Trustee decision making in small UK charities

Management theory suggests that increasing the quantity and quality of management information available to key members in organisations will lead to improvements in their decision making. However, judgements as to what counts as ‘management information’, and in what its quality consists may vary according to organisational location, size and purpose. Where those ‘key members’ are volunteers, as with charity trustees, perceptions of management information need, amount and value, may vary further. This paper explores aspects of this theory, with particular reference to trustees of small charities in the United Kingdom. It outlines a research programme drawing on trustees in organisations working for children and for people with disabilities. A range of findings is presented, recording trustee experiences of and responses to management information, as this affects their charities' performance. Following from three in-depth case studies in small charities, findings show that informal systems are in operation, whereby trustees devolve much of the responsibility for management information to their chief officers, who are then monitored by their chairs. While this system is viewed by participants as an effective and practical means of enabling decision making, certain questions are raised regarding trustee liability and accountability.     

Would the payment of market rates for non‐executive directors strengthen charity governance?

This paper considers the academic literature suggesting that the governance and management of charities is far from perfect, a problem that is frequently attributed to the difficulty charities have in recruiting suitable people to act as trustees. The paper raises the question of whether charity governance has a value — and a price worth paying for. The paper describes research carried out to test the attitude of a section of potentially suitable managers to charity trusteeship and to remuneration for such responsibilities. It concludes that there are substantial numbers of able trustees willing to serve on a voluntary basis; the perceived shortage is more likely to arise from charities' own recruitment failings than from a shortage of supply. But it also concludes that the supply of suitable trustees could be doubled if reasonable remuneration were offered, and there is some evidence that existing trustees might give higher priority to their duties if they were paid. Results are based on a sample of just over 100 responses, but a further survey is in progress. Initial results broadly confirm the results reported here. Further research to explore the desirability and practicality of paying charity trustees is indicated. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

The recruitment and selection of pension trustees: an integrative approach

The role of a pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this article, we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection: the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain‐specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labour's goals in pension governance.     

Charity shop volunteers: a case for ‘tender loving care’

The main purpose of this paper, which features all the shop volunteers in the town of Ruislip (and some in a neighbouring town), is to build a picture of the volunteer workforce and to note some distinguishing features about volunteer groupings that have been identified. It discusses some of the management challenges facing charities in marshalling their volunteers and notes the very important part the local shop manager plays in that process. Finally it discusses some of the consequences to volunteering of the migration to ‘professionalism’. It is suggested that charities, by understanding what is happening to volunteering in the retail sector, will extract maximum contribution from the efforts of their volunteers, present and future. A competitive edge may be found by some if they employ a humanistic approach to the management of volunteers. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications     

A process model of volunteer motivation

Traditional HR functions of recruitment, selection, training/development, and retention must be adapted when managing a volunteer workforce. While much research has focused on what motivates people to volunteer, very little has focused on the process of volunteer motivation. In this paper, we move beyond the traditional content-based approaches to explain how people decide whether to volunteer, how much effort to expend, and then whether to continue volunteering over time. Our model, based on image theory, provides new insights into volunteer decision making and behavior.     

关于大学生志愿精神的调查研究——以温州某独立院校为例

文章从大学生对志愿精神的认可、大学生志愿者招募渠道、志愿者组织体系等三方面调查资料为基础,通过对温州某独立院校的大学生参与青年志愿服务的情况进行调研和剖析,得出当代大学生参加志愿活动状况不容乐观的基本结论。     

我国独立董事的现状及其困境分析

独立董事是我国移植西方国家的一项制度,可以说是我国公司治理中监事会制度“失灵”的产物。目前独立董事在我国上市公司中确实起到一定的作用,但他们基本上处于“边缘化”的困境状态,未能发挥其应有的职能。本文拟从实证和理论角度对此进行深入探讨和分析。     

Charity Technology Trust: a case study

Charity Technology Trust (CTT) is one of a new breed of philanthropic initiatives aimed at helping UK charities become more efficient by better use of technology. Its founder believes that charities are ideally placed to benefit from the reduced costs and shared benefits of jointly developed strategies and fundraising, communications and data management tools. CTT was formed to catalyse a move in this direction from the major UK fundraising charities and is supported by the personal philanthropic contributions of its trustees—a group of successful businessmen. The challenge for such a new organisation with a new idea is considerable, but after 18 months CTT is working with 27 of the top 100 UK charities on projects from online raffles through e‐mail communications to IT strategy. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

UK trust fundraising - Learning to say thank you

In the United Kingdom, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) data suggest that grant-making trusts are currently responsible for supplying over 13 per cent of an ‘average’ charity's income (approximately four times the amount committed by corporate donors). Remarkably however, very little is known about the behaviour of such organisations and the contact strategies that are used by charities to solicit their support. This paper reviews the findings of a postal survey of 350 grant-making trusts and identifies the criteria most commonly used to perform an initial sift of proposals and to develop a final short list to appraise for support or rejection. The findings clearly show that charity applications to trusts have increased dramatically over the past three years. Regrettably however, trusts perceive that there has been an accompanying decline in the standards of application being made. Trusts report that they are now frequently subjected to ill-considered ‘blanket’ mailings from charities that often take no account of the specific aims and objectives of the trust. In general, the research also identified that applicants appeared to have undertaken very little research prior to submission of their application and if successful, would be unlikely to thank the trustees, nor to indicate what had been achieved as a result of their generosity.     

