An investigation of the giving behavior of loyal,lapsed, and non‐givers to a religious organization

• This paper provides a comparative study of the giving behavior of current donors (CDs), lapsed donors (LDs), and non‐donors (NDs) in a Catholic diocese in New England. Focus groups were conducted and surveys were administered to Catholics to compare the attitudes and behaviors of lapsed and active donors as well as those who had not given to a recent diocesan annual campaign. The results show significant differences between the groups. Active donors indicate a much greater level of satisfaction with the church, are more aware of its programs, and feel they are more recognized for their gifts than do lapsed or NDs. These findings suggest that relationship fundraising, and creating trust, are critical to forging and maintaining valued donor relationships. The program implemented by the diocese as a result of the study is described.
• Marketing for religious organizations
• Lapsed donors
• Nonprofit marketing
• Marketing for churches

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Donor retention: an exploratory study of door‐to‐door recruits

• Door‐to‐door fundraising, where recruiters knock on the door of domestic dwellings to solicit a regular donation, is an increasingly popular recruitment technique. However, reported levels of attrition remain unacceptably high and in some cases charities may lose up to 50% of their new recruits in their first year of giving. In this exploratory study of 5000 active and 5000 lapsed recruits the demographic and attitudinal profiles of each group are compared. The paper concludes that lapsed donors are significantly younger than active recruits and experienced some form of pressure at the point of recruitment. Lapsed supporters were also significantly less happy with the quality of ongoing communication.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reasons for lapse: the case of face‐to‐face donors

Face‐to‐face fundraising is attracting increasingly hostile media coverage in the United Kingdom in the run up to the publication of the Charities Act in 2004. Despite the antipathy comparatively little is known about how donors view this technique and why they might elect to terminate their support having been recruited by this medium. This paper reports the results of a survey of 4,800 face‐to‐face recruits, comparing the attitudes and profiles of both active and lapsed supporters. The results suggest that donors exhibit high levels of satisfaction with the recruitment process and lapse primarily because of a change in their financial circumstances rather than feelings of having being pressurised to offer their support. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Are single‐gift committed donors different from their multiple‐gift counterparts?

Committed donors who keep giving every year are a key asset for nonprofit organizations because they provide a steady funding source and return a higher lifetime value. We distinguish between committed donors who give only one gift per year (single‐gift (SG) donors) and those who give multiple gifts in at least some year (multiple‐gift (MG) donors). In this paper, we study whether SG donors and MG donors follow different longitudinal patterns of gift‐giving in four consecutive years. We theorize that a donor's yearly gift amount is an indication of his or her willingness to give (WTG) to the organization and may be explained in terms of his or her intrinsic willingness to give (IWTG) and extrinsic willingness to give (EWTG) for that year. We test our theory with data from a leading US nonprofit organization and find that SG donors and MG donors would follow different longitudinal patterns:

• While SG donors and MG donors would start off at a similar level of WTG in year 1 and would both increase WTG in subsequent years, MG donors would record a higher rate of increase than SG donors.
• IWTG and EWTG would have different relative importance as determinants of the observed yearly giving level: MG donors depend on both IWTG and EWTG whereas SG donors largely depend on IWTG rather than EWTG to determine how much to give in a year.

Our findings suggest that different strategies are needed to manage SG donors and MG donors to sustain and grow annual contributions. Copyright © 2009 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.     

Understanding students' responses to university‐led charity campaigns: a study of a Haitian earthquake relief campaign

The primary focus of this paper is to understand determinants of behavioral intentions of individuals towards a university‐led charitable campaign. We build a comprehensive model of determinants of behavioral intentions of students towards a university‐led charitable campaign at an individual level. This study identified perceived importance of the cause, social value, and recognition as determinants of behavioral intentions. The results indicated that to increase donations, charitable campaigns should stress the importance of the cause to potential donors and publicly recognize volunteers and donors. Implications and recommendations such as leveraging the university's internal channels of communication to reinforce the importance of the cause are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring psychological determinants of sharing donor recognition on social networking sites.

Not‐for‐profit organizations (NFPs) are increasingly turning to online platforms to engage with donors. However, sharing rates of donation activity to social networking sites (SNSs) are low. Existing research has predominantly taken an aggregated approach to understanding SNS sharing behavior, therefore this study took a context‐specific approach and explored; why do donors choose to share (or not share) donor recognition on social networking sites? A qualitative research design was employed using interviews with 20 Australian donors. Social, organizational and individual factors were identified as influential to donors' decisions to share online donor recognition. This study extends understanding around online self‐disclosure and firm‐generated electronic word‐of‐mouth and provides strategic direction for NFPs to encourage greater donation sharing behavior on SNSs.     

