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.     

Use of donor‐specified donation splitting: a technique to understand the impact of financial management on donor trust

• Two experiments investigated donors' willingness to split their donation into a proportion that the charity could use for administration costs and a portion that could be used to deliver the charity's services. Experiment 1 found that participants in the condition given the opportunity to split their donation into an amount for administration costs and an amount for service delivery gave a significantly smaller proportion of their overall donation to administration costs, when compared with participants in another condition who were simply asked what proportion of their donation they would be happy for the organization to use for administration costs. Experiment 2 manipulated the amount of information participants (donors) received about the breakdown of a charity's administration costs but found no significant change in the amount donated to administration. Both experiments show that donors were willing to donate approximately 15% of their donation directly to charity administration costs. Results are discussed in terms of understanding how a charity's financial management might be influencing donor's trust in the charity and providing charities with a degree of certainty in the proportion of donations they can spend on administration costs.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How well do fundraisers communicate with their donors?

Fundraising charities invest substantial resources in producing and distributing an ever-growing range of publications. As part of a major research study into how donors view the results of these endeavours the authors set out to evaluate how the major charities respond to general enquiries from the public, and to see how charities plan the publications they produce.     

Infotorials as a charity marketing weapon

A feature of the development of charity marketing over the last decade has been the increasing use for promotional purposes of human interest press stories prepared by charity employees and published in newspapers and magazines. These ‘infotorials’ follow the editorial style and layout of the host publication and present information about a social or medical problem in a readable and entertaining way. They are read in the same frame of mind as surrounding items, but their source is not revealed (as would be necessary for an orthodox commercial advertorial). This paper outlines the results of a survey of 45 charities known to employ infotorials for marketing communications, focusing on placement policies, management and evaluation, and respondents' perceptions of the benefits involved. Three clusters of charities engaging in the practice became apparent, differing mainly in the degree to which infotorials were seen as a means for gaining competitive advantage over rivals rather than for disseminating information about a charity and its work.     

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.     

Philanthropy,social capital or strategic alliance? The involvement of senior UK business executives with the voluntary sector and implications for corporate fundraising

Although corporate fundraising is popular there has been very little discussion in the voluntary sector literature of its context. Using questionnaire data from senior executives representing one‐third of the FTSE350 companies, and in‐depth interviews with a number of top level business men, this paper reports the first UK survey of the personal involvement of senior executives with charities, voluntary and community organisations,[Walker, C. and Pharoah, C. (2000) ‘Making time for charity: A survey of top business leaders' involvement with voluntary organisations’, Charities Aid Foundation, Kent.] and pinpoints messages about corporate involvement which may help fundraisers develop corporate fundraising strategies. The data give the first indications of how many of the UK's top business executives give time to charity, how much time they give and what they do. It also addresses what there is to gain for and from the charity, the senior executive and their company. The results present a picture of widespread and enthusiastic involvement of senior executives with the voluntary sector; a picture of both a deep personal commitment and of a strong sense of corporate benefit. The survey also raises several important issues and implications for corporate fundraising: should charities be doing more to attract top executives into an active relationship with them? How can they do this? What are the pros and cons of an alliance between corporate figureheads and charitable organisations; how might this relationship be viewed by the public; and how might it best be managed? This paper draws on the results of the survey to illustrate and discuss these issues. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Using data in legacy fundraising: a practical approach

• Legacies provide a major source of income to charities, and their importance is only likely to increase with the passing on of the baby-boomer generation. Legacy fundraising is a long-term process, based on developing relationships with donors over time. Data have a key role to play in the development of these relationships, allowing legacy fundraisers to measure and track their donors, and to contribute to the development of effective fundraising strategies. This paper discusses the effective collection and use of data in legacy fundraising, from consolidating data, to analysing the results and building legacy targeting models. The authors discuss how these principles have been applied in UK-based charity, Help the Aged, in conjunction with their Data Agency, Tangible Data (formerly Talking Numbers) and to give practical advice on how they may be implemented in other organisations.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

