Charitable Dictators? Determinants of Giving to NGOs in Uganda

We play a dictator game in Uganda with students, civil servants and individuals from the private sector. In the game, participants divide a sum of money between themselves and a local charity. In a turning a ‘blind eye’ treatment, participants are first given the choice of knowing the identity of the recipient. Finally, participants are asked whether they wish to additionally donate their own money. Contrary to many experimental findings, the average donation of non-students (civil servants) is significantly lower than that of students. Very few individuals donate their own money, despite 30 per cent of participants donating the full endowment.