2 period prevalence was 0.26% (929/352,960)(95% CI: 0.24–0.28%). We also found a marked predominance of replacement donation (90.4%) in comparison to voluntary contributions (9.6%). Therefore, this blood donor study may provide clues on the general prevalence of the infection. Conclusions. Seroprevalence of HTLV-1/2 in blood donors of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, showed a relatively low and steady trend in the studied period.

The more you have, the less you give? Prospective donation behavior for COVID-19 causes

Donation behavior is essential for non-profit organizations, especially during a health crisis, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The present study explored a series of associated factors of donor behavior, such as age, gender, income, education, and cause-related factors, in a sample of Romanian adults (N= 168, age range 20-78 years old, 77% females). Our analyses suggested that the fundraising cause's emotional value, along with the fundraiser's public and personal implications, were the most relevant motivational factors for the donor’s behavior. Age, income, and educational level were significantly associated with self-reported donation activity. In essence, younger participants with lower incomes and educational levels reported donating more money to NGOs, mostly to education-related causes. Finally, in a prospective donation task for one of the current COVID-19 related Non-Governmental Organizations’ campaigns, results suggested that a) the higher the income, the lower the probability of donating, and b) the fundraising type of cause was significantly associated with prospective donation behavior. People who usually donated more to medical causes were the most likely to engage in altruistic behavior for coronavirus pandemicrelated issues. We discuss these preliminary results within the current coronavirus crisis and potential implications for both the non-profit and governmental sectors.

Searching for missing donors: a 12-month audit of deaths in two large Sydney teaching hospitals

The DonateLife Audit (DLA) is undertaken at Liverpool and Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) hospitals to measure and report on actual and potential organ donation activity. This includes all patient deaths in the intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency department (ED); and, patients with a neurological condition who died within 24 hours of discharge from ICU or ED. A death review committee was established in RPA in mid-2014 and Liverpool in mid-2017 to analyse all in-hospital deaths to determine whether these hospitals were missing potential organ donors beyond the DLA parameters. The two death review committees analysed 12 months of data for comparison. The findings showed that both hospitals have a low rate of potential organ donors who died from non-neurological conditions. It also highlighted a significant number of unsupportable patients who presented in extremis in Liverpool and a significant number of patients with no suitable organs in RPA. It can be inferred that these limit the potential donor pool and therefore further exploration of these phenomena is warranted.

Australian corporate political donation disclosures

Purpose A primary tool for managing the democratic risks posed by political donations is disclosure. In Australia, corporate donations are disclosed in government databases. Despite the potential accountability benefits, corporations are not, however, required to report this information in their annual or stand-alone reports. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the quantity and quality of voluntary reporting and seek to add to the nascent theoretical understanding of voluntary corporate political donations. Design/methodology/approach Corporate donors were obtained from the Australian Electoral Commission database. Annual and stand-alone reports were analysed to determine the quantity and quality of voluntary disclosures and compared to O’Donovan’s (2002) legitimation disclosure response matrix. Findings Of those companies with available reports, only 25 per cent reported any donation information. Longitudinal results show neither a robust increase in disclosure levels over time, nor a clear relationship between donation activity and disclosure. The findings support a legitimation tactic being applied to political donation disclosures. Practical implications The findings suggest that disclosure of political donations in corporate reports should be mandatory. Such reporting could facilitate aligning shareholder and citizen interests; aligning managerial and firm interests and closing disclosure loopholes. Originality/value The study extends the literature by evaluating donation disclosures by companies known to have made donations, considering time-series data and theorising the findings.