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     

A solicitor's perspective on charitable gifts in wills

• In the climate of public spending cuts, charities are increasingly expected to fill the gap. Yet charities themselves face huge challenges. Not just increasing demand for their services but falling income and low investment returns. Encouraging philanthropy has never been more important, and that includes legacy giving. Following the announcement last year of the Government's major inheritance tax incentive to encourage us to give more to charity on our death, the time is right for a major report on current trends in charitable legacy giving. Late last year, Mishcon de Reya undertook the most detailed analysis ever by a firm of solicitors of its clients' wills. In a study of over 1000 wills, we did not just look at how many people leave a legacy to charity. We considered the value of the legacy, the type of legacy, the likelihood of the charity ever receiving it, whether clients prefer to give to multiple charities, and the most popular charitable sectors. This article will give a quick overview of our research followed by a more detailed look at the three types of legacy to charity: cash—‘for example, I leave £10,000 to charity’,—specific items—‘for example, I leave a painting to charity’—and residuary gifts—‘for example, I give half my estate to charity’. The article will then briefly touch on the charity sectors most favoured by our clients before giving a brief summary of Mishcon de Reya's key findings in conclusion.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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     

The final outcome of charitable bequest gift intentions: Findings and implications for legacy fundraising

Charitable bequest gifts are important to charities but evaluating legacy fundraising activities is problematic. These activities may not generate bequest income until many years later. Thus, many charities focus on generating reports of current plans or intentions for bequest gifts. Such approaches depend on the link between these reports and ultimate bequest transfers. However, this link is not well documented. This study presents the first multi-organisational results linking ultimate estate distributions with lifetime legacy giving plans or intentions reported to charities. Ten Australian charities provided data from those dying in 2014–2017. Among 700 decedents who had confirmed the presence of a planned bequest gift to the charity, 35% generated no estate gift. This lost gift rate varied from 17 to 60% across different organisations. The average loss rate was 24% when the charity had at least one communication with the decedent within 2 years of death, and 48% otherwise. Among 264 people reporting to the charity that they were “intending” or “considering” an estate gift but not confirming it, 89% left no gift at death. Among 507 people only requesting information about making a bequest gift, 95% left no gift at death. These results suggest the importance of moving donors to the point of planned gift confirmation and then maintaining relationships until the end of life. However, marketing remains challenging given that 58% of the 2,682 total bequest gifts received by these organisations came from decedents who were not donors during life.     

Celebrity altruism: the good,the bad and the ugly in relationships with fundraising charities

• Enlisting or retaining the support of celebrity volunteers is a crucial element in the fundraising and communications strategies for many third sector organisations. But whilst there is a plethora of literature on volunteer motivations, there has been little exploration of the relationships between celebrity volunteers and the charities that they support. Furthermore, the limited theory that exists appears to be based on the experiences of fundraisers and other media specialists with little primary research on attitudes of celebrities themselves. This paper therefore considers celebrity/charity relationships on the basis of existing volunteer motivation theory and attitudinal data from a sample of 208 celebrity volunteers associated with a major fundraising charity in the UK. The findings indicate that the motivation of celebrity volunteers may be much closer to those of other charity volunteers than might be expected from other literature on celebrities. In addition, the study found that amongst other factors, celebrity volunteers typically prefer their engagements to be simplistic and expedient in nature, but that where possible, the engagement activity should be fun and rewarding. It also reveals that individual motives for supporting charities are varied in nature and range from purely altruistic tendencies at one end of the continuum to egoistic motives at the other. In addition, the study indicates that factors such as security and trust in the endorsed organisation are a key motivating factor for many.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The economics of consumers' gifts and legacies to charitable organisations