A Fraternity Of Danger

A bstract . Interviews and participation with members of rural volunteer fire departments (VFDs) in New York State, indicate that local communities in rural regions are structured around VFDs. Such "communities" involves both the fraternity of the fire house, resting on the teamwork essential to firefighting, and a wider locality, which the VFDs spatially define and symbolically integrate through a ritual of parades, fund raising efforts, and their example of community service. The working class, attached to the locality by stable residence and recruited intergenerationally into the fire service, supplies the majority of volunteers.
Neoliberal modernization threatens this recruitment pattern. Problems have developed because the "new middle class" rejects VFD participation, except as ambulance volunteers. As localities compete for outside investment through the reduced cost of their services, they have exploited volunteers to provide fire protection at less cost than that of paid departments. This commodification of the VFDs risks destroying their character as a system of moral obligation unifying a locality and is an inequitable, and unsustainable, "tax" on working class volunteers. But innovative systems of emergency and other services can be used to attract the new male and female middle class into volunteer local activities.     

Using third‐party services to reduce the development cost and improve the effectiveness of charity websites

The growth of the internet has provided a new medium for charities to reach out to potential supporters. The development of a website requires time, money and expertise that may not be available to many charities. A novel approach is presented to allow these charities to maximise the effectiveness of their websites by using freely available features that have been developed by third parties. It is suggested that use of these services will allow charities to deliver extensive and advanced functionality quickly at reduced cost and with limited in‐house skills. A wide range of services is identified and these appear to allow charities to: increase the content of their sites and foster a sense of community to encourage repeat visits; raise funds by processing online donations or hosting charity auctions; extend their trading activities to the internet; manage and monitor the use of their websites; and improve a range of other activities such as recruitment and advocacy. Some of the services have an associated cost but seem to offer a cheaper and quicker route to implementation for most charities. Although the use of these pre‐built services may provide cost savings, several risks associated with the suggested approach are also considered. By relying on third parties to provide these services, charities have to surrender some degree of control and risk damaging their reputation if the selected services are inappropriate or unreliable. The need to attract visitors to the site initially is also not addressed by this approach. It is concluded that the use of third‐party services does offer an opportunity for charities to enhance the websites but that these services need to be chosen very carefully. There is a need for further research to evaluate the suggested approach and to identify the effectiveness of the various services. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Online social network fundraising: Threats and potentialities

There has been a growth in online fundraising from crowdfunding apps, like GoFundMe, that propagate fundraising appeals on social networking sites. In the online space, these crowdfunding apps pose a potential threat to the traditional intermediation role of charities. The disintermediation threat is that donors choose crowdfunding intermediaries instead of charities to channel their giving. In this article, we discuss what makes crowdsourced fundraising effective and how charities can adapt to this new dynamic for more effective online fundraising emphasizing two key success factors: brand strength/reputation and managing the donor experience. In addition, we explain the advantages and disadvantages of social media fundraising and giving and propose ways charities can leverage their good reputations and public trust to stimulate reintermediation. Finally, we propose a landscape for future research based on model that emphases the fundraising campaign's ability to stimulate viral sharing within and between online social networks.     

How to make sure your donors read your publications

Voluntary organisations pour large chunks of their usually slender resources into producing publications in the hope that these will carry their many promotional messages to a variety of audiences, particularly donors and other supporters. The authors feel that little is known about how donors view and use these publications and whether or not their senders get good value for money. This paper presents an outline of findings from research recently commissioned by the authors into how donors read and use the publications and other printed communications sent to them by charities they support. The conclusion is that many charities could take simple actions to improve their publications, and some suggestions are made. From the authors' experience they supply guidelines charities can follow if they wish to change the way donors perceive, read, enjoy, remember and respond to the publications they send. Also included is a checklist for basic strategic planning so that any charity can ensure that tomorrow's donors will receive communications based not just on what the charity wants to send, but also on what the intended audience wants to receive.     

