Summary

Carnegie Mellon University did a research study about people’s charitable traits. They used two letters asking for contributions to Save the Children. One letter featured statistics about the suffering of all the children. The other letter focused on just one girl. The letter provided the little girl’s background and her particular hardships. People given the second letter gave twice as much as those given the first letter. The little girl’s letter tapped the emotions of those receiving it. The analytics in the first letter were credible. This study proved that along with information being credible an individual has to care about the problem.

Charitable foundations have learned this lesson and have devised ways to appeal to the sympathy and compassion of potential donors. The Truth was an anti-smoking ad campaign waged by the American Legacy Foundation. Its credibility was the...