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.     

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.     

On campaigning as an effective tool to encourage wider support for a cause

The paper points out the perception in the public mind that charities equate to fundraising. This should not be the sole function of charities and the advantages that campaigning bring to a cause are enumerated. Characteristics of donors are discussed, with suggestions for the optimum use of their skills and time, not only demands for their money. Political issues are addressed and campaign materials are suggested, with a view to maximum understanding by supporters.     

A qualitative investigation into the donor lapsing experience

• Donor attrition is costing charities a fortune. Previous research has examined the relative importance of the antecedents to donor loyalty versus lapsing. This study qualitatively builds on this. It reports the results of workshops and interviews that took lapsers and donors back through their donor and lapser journeys. It drills down into and unpacks their experiences—inclusive of the (previously undocumented) lapsing experience itself. It reveals striking similarities between the cancellation of a direct debit and other more conventional purchase decisions. Most worryingly, it seems that most people stop supporting a given charity because they had never really had any loyalty to it in the first place. Charities are not meeting people's needs as donors. There is a distinct lack of understanding between charities and their donors, and donors are lapsing because charities give them little reason to stay. The authors conclude with practical recommendations for the management of attrition.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How responsive are charities to market needs?

Voluntary organisations have a unique set of stakeholders. Their services are paid for, not by their customers, but by ‘purchasers’ such as social services or grant-making trusts. This separation of customers from purchasers denies voluntary organisations a direct market mechanism for feedback on their services. As a result, charities are in danger of providing outdated poor-quality services for years, while convincing purchasers that they are still doing a good job. This paper examines the extent to which voluntary organisations do in fact respond to market needs, despite their undemanding environment. The paper draws on research from 15 national disability charities to explore the extent to which charities are market orientated, and to identify examples of best practice in the field. The paper concludes by identifying the critical role played by charity chief executives in urging their own organisations to adopt marketing principles. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications     

Donor survival analysis: an alternative perspective on lifecycle modelling

There is considerable pressure on charities and voluntary organisations, both to reduce ‘wasted’ expenditure on administrative costs and unwanted mailings, and to deliver more and better services from their voluntary support. Modern tools allow organisations to tailor mailing requirements to individual needs easily and cheaply. Charities need to become ever more efficient: improving the response rates, while reducing overall expenditure on money‐raising activities. Simple means and summary statistics can be seriously biased and misleading for this type of data. Survival analysis is a good, sound and flexible tool to analyse length of time to next donation and membership data. This can lead to a better understanding and more efficient use of the available budgets. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Widening the appeal of charity

In the UK there is a contracting donor pool, but a significant growth in registered charities. This paper discusses the impact of individual, organisational and environmental factors on giving, and also distinguishes characteristics of givers and non‐givers. The focus of the paper is on the long‐term solution to the problem of recruitment of donors, by expanding the current supporter base for the charity sector. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Prediction of donor lifetime value and the development of true segmented donor strategy

This paper is based on projects developed by WWAV Rapp Collins on behalf of two UK charities, Shelter and the NSPCC. The classic model used by nonprofit organisations for donor development programmes using the concept of lifetime value (LTV) is challenged and the paper describes the development of an alternative model. The paper assesses existing segmentation methodology and systems such as RFV, and analyses, step by step, how the new model was set up. There is particular emphasis on the scoring methods used and validation of the scores. Income from donors is likely to be maximised by efficiently separating the profitable from the unprofitable with the use of a more discriminating system.     

Lifecycle‐based donor performance analysis

With charities of all sizes now having the ability to collect and store very large quantities of data about their donors on in‐house database systems, detailed donor performance analyses have an increasingly essential role to play in the effective planning and management of fundraising. If, however, such activities are to support fully the work of fundraisers then it is important that they are undertaken from the perspective of the fundraiser rather than of the specialist data analyst. This paper introduces an approach to donor performance analysis that is founded on what is termed a ‘donor lifecycle model’. The aim of this is to provide a formal analysis methodology that provides end results that can be more easily interpreted by nonspecialists and so more effectively used in support of the efficient planning of fundraising programmes. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

World Vision case study of Sigma,an analysis tool based on the Alterian database engine

One of the major issues charities have been concerned with for many years is the inability to access donor records for marketing analysis purposes—donor information has literally been locked up. Charity database tools such as Raiser's Edge and Alms have been built to provide donor details on a record‐by‐record basis rather than to provide summary information across the entire base. These tools carry out this function very well and have the added benefit of providing data to call centre staff as they make or receive calls from donors. As each charity has to compete more intensely for their share of donor value, however, more detailed behavioural analysis of donor bases is required. To do this, access to the entire donor data is essential, not one record at a time, but structured in a way that allows ad hoc querying. This paper discusses the various technologies that can be used to access donor data for analytical purposes and explains the merits of a new database engine developed by Alterian that allows easy and fast access to many records across multiple data tables. It also shows how one organisation has used the engine to develop a bespoke analysis tool for the charity sector and how a leading relief and development agency, World Vision, is using this tool. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Do charitable causes need to segment their current donor base on demographic factors?: An Australian examination

