is it possible, however, that the difference (between the amounts people would give without the advertising and what they give with the advertising) is around the amount that is paying for the advertising?
meaning say 300 people would be giving $10 each to a given organization if it didnt advertise. instead, that organization spends $2,000 on advertising and manages to either get another 200 donors to give $10 each or to get 200 of its original donors to double their donations. if you do the math you’ll realize they didnt make a cent more of profit.
ok ill do the math for you:
$10 x 300 ppl = $3,000
$10 x 500 ppl = $5,000
-$2,000 marketing costs
= $3,000
maybe my estimates are off but i have a feeling the advertising is not really increasing the amount that ends up in the final pool of what is used for tzeddakah.