May 31, 2019

Audience: Executive Leadership, Shelter/Rescue Staff & Volunteers, Veterinary Team

Organization: Waggle Foundation
Investigator(s): Steven Mornelli
Grant Amount: $16,000
Project Type: Basic Research
Project Status: Research Complete

Project Summary

This Waggle project evaluated an operating model that utilizes matching donations through crowdfunding to cover costs of veterinary care. Waggle connects with veterinarians and shelters to lend credibility to their crowdfunding. Their findings suggest that matching funds positively impact both the amount of money raised and the probability of reaching 100% of pet owners' financial needs.

Objective(s)

To utilize Waggle's crowdfunding model to evaluate a financially self-sustaining and easily replicable operating model that utilizes matching-donations at scale.

Methods

The two hypotheses tested were the following: 1) Do matching donations impact the probability that people will raise the full amount of funds they need to provide veterinary care to their companion animal and 2) Does the amount of matching affect the probability that people will raise the full amount of funds sought? The study randomly assigned a total of 58 Waggle cases to one of four groups. 31 in Group 0 (no matching funds); 10 in Group 1 (25% matching funds); 11 in Group 2 (50% matching funds), and 6 in Group 3 (100% matching funds).

Results

  • Group 0 - 0/31 (0%) met 100% of goal
  • Group 1 - 4/10 (40%) met 100% of goal
  • Group 2 - 8/11 (72.7%) met 100% of goal
  • Group 3 - 5/6 (83.3%) met 100% of goal

Conclusions

The findings suggest that matching funds positively impact both the amount of money raised and the probability of reaching 100% of pet owners' financial needs. These incentives are observed to have a multiplier effect on initial funds raised by motivating members of the community to become active co-contributors. However, a larger data set would allow for better determination of optimal percentage match. This could have significant impact on various types of animal welfare organizations possessing limited financial assets.