Enhancing fundraising success with custom data modelling

The majority of nonprofit organisations rely heavily on contributions to fund their mission‐critical activities. Because building relationships with donors is critical to the success of nonprofits, organisations must be able to transform their data on prospective donors into an action plan that will optimise the yield of their fundraising efforts. This paper offers a methodology for targeting individuals most likely to make a charitable contribution, by building custom response models using the rich donor data maintained by many nonprofit organisations as well as overlaid demographic information. The methodology is able to utilise efficiently a large volume of variables while being flexible enough to use large categorical variables, such as postal code, and capture non‐linear relationships between the independent variables and the likelihood to give. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

An exploratory study of stewardship for Chinese nonprofit organizations

This study examined how Chinese nonprofits practice stewardship and how stewardship principles influence nonprofit–donor relationships and donor retention. Fifteen qualitative in‐depth interviews were conducted with experienced fundraisers in China. Results showed that Kelly's stewardship principles were applicable in China; Chinese fundraisers practiced stewardship principles of reciprocity, responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing to maintain relationships with major gift and annual donors. Besides, practitioners also utilized a variety of communication channels, ranging from face‐to‐face, telephones, emails, to digital shared media such as WeChat and Weibo, in communicating with individual and general public donors. Finally, interviewees also provided evidence on the positive role of quality nonprofit–donor relationships in retaining donors. This study illustrated the current status of nonprofit fundraising practice in China and expanded the explanatory power of the stewardship theory. The findings are implicative for Chinese nonprofits professionals on how to develop their unique stewardship practice in managing relationships with donors.     

Business support approaches for charities and other nonprofits

This study investigated three kinds of business support for nonprofit organisations—donations, sponsorship and coalignment deals (a commercial venture between the two partners), among a sample of major Australian corporates. Most businesses were more likely to donate to a charity if their competitors were known to do so. A similar finding was observed for the sponsorship of charities, cultural and sports organisations. Businesses expected charities to be genuine in their concern about social issues, but businesslike in their dealings with their supporter organisations. Pressures for the increased commercialisation of the relationship were observed, leading to dilemmas for the nonprofits. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

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.

     

Building e‐support for cause‐related marketing through strategic alliances

New opportunities for nonprofit organisations to reach new donors and volunteers are being generated by an accelerated interest in cause‐related marketing on the part of both consumers and business firms, in conjunction with the emergence of the Internet. Together, these conditions have created a climate conducive for nonprofit alliances with corporations to become one of the fastest growing forms of marketing today. This paper examines online cause‐related marketing from the fundraiser's perspective, and sets forth a series of marketing management implications of building relationships with businesses and their customers as potential donors on the Internet. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications.     

“Power back in the community”: Going beyond performative generosity in nonprofits

Our study critiques nonprofits in the United States, using settler colonial and critical whiteness theories. Nonprofits rely on the donations of wealthy white donors to support marginalized communities. Yet, nonprofits, through donor support, fund projects that benefit marginalized communities without critiquing how the money was earned, who it belongs to, and why such inequities exist. If nonprofits seek to truly invest in marginalized communities, they need to be critical of their own model. This article depicts a composite counter-story about a woman reflecting on her experience working for a nonprofit, and her decision to quit her job when she realizes that the organization she worked for did not truly put “power back in the community” like they claimed. Using a fictionalized counter-story, this article presents the very real ways in which nonprofits can use Indigenous values to go beyond performative generosity. The five values that emerge from our counter-story are: relationality, respect, responsibility, reciprocity, and reflection. These values can help us work towards a future where philanthropy is no longer needed.     

The marketing cycle for a not-for-profit

Marketing is a process, one with discrete and identifiable steps. This is true for both for-profit and nonprofit organisations. However, many nonprofits are told what services or products they will provide, thus skipping the crucial first steps in the marketing process. This paper lays out a classical marketing cycle and shows its applications for nonprofit and voluntary organisations. Several examples are discussed.     

The importance of values research for nonprofit organisations: the motivation‐based values of museum visitors

Marketing is very important to nonprofit organisations, and museums, being nonprofits, need to consider different market segments when designing and implementing their strategic and marketing plans. Marketing has traditionally been linked to concepts of profitability and providing a competitive edge, however with nonprofit organisations, marketing needs to focus on customer service. To achieve the best customer service, the organisation needs to know what the customer wants. Therefore this paper advocates that research on museums move away from demographic segmentation and factual recall, to psychographic segmentation and values. This paper discusses exploratory research undertaken on the Otago Museum, New Zealand, which looks at the motivation‐based values of the museum patrons. The most important finding in this study is the prevalence of socially oriented values (being with friends and family), whereas traditionally a museum visit has been linked to more individualistic values, such as education and knowledge. These findings have important implications for museum managers (and other nonprofit organisations) in that they show the value of psychographic segmentation. A museum, and other arts organisations, can decide if they will target one particular segment, for example, families, or if they will design their museum with quite different sections that will appeal to different target markets. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Relational exchange in nonprofits: The role of identity saliency and relationship satisfaction