The people behind the scenes: Episodic volunteering at fundraising events

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have become increasingly dependent on episodic volunteers (EVs), those that would help carry out an event with little training and expectation to commit to future events. Despite its importance to the survival of NPOs, the use of EVs with respect to fundraising has received little research focus. Furthermore, none of the existing studies identified examined how fundraising EVs differ from other EVs. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of fundraising EVs using a global perspective. Data were generated using surveys distributed in seven countries, tallying more than 4,000 respondents. Variables included demographic characteristics, previous donation and volunteer history, motives, mode of volunteering, and overall experience. The data were analyzed by applying between-group (logistic regression on participation) and within-group analysis (ordered logistic regression on willingness to participate in the future). Data were further analyzed by examining differences by country. We found that country, gender, religion, income, employment, history of donations, mode of volunteering, and several motives, both intrinsic and extrinsic, were significant in the logistic regression analysis of participation in fundraising episodic volunteering. The ordered logistic analysis unexpectedly found that the only predictors to foster a willingness to engage again were the responsiveness of the event team and a desire to fulfill spiritual satisfaction. In recruiting and selecting EVs for fundraising events, NPOs should consider previous or current donors and those with regular volunteering experience and they should market volunteer opportunities towards those in search of spiritual fulfillment and meaning. Moreover, NPOs should prioritize quick and clear communication with fundraising EVs in order to foster a willingness to volunteer again. Lastly, NPOs should regularly assess for country-specific factors and contexts that may affect episodic volunteering in fundraising events. Our paper illustrates who fundraising EVs are, their motives, how they choose to volunteer, and what contributes to their willingness to volunteer again. Given the limited research on fundraising EVs, this study serves to help lay the foundation of research for this unique subgroup. Our aim was to not only address the dearth of literature but serve as a springboard for future research on fundraising EVs.     

The fusion of privilege and power: ESOPs in theory and practice

The heart of this paper is an examination of the rights of employees, owners, and the corporation. The modern corporation is characterized by the conflict that ensues when ownership and control are independent. Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), in theory, serve to realign these disparate interests between the owners and managers of the firm. This article will explore the mechanisms by which ESOPs serve to empower those who possess ownership rights in the corporation. The application of trusteeship theory serves to explain the agency problem that may arise when managers serve as both trustee and beneficiary. Workplace, ownership, and corporate rights are integrated into a stakeholder perspective of rights conflicts.     

Charity brands: A qualitative study of current practice

A number of fundraising managers and directors of UK charities were interviewed with the objective of understanding to what extent branding was used in the sector, what development possibilities exist for commercial techniques in charities, and what the constraints may be on such practices. It was found that many charities already use day-to-day brand techniques, (without describing them as ‘branding’), but brand development work was scarce. Charities have a number of objectives competing with fundraising when considering their brand content. They must also satisfy the need to respect issues about how the cause itself is communicated, and possible needs to re-educate the donor community or the public. One commercial practice in particular could be developed further in charity branding: this is the idea of using the personality of the charity itself as something with which donors could associate positively.     

Giving donors good reason to give again

The donor bases of many charities suffer high lapse rates that both restrict growth and carry a heavy cost in recruitment needed to replace the lost donors. This paper argues that it should be possible to reduce these high lapse rates, based on the experience of businesses that have reduced their lapse rates by giving customers better value. Giving customers good value gives them good reason to come back for more. The paper looks at evidence that donors, like customers, want satisfaction in return for their money. The paper proposes a model of donor value to identify how charities can give donors more for their money, providing a route to reduce lapsing and so improve charity profitability and growth.     

Determinants of charitable donation intentions: a structural equation model

• Currently charities have to depend more on individual donors and less on the government for funding. Hence, understanding the individual donor and what motivates them to contribute to charities is something, which has been of increasing interest to nonprofit marketers. In this article, a path model for the charitable donation process of a religious individual is developed and tested. The variables that are used in the model are religiosity, attitude towards helping others (AHO), attitude towards charitable organizations (ACO), attitude towards the advertisement (Attad) and behavioral intentions (BI). The results suggest that AHO by itself does not cause BI. Altruistic people need to be targeted with an appropriate advertisement message. Since religiosity is an important causal variable for AHO, segmenting and targeting individuals who are religious would be pertinent. Attempts to build favorable ACO would also be worthwhile.
• Religiosity
• Charitable donation intentions
• Charity advertisements.
• Path model for predicting intentions to donate.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“You can try to press different emotional buttons”: The conflicts and strategies of eliciting emotions for fundraisers

In a competitive climate in which charities must increasingly rely on fundraising with the public, emotions such as hope, guilt, and fear are powerful tools that can be used strategically to secure donations or participation. This paper explores data from interviews with 23 fundraisers and voluntary sector workers, managers, and officials, to argue that decisions around how, why, and when to invest in the elicitation of emotion in fundraising are often difficult and conflicted, with some identifying a battle between ethics and effectiveness. We identify 3 key levels of conflict that must be negotiated: at the level of the charity sector, where the emotional ethics particularly of larger charities have been met with some resistance from the public and press; at the level of the organisation itself, where the ethics of representation are often a subject of conflict between fundraising and other departments such as policy; and, finally, at the experiential level of individual fundraisers themselves, who report being routinely internally conflicted around the rights and wrongs of using emotion in their work. A strategic approach to eliciting emotion emerges in the data as a useful way to address some of these areas of conflict, with fundraisers making careful “balancing” decisions about how and with whom to mobilise certain emotions at specific times.     

The Washington State combined fund drive: a case study

The Washington combined fund drive is a large employee workplace giving programme in the state of Washington, USA. This programme provides individuals with a large choice of charities and payment options. Promotion for the programme is conducted entirely through a volunteer organisation. It has grown steadily, but contributions are now levelling off, so the director of the programme is trying to identify the most effective way to improve it. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications