Framing charitable appeals: the effect of message framing and perceived susceptibility to the negative consequences of inaction on donation intention

An experiment was conducted to explore how potential donors' perceptions of their own susceptibility to the negative consequences of not making a donation may moderate the relative persuasiveness of gain‐framed and loss‐framed fundraising messages (defined by messages that highlight corresponding gains or losses as the result of making or not making donations to a charitable organization). It found that as participants' perceptions of their own susceptibility to the negative consequences of inaction increased, the loss‐framed message became more effective than the gain‐framed message in increasing donation intention. The relative persuasive advantage of the loss‐framed message was statistically significant among participants with higher levels of perceived susceptibility. The findings not only speak to the important role played by perceived susceptibility to the negative consequences of inaction in determining the relative persuasiveness of gain‐framed and loss‐framed fundraising campaigns but also provide the guidelines that practitioners can use when designing campaign messages. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.