Ethics of Care as a theory of normative fundraising ethics

Little normative ethical theory exists in the nonprofit marketing literature. Previous attempts at an ethical framework for the field of nonprofit fundraising fell short of fully considering the full spectrum of relationships involved in fundraising practice. We introduce the concept of Ethics of Care, an ethical theory that centers around relationships and interpersonal well-being, as a philosophical foundation for professional ethics in the field of fundraising. We believe this theory provides a suitable framework in which to ground questions of professional ethics for nonprofit fundraising professionals. The adoption of Ethics of Care as a normative ethical theory for fundraising will allow applied ethical questions in the field to be explored in a way that more fully addresses all parties involved in fundraising and affected by its outcomes. Our paper illustrates the process of applying the foundational principles in specific ethical quandaries found within fundraising and aims to address the omission of the beneficiary in the majority of previous ethical frameworks and promote a new set of standards that fully incorporates and balances all stakeholders' needs.     

Finding an academic home for fundraising: a multidisciplinary study of scholars' perspectives

• The high‐demand, high‐paying field of fundraising does not have an academic home in higher education, which hampers fundraising research and education. Recent advances in fundraising education and research can be attributed to four different disciplines: public relations, marketing, nonprofit management, and higher education administration. This disjointed approach has impeded the empirical study of fundraising, the development of theory in the field, and the education of future fundraisers. The purpose of this study is to begin the process to scientifically identify an appropriate academic home for fundraising that benefits fundraising practice, advances scholarship, and strengthens America's nonprofit sector. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 15 scholars from multiple disciplines who had published articles on fundraising in the three major nonprofit management and philanthropy journals. Findings show that there is no consensus among scholars about whether fundraising belongs in public relations, marketing, or nonprofit management. Although this study found no consensus among fundraising scholars about the appropriate academic home for fundraising, it does identify areas of agreement and disagreement on pertinent topics and provides a benchmark to guide further discussions about locating fundraising within an academic discipline.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of face-to-face street fundraising on organizational reputation

Although many stakeholders perceive face-to-face street fundraising as unpleasant, nonprofit managers encourage it as a way to attract donors. To understand the long-term effects of this fundraising method, we used a mixed-methods experimental design to investigate how face-to-face street fundraising affects organizational reputation and stakeholder support intentions in comparison with letter fundraising. The findings reveal that face-to-face street fundraising has a significant negative influence on the stakeholders' perceptions of an organization. Further, qualitative data show that the negative perception originates primarily from perceived pressure, distrust, and obtrusion, which are triggered by face-to-face street fundraising. Our study thus reveals long-term reputational consequences that nonprofit organizations should consider before deciding on fundraising methods.     

ePhilanthropy: using the Internet to build support

For nonprofit organisations the Internet represents an unprecedented and highly cost‐effective opportunity to build and enhance relationships with supporters, volunteers, clients and the community they serve. As ePhilanthropy has emerged, organisations have discovered that consistent and deliberate e‐mail communication that drives traffic to the organisation's well‐organised and informative website has become the key to success. Charities should approach the Internet as a communication and stewardship tool first and a fundraising tool second. Success will come not from an emphasis on the technology, but on cultivating and enhancing relationships. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Software for nonprofit fundraising and marketing

This paper discusses whether or not nonprofit donation processing software can be developed for nonprofit marketing. It shows, from previous research, that money-raising rather than money-processing is a crucial justification for a fundraising computer system. However, it is in money-processing rather than money-raising that most fundraising systems have their origins. It identifies key differences in software purpose; transaction processing is reactive, money-focused, and task-oriented, whereas nonprofit marketing is proactive, donor-focused and process-oriented. The paper looks at IT evolution over the last 50 years and recognises three phases: automate, informate and transformate. The paper suggests that fundraising systems are somewhere between automate and informate. Transformational IT has yet to come for the nonprofit world. The paper shows where the strains occur when a transaction processing system is pressed into use for marketing, and the most common causes of problems are identified. Finally it sets an agenda for nonprofit marketing systems which focus on holistic donor management, and suggests a number of data and functional needs that set marketing systems apart from transaction processing systems.     

