Private philanthropy and its role to finance the public good have gained increased attention within Europe in the last decades. In contrast to Anglo-Saxon countries, little is known about charitable giving and its determinants, as scholarly research on this topic is only just emerging in most European countries. This habilitation project by Michaela Neumair contributes to research on giving by explaining individual charitable behaviour in the European context. First, it explores how different theoretical approaches contribute to explaining donor behaviour and enhancing philanthropic practice. Second, it investigates the determinants of donor preferences for particular charitable causes and provides insights into the redistributive character of private giving. Finally, this research analyses in cross-country comparison how national policies, tax regulations, and welfare regimes influence giving. The source data for the investigation derives from surveys in Austria, from Austrian tax records, from two European surveys and the Individual International Philanthropy Database.

Journal articles and work in progress:

Neumayr, Michaela, Handy, Femida. 2019. Charitable Giving: What influences donors' choice among different causes? Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. 30 (4), 783-799.

De Wit, Arjen, Neumayr, Michaela, Handy, Femida, Wiepking, Pamala. 2018. Do Government Expenditures Shift Private Philanthropic Donations to Particular Fields of Welfare? Evidence from Cross-country Data. European Sociological Review. 34 (1), 6-21.

Pennerstorfer, Astrid, Neumayr, Michaela. 2017. Examining the association of welfare state expenditure, non-profit regimes and charitable giving. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 28 (2), 532-555.

Neumayr, Michaela, Pennerstorfer, Astrid. The relation between income and donations as a portion of income revisited: literature review and empirical application (under review).

Wiepking, Pamala, Handy, Femida, Park, Sohyun, Neumayr, Michaela, Bekkers, Rene,  et al.Global philanthropy: How institutional context enables formal philanthropic giving to charitable organizations (under review).