In practice and research pertaining to charitable giving, the emphasis has been on identifying the characteristics and motivations of donors, but few have asked why donors continue to support a particular nonprofit. This study examines the relationship between renewing donors and nonprofits and their impact on charitable giving levels using identity salience and relationship satisfaction as key mediators of nonprofit relational exchange. In a survey of 719 repeat donors in the United States, to a broad range of nonprofit organizations, identity saliency and relationship satisfaction are introduced as mediating constructs, and the results confirm that both constructs partially guide donor motivations and charitable giving. Theoretically, this suggests that the more a donor identifies with a nonprofit organization and the more satisfied the donor is in the relationship with the organization, the higher their intention to donate. This finding supports previous research in segmentation strategies and service‐dominant logic in the nonprofit sector. Managerial implications of this research include indication of a paradigmatic shift from relational exchange to transformational exchange (or value cocreation) in nonprofit organizations' approach to donor cultivation.     

Taking the quantum leap: nonprofits are now in business. an Australian perspective

The fact that they need to deliver more essential social services is accepted by most professionals working in nonprofit organisations. Yet, needing to become more competitive, increasingly ‘businesslike’ and to start creating partnerships with profit‐driven businesses may require a quantum leap to take place. This hard reality imposed by recent changes in government policy is challenging for many social service workers still coming to terms with a decade of turbulent and changing times. From origins of ‘she'll be right mate’ and a community‐held belief that it is the government's responsibility to finance all essential social services, today's nonprofits are increasingly fighting over smaller funding budgets and feeling the pinch as they have to implement business practices that will ultimately make them more accountable, profitable and attractive to prospective business partnerships. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to present an option to larger Australian nonprofit organisations keen to move away from a dependency model of service delivery and open to exploring the possibility of implementing a marketing communications charter which includes the appointment of a business development manager. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Understanding why people do not give: strategic funding concerns for AIDS‐related nonprofits

• In this increasingly competitive environment for the individual donor's time and money, it is especially important for AIDS‐related nonprofits to understand why people choose not to give. Voluntary donations to organizations serving persons with HIV/AIDS could be negatively influenced by the social stigma that continues to be associated with the disease. Using the empathy‐altruism hypothesis from social psychology, the impact of gender, homosexuality, promiscuity, and drug use on donor cognitive situational empathy, emotional situational empathy, and altruism is examined. The findings have significant implications for nonprofits. Understanding the impact of these behaviors on giving is a first step in gauging the magnitude of challenges that AIDS‐related nonprofits may face in fund‐raising activities. Additionally, this information should be invaluable in the development of educational and/or promotional strategies to increase private sector support. Finally, initiatives in communication and marketing strategy are discussed to improve fund‐raising efforts.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Online donation behavior in nonprofit organizations: The role of congruent processing styles

With the advent of technology, donors are increasingly donating via online channels. This shift deems it necessary for nonprofit organizations to better understand the online donor behavior. As such, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we investigate if nonprofit organizations are perceived differently in terms of their cognitive and affective natures. Then, we examine how different consumer processing styles, i.e. cognitive and affective, interact with consumer perceptions of nonprofit cognitive/affective orientations in influencing their donation intentions. Our results indicate that consumers with a high need for cognition are more willing to donate to predominantly cognitive nonprofit organizations, while those with high need for emotion are more willing to donate to predominantly affective nonprofit organizations. Based on these results, we suggest that nonprofit organizations can garner more donations if they request funds from donors whose processing styles are congruent with the organization. Additional recommendations for future research are provided.     

Volunteerism,compassion and religiosity as drivers of donations practices

• The topic of donations is one of high relevance and has been widely covered in contemporary marketing literature. It is a topic of interest to both theoreticians and practitioners alike, particularly due to its implicit links to fundraising activities and research. The reality of what makes an individual donor ultimately part with his money and give it away to a nonprofit organization is a hot contemporary topic. This study looks into the role of religiosity as a predictor of donations practices. Also volunteerism and compassion, two acts of pro‐social behaviour are analysed as predictors of donations practices. Using data collected from a survey of 612 charity donors in Portugal, the results show unequivocally that religiosity does influence donations practices, and so being a predictor of donations practices. Moreover, pro‐social behaviour is a predictor of donations practices when in the case of volunteerism, but not in the form of compassion.
• The findings are particularly useful for nonprofit organizations that want to attract and retain individual charitable donors and may also help to increase donation regularity, to obtain higher amounts, and donations both to religious and to secular organizations. Finally, it can be stated that the understanding of religiosity sheds light on knowledge about donations practices, and that this study also makes an important contribution to academia, as it is the first study conducted in Portugal that assesses the drivers of donations practices.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How international nonprofits build brand equity

This paper describes an empirical model of brand equity for international nonprofit organizations and offers nonprofit managers suggestions for the management of their brands. The main areas of interest include:

• A review of the importance of branding for nonprofits, the lack of a brand equity models specifically for nonprofits, and the key differences between for‐profits and nonprofits.
• A proposed nonprofit brand equity model, based on a grounded theory and system dynamics approach.
• A series of specific managerial recommendations, for building nonprofit brand equity.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A processing fluency perspective on overhead aversion: How much is too much?