How fundraising is carried out in US nonprofit organisations

A substantial number of nonprofit organisations in the USA report inflows of charitable contributions or grants without expenditures allocated to fundraising costs. This observation raises questions about how fundraising is carried out. Based on a survey of US charities, the paper observes that nonprofit organisations use a range of internal capacities and external relationships to conduct their fundraising. The use of staff members dedicated to fundraising is common, but much fundraising is still carried out by executive directors, volunteers and board members. Also, a substantial number of organisations engage external entities, including federated campaigns, support organisations and professional fundraising firms to generate contributions. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Relational care in communication as the basis of nonprofit fundraising: Theorizing professional ethics based in stewardship and ethics of care

At its core, fundraising is relationship building. Therefore, ethical fundraising requires cultivating genuine, care-based relationships between various stakeholders by considering relational goals and communicative practices. We advance an ethics of care-oriented approach toward fundraising based in nurturing authentic relationships with multiple organizational stakeholders, including donors, employees, beneficiaries, and volunteers. Drawing upon ethics of care and stewardship scholarship based in public relations, the purpose of this article is to propose relational care in communication through dialogue as an ethical springboard of nonprofit fundraising.     

The state-of-the-art and future research directions in bequest fundraising by nonprofit organizations: A systematic literature review

The topic of fundraising is garnering increased attention from nonprofit practitioners due to the worldwide growth of the nonprofit sector and the subsequent competition for private funds. Despite this surge, academic literature on fundraising and bequest fundraising, in particular, has remained mainly limited to narrow aspects of the discipline. Based on a systematic review of literature published over the past 25 years, we synthesize various research perspectives into a comprehensive framework of studies linking the different issues highlighted by the authors. The purpose of this article is to consolidate the state of academic research on bequest fundraising by not-for-profit organizations. The literature review underscores how research efforts have not paid much attention to bequest fundraising from the NPO's perspective, although as it has become an increasingly important source of income for charitable organizations. The majority of studies focus on the Donor's perspective, striving to understand what drives the desire to leave a charitable bequest. The findings of the SLR show a gap in the knowledge of NPOs' internal mechanisms concerning the particular topic of charitable bequests; from these insights, the future research directions are proposed.     

Benchmarking the fundraising performance of UK charities

• The cost of fundraising and its effectiveness are issues of increasing importance in the UK nonprofit sector. Measuring fundraising effectiveness properly is critical to organisations on two fronts. From a financial stewardship perspective, charities need to ensure that their fundraising is as efficient as possible. From a public relations perspective they need to be able to demonstrate this to donors and our other stakeholders. There are many problems to be overcome in objectively judging a charity's performance relative to other nonprofit organisations. There are significant methodological barriers to be overcome to produce valid and meaningful comparisons. The well established Fundratios study shows that it is feasible to construct a methodology for robust benchmarking underpinned by good quality data which charities can use as a tool to inform the management of their fundraising activities.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applying a stakeholder management approach to ethics in charitable fundraising

While nonprofit accountability literature recognizes many stakeholders, even theoretically grounded approaches to fundraising ethics tend to focus more narrowly on donors, organizations, and their missions. This paper draws on business ethics scholarship by proposing a stakeholder management approach to ethics in fundraising. This approach foregrounds intentional examination of the multiple stakeholders in the fundraising process: the organization; its donors; current beneficiaries; the broader population within the issue; the fundraisers themselves; and the community. Following stakeholder theory, ethical fundraising activities must align with the charitable mission of the organization, and take into account the legitimate interests of those groups and individuals who can affect, or be affected by, its activities. The process of intentionally identifying, prioritizing, mapping claims, engaging with, and monitoring stakeholders offers fundraisers, nonprofit executives, and members of governing and advisory boards a pragmatic means of aligning fundraising efforts with the mission, values, and long-term strategy of their organizations.     

