In this article, we examine whether and how the institutional context matters when understanding individuals’ giving to philanthropic organizations. We posit that both the individuals’ propensity to give and the amounts given are higher in countries with a stronger institutional context for philanthropy. We examine key factors of formal and informal institutional contexts for philanthropy at both the organizational and societal levels, including regulatory and legislative frameworks, professional standards, and social practices. Our results show that while aggregate levels of giving are higher in countries with stronger institutionalization, multilevel analyses of 118,788 individuals in 19 countries show limited support for the hypothesized relationships between institutional context and philanthropy. The findings suggest the need for better comparative data to understand the complex and dynamic influences of institutional contexts on charitable giving. This, in turn, would support the development of evidence-based practices and policies in the field of global philanthropy.

在本文中，我们研究了理解个人对慈善组织的捐赠时制度背景是否重要以及如何起作用。我们认为，在慈善机构背景更强的国家中，个人的捐赠倾向和捐赠金额都较高。我们在组织和社会层面研究慈善事业的正式和非正式机构环境的关键因素，包括监管和立法框架，专业标准和社会实践。我们的结果表明，尽管制度化程度较高的国家的捐赠总额较高，但对19个国家/地区的118,788个人的多层次分析显示，对制度背景与慈善之间的假设关系的支持有限。研究结果表明，需要更好的比较数据来理解制度背景对慈善捐赠的复杂而动态的影响。反过来，这将支持全球慈善领域基于证据的做法和政策的发展。