The Demand for Nonprofit Financial Statement; A Model of Individual Giving

摘要

Social exchange theory provides the foundation ofr development of a model of individual giving used to examine the circumstances and conditions which tend to make donors obtain and use financial statements of nonprofit entities. Existing empirical evidence on giving and the use of financial statements by donors is examined as a partial test of the model. Based on the model, a series of propositions regarding the demand for charitable organizations' financial statements is developed as a guide for future research. Overall, the paper argues that financial sttements have an important role to play in the decision to support charitable organizations even though donors in certain circumstances may have little or no interest in investigating the operations of the entities they support. Implications of the model for regulators and standard setters are also discussed.