Charity organisations in The Netherlands receive over 50 per cent of their total income from private fundraising; only a small part of this, 20 per cent, originates from legacies. The paper introduces some economic models of consumer behaviour in the neo‐classical tradition that harmonise with altruistic behaviour. Some models for analysing donations and bequests to charitable organisations are introduced and the hypotheses that follow from these theories are compared with Dutch data from 500 respondents. Most respondents had donated something to a charity during the last six months, but only a few had even thought about naming a charity in their will. Restrictions are felt by individuals due to their limited resources. More important, however, seem to be the restrictions on behaviour due to having children, or other close relatives; individuals feel obliged to leave everything to their children or other close relatives. Although the respondents have a reasonably positive opinion about the work and trustworthiness of the charity organisations, charities are not yet considered as ‘a close friend’. Around 40 per cent of respondents are not particularly happy with the information they receive from charity organisations. Communication about legacy donating is considered acceptable by most respondents, as long as the approach is not too personal. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Charities marketing — more focus on the beneficiary

Academic literature on the marketing of charities is almost always associated with fundraising or the publicising of socially worthwhile causes. Little attention has been paid to the marketing of charitable services to their intended beneficiaries, for traditionally demand always exceeded supply. However, today many charities rely increasingly on fees for services for a substantial part of their income, which the authors believe must lead to more emphasis being placed on reaching potential beneficiaries and their financial supporters. This paper explores the case of a charity that had insufficient demand for its services. It shows that a lack of understanding of buyer behaviour was a principal cause of the problem. The analysis also shows that the decision process is a complex one that resembles industrial rather than consumer models. The paper goes on to demonstrate that this complex purchase behaviour applies to a large group of charities and that an understanding of it will increase in importance as charities seek new sources of income.     

Building and rebuilding charity brands: the role of creative agencies

People who work in creative agencies tend to see a charitable organisation as a brand like any in the commercial world, and rightly so. While this is the correct starting point, there is often a huge gap between this simple understanding and the ability to deliver the changes in perception and behaviour that charities need. Besides strict governance and the obvious need for transparency and integrity, charity brands face many other issues, whether rebuilding or starting from scratch. They exist mainly to solve problems, not to meet a demand. Understanding this very different raison d'etre is the second greatest hurdle that creative agencies have to overcome when working on charity brands. The greatest is getting the charity to consider itself a brand and all that entails. When charities get beyond their complacency and suspicion and creative agencies their arrogance and superficiality—as with Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Fairtrade Foundation—these two obstacles can be overcome. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Charity law reform: implementing the Strategy Unit proposals

This paper discusses the recommendations arising from the Strategy Unit review of charities and the wider voluntary sector in England and Wales and the government's response to these. The proposed reforms will involve an updating of charity law; changes to the regulatory framework governing the sector; and a greater emphasis on improving the accountability, transparency and performance of charities and voluntary organisations. In the main these proposals have been welcomed by the sector. In particular there is a clear recognition of the need to modernise the legal position of charities to reflect changes in society and changing public perceptions of what is, or should be, charitable. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

The affinity credit card as a fundraising tool for charities

Over the past decade or so, many examples of the charity affinity credit card have been launched in the UK. This paper reports the results of a survey of charities that collected quantitative data on the characteristics and progress of more than 20 such cards. The survey also found that several other charities were contemplating following their example, and the paper goes on to identify and discuss some of the issues that should be addressed by any charity thinking of launching its own affinity card. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

How should charitable organisations motivate young professionals to give philanthropically?

One hundred and fifty‐eight bankers, accountants and corporate lawyers, aged under 40 years, earning more than £50,000 annually and working in the City of London were questioned about their attitudes and behaviour in relation to charitable giving. A conjoint analysis of the respondents' preferences revealed strong predilections for certain types of charitable organisation; for ‘social’ rewards in return for donating (invitations to gala events and black tie dinners for example); and for well‐known charities with established reputations. ‘Planned giving’ whereby donors receive tax breaks and other financial incentives to donate (as increasingly practised in the USA) did not represent a significant inducement to give so far as this particular sample was concerned. Overall the results suggest that young affluent male City employees constitute a distinct market segment for charity fundraisers, with unique characteristics that need to be addressed when developing donor products. Copyright © 2004 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.