An investigation into blood donation intentions among non‐donors

• In broad terms, the donation of blood along with organ and bone marrow donation is considered to be the ultimate act of humanity involving a voluntary and anonymous exchange between two people of a life saving commodity. Yet motivating people to donate blood is a significantly difficult task. The aim of this paper is to use the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to examine non‐donors on the basis of their likely intention to donate blood in the future and to identify barriers on these more favourable non‐donors. This exploratory research finds that subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and time related barriers are related to intent to donate by current non‐donors. Differences between higher and lower intention donors are also explored.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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     

The antecedents and consequences of charitable donation heterogeneity on social media

This study claims that donating is a rational behavior that balances altruism and self‐interest; therefore, the frequency and magnitude of donating are picked as crucial criteria to classify different crowdfunders because both of them reflect the rationality of donating. This study identifies 6 clusters of crowdfunders and explores the antecedent variables of the typology based on self‐system theory, as well as reveals the social influence of different types of crowdfunders. Data of the crowdfunders (n = 13,868) were collected from “Micro Philanthropy,” a popular SNS crowdfunding platform for charity in China. Social Network Service (SNS) profile information such as network features, social interaction features, and the identity of users was found to be significantly related to the typology. Active donors and bounteous donors are more influential than other donors in absorbing the attention of SNS users and attracting new donors.     

Nostalgia and giving to charity: a conceptual framework for discussion and research

• Academic work involving nostalgia has shown it to evoke a basket of emotions. This paper proposes a conceptual model that links nostalgia to charitable giving. We argue that the nostalgia evoked by certain NPOs (not‐for‐profit organizations) is likely to have a bearing on both emotional and familial utility derived by the donor. This in turn is likely to drive the donor commitment to the NPO. Thus by evoking nostalgia, certain NPOs are likely to emotionally engage their current and potential donors, which could facilitate the creation of long‐term intimate relationships between them and their donors. However, the extent to which the NPO can evoke nostalgia is likely to depend upon the nostalgia proneness of the donor, the emotional importance of the past experiences evoked by the NPO, and the characteristics of the NPO such as the extent to which the NPO can alleviate the feelings of alienation, discontinuity, and the need for authenticity experienced by the donor. The paper provides a series of research propositions and proposes a research agenda.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Charitable bequest importance among donors to different types of charities

This paper explores differences in the self‐rated importance of charitable estate giving depending upon the type of charitable cause a person donates to during life. One theoretical motivation for lifetime giving is to personally enjoy benefits from improving a shared collective good. However, this motivation is not possible for bequests. Bequest transfers and resulting improvements occur after personal enjoyment of benefits is no longer possible. This paper hypothesizes that among donors to high personal benefit causes (those typically creating shared goods benefitting donors), interest in a charitable bequest (which offers no opportunity for receiving such benefits) will be relatively less than among donors to low personal benefit causes. In order to explore this, each charity type is categorized as providing high, low, or mixed personal benefits from shared collective goods. This hypothesis receives mixed support. Donors to international relief organizations, a low personal benefit charity type, do place a higher importance on charitable bequests than do donors to shared‐goods type causes such as neighborhood associations, service clubs, sports leagues, or “other” charities, including those focused on local public safety and crime. However, donors to arts organizations—a classic example of donors creating a shared good—have a relatively high interest in charitable bequests. One important exception to the exclusion of postmortem personal benefits could come from religious belief. Accordingly, donors to religious causes do place a higher importance on charitable bequests.     

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.     

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.     

Model explaining the predisposition to donate blood from the social marketing perspective

• The purpose of this research is to develop a model of the explanatory factors that determine the predisposition to donate blood in order to improve the effectiveness of donor recruitment and retention programs. A personal survey was conducted on a sample of 303 potential donors between 18 and 60 years old and from both sexes, who are resident in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) and have either never donated blood or not donated in the last 3 years. The findings lead us to say that the predisposition to donate blood is positively influenced by the information that the potential donor has about the requirements to become a donor, and by the motivations to donate blood. It is negatively influenced by the inhibiting factor of fear of the extraction procedure and its after‐effects. However, prior experience as a donor and links with reference groups who are donors do not have any direct influence on the predisposition. These findings suggest that it is necessary (1) to design communication campaigns in which information and education are the goals, and which aim to make donation a habit; (2) to clarify to society the need for blood donation and to describe the process of donation in order to eliminate those inhibitors linked to fear and the perception of risks; (3) to design advertising campaigns focused on rational messages since information exercises a greater influence on the predisposition to donate than motivations linked to altruism; (4) to recommend that no great efforts be made to recapture previous donors, since experience is not a direct antecedent of the predisposition to donate but an indirect antecedent via information and (5) to stimulate word‐of‐mouth among reference groups using member‐get‐member programs whereby current donors bring new donors to the system.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Funder's meaning making regarding complex,adaptive projects: Findings from a developmentally oriented feasibility study

