Like most charitable and non-profit organizations, the arts, cultural institutions and universities often ask individuals for financial gifts to help fund their operations. However, a key difference is that the individuals who are solicited for charitable donations by arts and cultural institutions are oftentimes also purchasing services from the same institution. Thus, an open question is whether, and how, individuals make trade-offs between charitable gifts and consumer purchases from the same institution. We investigate this question in an online experiment that asks Sydneysiders to make a series of decisions between donating to the iconic Sydney Opera House, purchasing merchandise from the Sydney Opera House and keeping money. Our findings show that demand for SOH merchandise and SOH donations are substitutes. Further, we find evidence that increasing the individuals’ awareness of the substitutability between money received from donations and money received from the sale of merchandise, increases the cross-price elasticity. This is particularly true for those individuals who positively identify with the Opera House. Our results suggest that the unique nature of arts, cultural and educational institutions as recipients of donations and providers of services mean that fundraising among “patrons” may crowd-in additional revenue.

与大多数慈善和非营利组织一样，艺术、文化机构和大学经常要求个人提供经济礼物，以资助其运营。然而，一个关键的区别在于，艺术和文化机构寻求慈善捐赠的个人通常也从同一机构购买服务。因此，一个悬而未决的问题是，个人是否以及如何在慈善礼物和消费者从同一机构购买之间进行权衡。我们在一项在线实验中调查了这个问题，该实验要求悉尼人在捐赠给标志性的悉尼歌剧院、从悉尼歌剧院购买商品和保留资金之间做出一系列决定。我们的研究结果表明，对 SOH 商品的需求和 SOH 捐赠是替代品。更远，我们发现有证据表明，提高个人对捐赠所得款项与商品销售所得款项之间可替代性的认识会增加交叉价格弹性。对于那些积极认同歌剧院的人来说尤其如此。我们的结果表明，艺术、文化和教育机构作为捐赠接受者和服务提供者的独特性质意味着“赞助人”之间的筹款可能会带来额外收入。