Brochure fundraising

A fundraising brochure is regarded by many charities as a major source of income. This is associated usually with the charity's major fundraising event in its annual calendar. What many charities do not do is plan their brochure campaign to eliminate wasted effort and costs while maximising revenue received. This paper examines brochure fundraising techniques, drawing on personal and anecdotal experiences of fundraisers working in the nonprofit and voluntary sector.     

Fundraising as women's work? Examining the profession with a gender lens

Fundraising is a mission-critical area for nonprofit organizations and has emerged as a professional field in the past 50 years. This paper explores the gendered nature of fundraising work and its feminization as a profession over time, while simultaneously documenting the persistence of a gender pay gap and male overrepresentation in senior-level positions in both North America and in the UK. The application of gender theory reveals that fundraising roles and responsibilities rely on key relationship-building and organizational tasks, which are commonly associated with stereotypical women's work and are, thus, valued less in a patriarchal society. As a result, the devaluing of fundraising as mission-critical work, and a career suitable for both women and men, may limit the credibility and power of the nonprofit sector to represent diverse voices and enhance democratic values in society. The article concludes with recommendations for research and practice.     

Strategic management and fundraising: A planning model for resource development in the nonprofit organisation

Many nonprofits can benefit greatly from integrating their strategic, marketing and fundraising planning into an environmentally comprehensive process. Even during this critical period for them, many nonprofits typically have failed to implement this type of integrated planning because their corporate culture often nurtures: an inner process focus, leadership pathologies, professional balkanisation, reluctance to accept advancement as a global organisational activity, an unwillingness to accept the realities of a moving market and a lack of political will to undertake social advocacy on behalf of their clients. In order to succeed in the future, nonprofit organisations will need to approach strategic planning through an interdisciplinary methodology that will be shaped by multiple market audits focusing on: mission and institutional capabilities, image and competitive analysis, philanthropic feasibility and flexible integration of revenue/resource development. Nonprofits that adopt this interdisciplinary process will be rewarded by enhanced fundraising returns, once re-founded on a culture that has remained mission-relevant while becoming market-driven. The nonprofit that bases its planning on more effective use of intelligence gathering and flexible focusing of its human and financial capital will be more capable of acting upon a fluid environment and realising the institution's optimal future.     

Understanding social influence in Facebook fundraising: Relationship strength,immediacy of needs,and number of donations

Crowdfunding through social media has presented challenges and opportunities for nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations. To better understand how organizations can harness the power of social media in fundraising, the current research examined the effects of different types of Facebook fundraising posts on donor engagement. Based on Social Impact Theory, three factors of social influence were investigated, including relationship strength with the fundraiser creator, immediacy or urgency of the fundraising need, and number of donations. An online experiment was conducted using samples recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A repeated measures test was performed to explore the effects of three social influence factors on perceived source credibility, feeling of social presence, attitude toward the post, and intention to click, share, and donate. Strongest main effects were found for immediacy of needs. Facebook fundraising posts for an urgent need generated much more positive responses than posts for a nonurgent need. Interaction effects were also found among three variables in perceived credibility and intention to click. Personal relevance and perceived risk moderated the effects of number of donations on intention to donate. Implications for nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations were discussed.     

Market orientation and marketing in nonprofit organizations. Indications for fundraising from Victoria

The effectiveness of a market orientation has been established in other parts of the world. Using a modified replication study of 401 nonprofit organizations from Victoria, this research took some initial steps to assess fundraising and marketing activities. Studies in Australia have usually focused on only one part of the Third Sector. This study takes a different view and uses a criteria sampling method to survey all 11 sections named by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The self‐reported data of fundraising activities showed that there were several choices available to all nonprofit organizations that can lead to an improvement in organizational performance. Results suggest that should nonprofit organizations have knowledge generating systems that evaluate their performance, this will improve outcomes for them. Even though organizational size is strongly linked to fundraising performance, there are key drivers that can aid even small organizations in their efforts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ‘new’ donor: creation or evolution?