Environmental non‐profit organizations need to raise billions of dollars in the coming years to support climate change initiatives. Many of these initiatives are complex in nature and markedly different from traditional environmental projects such as land conservation. These interventions are dependent on sufficient funding, and sufficient funding is dependent upon whether donors understand the problem and the intervention. Understanding the nature of complex problems is related to what developmental theorists call an individual's developmental level. Using a qualitative case study methodology, we conducted interviews with donors from one chapter of a large environmental organization, The Nature Conservancy, to (a) determine how high‐level donors react to capital campaign materials presenting systems‐oriented interventions and (b) test the utility of a developmentally informed feasibility study interview. The findings indicate that a developmental approach to feasibility study interviews is useful. Donors expressed interest about the idea of systemic change but are unclear as to how to measure the success of complex, adaptive initiatives. The developmentally informed interview process deepened the conversations between donors and staff and to provide what many interviewees described as a rare and much‐needed opportunity for reflection. Although the results from a single case study are not generalizable, the study nevertheless makes a theoretical contribution and has practical implications for fundraisers of organizations addressing climate change and, potentially, other complex issues.     

The effects of re‐branding large UK charities on staff knowledge,attitudes and behaviour

• Despite the costs of charity re‐branding, there is little research in the public domain of its effect on staff. This study addresses that gap in knowledge by evaluating the effects of re‐branding large UK charities on staff knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.
• A quantitative survey of 465 charity staff was carried out in 10 large UK charities. The study shows that knowledge has benefited most from re‐branding although unevenly across different levels of seniority. Length of service has no effect on levels of knowledge but level of support was positively correlated.
• The impact of re‐branding on attitudes proved positive with staff at all levels feeling more motivated, involved and valued as a consequence. However, the study also demonstrates that not all staff feel engaged with the re‐branding process for the organisation to capitalise fully on enhanced staff performance.
• Behaviour was less affected by re‐branding with the exception of a very positive impact on staff retention. The report discusses the practical implications for charity managers.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Financialisation,ownership and employee interests under private equity at the AA,part two

This article examines a theoretically informed case study of the effects of financialisation at the workplace. It focuses in particular on trade union de‐recognition and trade union recognition in the furtherance of ownership interests. The paper reports on the continued diffusion of investor‐owner interests under the private equity business model which has recently witnessed the AA re‐listed on the stock market. It addresses two research questions. One, how are investor‐owner interests secured by trade union de‐recognition and re‐recognition? Two, how and why, as a de‐recognised trade union, does the GMB continue to campaign for and represent GMB members in the AA when the IDU (the independent democratic union) has sole recognition at the firm?     

Vertical De‐Integration in the Mutual Fund Industry: Using Knowledge as a Factor of Production

This paper extends the knowledge‐based view of the firm by using relative measures of two fundamental classifications of knowledge as factors of production. It relates differences in relative quantities of these classifications of knowledge to the probability that a given stage of production is outsourced or de‐integrated. The probability of de‐integration of adjacent stages of production is found to increase on increasing reliance on tacit knowledge and decreasing reliance on encapsulated knowledge. The research was motivated by the belief that the cost and value of knowledge, as a factor of production, influence economic efficiency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Doing well by doing right: a fundraiser's guide to ethical decision‐making

• The level of trust a prospective donor has in a charity will, in part, determine whether the individual chooses to support the charity as well as the amount of that support. A key factor involved in trust is an organization's ethical standards. Donors prefer to make donations to organizations that maintain the highest principles. If an organization can consistently make the best possible, most ethical decisions, it will be recognized as being an ethical institution, which in turn will enhance the trust it engenders, and, therefore, the support it can attract. A number of ethical decision‐making models exist. Adopting a decision‐making model will ensure that a methodical approach is used and that the incidents of rash decision‐making will be reduced. Using an ethical decision‐making model will help individuals arrive consistently at the best solutions to ethical dilemmas, defend those decisions, enhance public trust, secure more donors, and raise more money. The value of sound decision‐making and effective ethical decision‐making models are reviewed in this paper.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.