Direct marketing managers in UK charitable organisations

Although the charity sector is one of the United Kingdom's biggest users of direct marketing, little is known about the characteristics of the people who manage direct marketing within charities. This paper presents the results of a survey of 115 direct marketing managers in the UK's largest fundraising charitable organisations; focusing on their experience, motivation, training and educational backgrounds. The degrees to which respondents' employing organisations placed a high value on the marketing function and the extents to which various categories of direct marketing manager possessed wide-ranging general managerial competencies were also examined. There was little evidence of the ‘hybridisation’ of direct marketing specialists. Rather, individuals exhibiting hybrid manager attributes were sometimes put in charge of direct marketing.     

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.     

Sustainable economic growth in the European Union: The role of ICT,venture capital,and innovation

Over the past 30 years, the economies in Europe have undergone major transformations that have been powered by diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT), intensification of innovation, and reforms in the financial sector to support innovative endeavors. The primary objective of this study was to examine the causal relationships among ICT diffusion, innovation diffusion, venture capital investment, and economic growth for 25 countries in Europe for the period from 1989 to 2016. Using a vector error‐correction model, the study examines the underlying short‐run and long‐run relationships for the above variables. The empirical analysis shows that in the long run, venture capital investment, ICT diffusion, and innovation diffusion have significant impacts on economic growth in Europe. However, in the short run, the direction of the causality varies depending on the specific measures of ICT diffusion and innovation diffusion that are utilized. Results from this study provide valuable insights into the types of policies that will contribute to sustainable economic growth in Europe.