Modern charities are facing increasing pressures requiring them to use more effectively a range of marketing activities, and segmentation may be one such tool. The giving literature suggests that the demographic factors of gender and age might serve as appropriate segmentation criteria and this paper examines whether motivations of existing donors vary by age or gender. The results suggest that there may be limited benefits in segmenting existing donors and that charities may be able to use similar promotional strategies for all existing donors. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Prosocial customer in the public sector: A PLS-SEM analysis applied to blood donation (active donors)

The act of donating blood creates social and public value (as a transformative service), but donors do not always repeat, so this study analyses the antecedents of attitudinal loyalty in donors. In addition, this research identifies active donor profiles to design personalised strategies to increase customers’ attitudinal loyalty. An online survey was conducted with 30,619 active donors who have donated blood at least once over the past two years. The study applies a quantitative modelling model called Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Analyses confirmed that motivations, obstacles and service quality influence satisfaction and donor attitudinal loyalty. Also, three active donor clusters were identified, as donation centres must adjust to each cluster to create value for society. This research contributes to understanding the factors that increase donor loyalty and closing a gap in the literature on prosocial consumer behaviour, and thereby other public services that depend upon the willingness of the individual. Furthermore, this approach enables the design of a more effective policy agenda and helps to focus public investment on developing strategies to engage willing and experienced donors.     

Whose files are they anyway? Privacy issues for the fundraising profession

Until recently, there have been few laws in North America governing information that may be obtained by the private sector about individuals. Donors are growing more aware of what the research charities do and are more concerned about it. It is increasingly important that fundraisers follow ethical codes regarding the collection of information about donors and potential donors and the accuracy, relevancy and confidentiality of donor files. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

The future of Facebook fundraising

• Facebook is the world's largest social network, and charities are keen to create communities and engage with supporters there; yet few are using any of Facebook's tools to raise money effectively. On the basis of data from Facebook and JustGiving, we will learn how to prompt donors to share their donations, the pound value of a Facebook share, and how to generate the best value from shares. We will also reveal Facebook's best practices for community building, explore the trend for Timeline integration and underline the importance of mobile in the future for Facebook fundraising.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of market research for charities: Identifying target groups and developing successful relationships

No one can find friends by sitting at home, and no relationship can develop without plenty of interaction between the people involved. However, charities with large numbers of donors and volunteers cannot be expected to have day-to-day contact with more than a handful of their key supporters. This paper illustrates how market research can be used by charities as the conduit between charities and their supporters — not only to show how the relationship between the two sides can be developed to best effect, but also to identify the most appropriate target groups to find new support.     

Changes in UK tax‐effective giving: implications for donor fundraising strategies

Strategies for fundraising from committed donors in the UK have long placed considerable emphasis on tax‐efficient giving, in particular the use of deeds of covenant and gift aid which enables charities to recover tax paid by the donor and thus increase the value of a donor's gift. However, recent developments and proposed developments in UK legislation and Inland Revenue procedures are about to make radical changes to this regime. Although in general the changes are beneficial to charities, the precise implications will, in many cases, require a significant change in fundraising strategies to make effective use of the new giving environment. This paper seeks to analyse the nature of those changes and the consequence for fundraising strategies. In relation to three main strategies some approaches to further research are proposed, which a charity may wish to apply in order to assess whether and to what extent new approaches to committed donor fundraising are required. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers Convention (Academic Stream) in July 1999, but it has been substantially changed to take account of further government announcements made in November, 1999. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

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.     

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     

Donor lifetime value: An empirical analysis

The successful quantification in monetary terms of the value of a donor to a voluntary organisation is absolutely essential to the subsequent development of fundraising strategy. The question most voluntary organisations have failed to address, however, is how best to calculate this value. Many fundraisers continue to examine value historically, looking at the total amounts given to date. Such an approach fundamentally ignores the future or lifetime potential of a given charity donor and can lead to the development of contact strategies that are wholly inappropriate given the worth of that individual. It is the purpose of this paper to calculate the lifetime value (LTV) of various categories of donor and to explain how charities might use such information to inform the development of their fundraising strategy.     

"捐还是不捐?" ——如何提高个体慈善捐助行为

慈善捐助行为指个体通过捐赠金钱、时间或物资等方式帮助有需要的群体或慈善组织。个人的慈善捐助行为能够促进社会资源再分配,提高社会整体福祉。因此,如何科学地对慈善活动进行宣传、吸引更多个体参与捐助,对于营销学者而言是一个十分重要的话题。一次捐助包括捐助者、捐助资源、受助者以及社会和文化四个方面,这四个方面的因素既可以单独影响消费者的慈善捐助行为,又可以相互影响对慈善捐助行为产生交互作用。由此可见,个体的慈善捐助行为是十分复杂的,将通过对这四方面因素的梳理以提高我国公益组织对个体捐助行为的理解,进而采取有效的宣传以募集更多的捐助。