Using behaviour science to nudge donors: does it work and is it ethical?
Madeleine Croucher, Meredith Niles, Omar Mahmoud, and Bernard Ross, 2021
The ethics of using behavioral science in fundraising
The insights from behavioural science are powerful. But anyone who claims to be in the business of pro-social activity must ask “Just because we can learn how to nudge donors to give more, should we use this knowledge?”
We would argue that nothing inherent in the use of behavioural nudges is unethical, provided they don’t undermine the autonomy or the welfare of the donor. We’re guided here by a framework set out by Cass Sunstein in his book The Ethics of Influence. Sunstein was a co-author with Richard Thaler, another ...
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