The unusual mass of financial capital produced in the late 20th century, complemented by the creative thinking of innovative philanthropists, engendered new ideas for philanthropy. An entrepreneurial focus, greater emphasis on partnerships among business, government and nonprofit sectors, and new wealth as well as new social innovation dramatically affected the philanthropic scene — and therefore nonprofit organisations and fundraising. A publication extolling venture philanthropy stated, ‘Philanthropy may be on the cusp of the greatest revolution in the nonprofit sector since Congress granted tax‐exempt status in 1954’.[Morino Institute (2001) ‘2001 Venture Philanthropy: The Changing Landscape’, prepared for the Morino Institute and Venture Philanthropy Partners, Inc., by Community Wealth Ventures, Inc.] This paper defines the terminology that identifies the new donor, describes new roles and practices in philanthropy, and looks at how the new donor fits into a comprehensive fundraising programme. New approaches to philanthropy versus traditional philanthropy are considered, including whether or not these approaches are actually new or represent an evolution in giving. Futureprojectionsarediscussedaswellascaveats regarding the maintenance of balance between what is tried and true and what is a trend. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Fundraising,race, and discourse: The challenges and opportunities' of social construction

Fundraisers have turned their attention to minority communities as potential resources despite the fact that minority communities are both underserved by and underrepresented in nonprofit organizations. This paper argues that the current approach to minority fundraising, which uses broad racial categories, is limiting. Minority fundraising practice and research face three distinct challenges (racial categorization, socially constructed markets, and privilege) that can be addressed through a focus on language, specifically discourse analysis.     

Efficiency,stability and the decision to give to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in the United States

• Using data from the Cultural Data Project, this study extends the literature by examining the impact of financial disclosure information on donations to arts and culture‐related nonprofit organizations in the United States. Results for organization financial stability are for the most part counterintuitive: financially unstable arts and culture‐related nonprofits receive more donations. The current analysis supports prior research and finds evidence of a “crowding in” effect for fundraising expenses, suggesting that nonprofits that spend more on fundraising and marketing raise more funds than those that spend less. Additional analysis indicates efficiency matters to donors when it comes to fundraising efforts. As the “cost to raise a dollar” increases donations decrease. Nonprofit managers in arts and culture‐related organizations concerned about increasing donations should consider strategies that will increase the efficiency of their fundraising and marketing efforts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Donor recognition: A double-edged sword in charitable giving

Previous studies discover confounding results on how donor recognition affects individual charitable giving. To answer the questions of how different donor recognition schemes affect individual giving and what type is more effective as a marketing strategy to meet different fundraising goals, we conducted a field experiment in China with three donor recognition types: voluntary, involuntary, and mandatory donor recognition. We used social media to recognize donors and verified the field experiment results with naturally occurring data. We observed similar behavioral patterns in both samples. The results of this study explain the mixed results from previous studies, suggesting that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for recognizing donors. Decision makers of nonprofit organizations need to select the appropriate type of donor recognition based on their fundraising goals.     

The extent of excessive or insufficient fundraising among US arts organizations and the effect of organizational efficiency on donations to US arts organizations

• We estimate, for each nonprofit organization (NPO) in a sample of 606 US arts NPOs, whether the NPO's level of fundraising is ‘excessive,’ ‘insufficient,’ or neither, relative to the level that maximizes net donations. We find that the effect of a 1% increase in fundraising on net donations varies widely across the arts NPOs in our sample—from an increase in net donations of 8.91% of gross donations to a decrease of 3.82% of gross donations. Of the 100 NPOs in our sample with the highest donations, the estimated effect of a 1% increase in fundraising on net donations varies more narrowly—from an increase in net donations of 0.27% of gross donations to a decrease of 0.32% of gross donations. Of these 100 NPOs, we estimate that only 3 engaged in ‘excessive’ fundraising, but 83 engaged in ‘insufficient’ fundraising, and 14 did not engage in ‘excessive’ or ‘insufficient’ fundraising.We also provide evidence that reported organizational efficiency does not affect donations to arts NPOs. This finding may be useful to managers and directors of US arts NPOs who believe that organizational efficiency does impact donations and who, therefore, incorporate the effect on efficiency in their decisions to allocate resources across fundraising, administration, and program objectives.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.