Market Orientation Among Small to Medium Sized UK Charitable Organisations: Implications for Fund-Raising Performance

ABSTRACT

A mail questionnaire was distributed to a sampling frame of 613 small to medium sized UK charities in an attempt to ascertain the extents of their fund-raising market orientation. Three major dimensions of market orientation were identified: donor orientation, competitor orientation, and 'influence of marketing personnel.' These factors substantially explained respondents' perceptions of their charities' recent fund-raising performances. Organisations scoring high in market orientation appeared on average to have increased their incomes by significantly higher percentages over the previous five-years than charities low on market orientation. Overall, the results suggest that the importance of effective marketing is widely recognised by smaller UK charities.