Overhead aversion has afflicted the nonprofit sector in recent decades. Yet, questions remain regarding how high is too high from a donor perspective and at what level overhead expenses just “feel right.” Using processing fluency as a theoretical foundation, the central purpose of this research was to investigate whether a nonprofit overhead ratio fluency level exists that significantly reduces both donation likelihood and nonprofit perceptions. Results from two studies show that a 25% overhead ratio appears to be the proximate ceiling regarding what fluently fits within a potential donor's schema for acceptance. Overhead ratios exceeding this threshold tended to decrease donation likelihood and nonprofit perceptions in a relatively stable manner. Moreover, the 25% threshold seems most relevant to human and animal causes and not as relevant to arts and cultural nonprofits such as museums. The results suggest that donors have a preconceived overhead ratio limit. Nonprofits that exceed that threshold are in danger of deterring donors. If nonprofit overhead ratios exceed the donor fluency threshold, nonprofit managers should consider distinct promotional strategies that entice donors and diminish overhead aversion effects.     

Health nonprofits online: the use of frames and stewardship strategies to increase stakeholder involvement

• This study examines connections between the conceptual frameworks of compassion fatigue (burnout toward social issues) and related stewardship strategies that are used as a form of best practices to address the issue of compassion fatigue. A content analysis of 117 health nonprofit websites (457 web pages) investigates how nonprofit health organization websites are framing their communication to various stakeholders and how the strategies of stewardship are employed online. Findings indicate that although health nonprofits are using positive frames and multiple stewardship strategies, more could be done by nonprofit marketing practitioners to facilitate positive, long-term relationships with stakeholders in an environment of increased communication and compassion fatigue.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring what nonprofit branding can learn from contemporary art

• As more and more nonprofits seek to refashion themselves as brands, they tend to take inspiration from for‐profit organizations. Another domain that has had similar purposes to those of nonprofit branding for many years is contemporary art. This is an exploratory paper that looks at a recent trend in art, “message art,” and how it might inform nonprofit branding. Message art deals with many social issues that drive major nonprofits today including everything from pro‐environment causes to anti‐segregationist issues. This paper has two purposes: (1) to call attention to message art among nonprofit brand managers and (2) to explain how they can use this art. Message art is useful to the extent that it calls attention to new ideological trends and often provides selected pieces of art that can serve as exemplars of brand essence for relevant causes. Results are provided from a small, qualitative study of women's feelings about selected examples of feminist art. Two pieces of art drew the most positive responses. One piece, “Egyptian Rocket Goddess,” is felt to be a harbinger of Third Wave Feminism. Another piece, “Blessed Art Thou Among Women,” is felt to be an effective source of inspiration and direction for feminist organizations, which focus on mother–daughter relationships.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lack of early engagement: a pre‐eminent barrier to Australian university bequest giving?

• Decreased government funding has placed increasing financial pressure on Australian universities. Currently Australian universities receive 6.6% of all donations to nonprofit organisations in Australia while universities in the United States attract 14%. These figures suggest there is considerable room for improvement for Australian universities. Efforts directed towards adding to knowledge of philanthropy to universities in Australia are, therefore, very topical at present. Despite acknowledged differences between the types of literature on gift‐giving it predominately centres on the motivation to donate to nonprofit organisations during an individual's lifetime (in vivo giving) with less focus on bequests. This exploratory study sought to gain insight into barriers to Australian University bequests. Lack of alumni engagement in Australian Universities was identified as a primary bequest barrier. Barriers identified previously in the literature (e.g. communications quality, performance, insensitive marketing) were considered secondary barriers to bequests. The results suggest a long term strategy is needed for Australian Universities seeking to improve donations. Universities need to engage students from the start of their academic tenure in order to be considered for a bequest. This paper proposes a model which highlights the consequences of this lack of early engagement and identifies key points in the academic and post‐academic process where successive challenges increasingly diverge the student from the university's bequest prospects.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding public awareness of nonprofit organizations: exploring the awareness–confidence relationship

• Public confidence has often been viewed as a critical indicator of legitimacy within the nonprofit sector. Indeed, confidence is believed to be among one of the sector's most important commodities. Surveys, however, have shown that the public does not always have much confidence in the performance of nonprofit organizations. Although this lack of confidence is certainly concerning, few studies have assessed whether the public actually has any awareness of what nonprofit organizations are, and no studies have examined the personal characteristics associated with more (or less) nonprofit awareness. Thus, by using individual‐level data from a survey of public attitudes toward nonprofits in San Diego County (n = 1002), the purpose of this study was to explore how individual characteristics relate to nonprofit awareness and to examine the extent to which awareness of the sector influences confidence in the performance of nonprofit organizations. The findings from the study indicate that nonprofit awareness varies by several individual‐level characteristics—with many of those likely to be the most dependent on nonprofit services being the least aware of the sector. The findings also indicate that awareness of the sector is the most significant predictor of confidence in the performance of nonprofits.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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