The Spend-Save Decision: An Analysis of How Charities Respond to Revenue Changes

We study how charities adjust spending when revenues change. Understanding the decision to spend or save revenues provides insights into management behavior and resource allocations. Our results indicate that, on average, the marginal change in overall spending is substantially less than the marginal change in revenue, indicating that charities smooth spending. Charities save a substantial portion of additional revenues and appear to mitigate reductions in revenues by using past savings, especially amounts saved in the previous year. We also find evidence that charities anticipate revenue declines and save for that purpose. Charities with fewer constraints, such as those with larger net assets and those with revenues from sources less likely to impose revenue spending restrictions, do more smoothing by adjusting spending less. Data Availability: Data are publicly available.