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September 03, 2008

Giving to Receive?

Are donors as compassionate as they were in past?

Kevin Baker, a columnist for Canada’s Financial Post, writes that the growth of marketing arrangements that connect the sale of corporate goods with charities has prompted many would-be donors to expect something in return for their benevolence.

“Charity has a new best friend: self-satisfaction,” he writes. “Consumers today like giving to others when giving makes them feel good about getting for themselves.”

Instead of appealing to donors’ good intentions, many charities today are teaming up with for-profit companies to raise money. Mr. Baker points to a recent campaign by Canada’s Third World Eye Care Society, which received a free pair of reading glasses for every pair customers bought from the for-profit company Suntech Optics, as evidence of the trend.

Such arrangements, of course, are not new. But they are becoming more common, he writes.

Mr. Baker suggests that instead of appealing to donors in the traditional way, groups like the Salvation Army, which is lacking in clothing donations, should team up with a major retailer like Sears to offer a coupon discounting customer’s purchase for every donation of clothing that the customer makes.

What do you think? Have charities become too consumer-driven? How does your nonprofit group work with for-profit companies fund raise and create a mutually beneficial relationship?

— Cassie Moore

Wednesday September 3, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

1. I don’t percieve this as being about a lack of compassion. In this economy Donors want,and deserve,as much leverage from their donation as possible. However if the donations actually recieved by the nonprofit are not 100% verifiable it will cause a backlash against the entire community.
   Rose Riskind

   — Susan "Rose" Riskind    Sep 4, 05:41 PM    #

2. This question is fundamental to fundraising for the next decade. Do charities reinforce as acceptable the notion of donor’s expecting their self actualization needs to be met or am I simply a dinosaur to believe that we need to push through this self-focussed boomer obsession with their own desires and search for self worth? Is it naive to try to recapture the innate desire to help another who is ill, hungry, disadvantaged or simply a cause we believe in, just because we can. The professional challenge is knowing that people will not give as often or as large on an impromptu basis. They do need to be marketed to in order to be informed, educated and motivated to act in some way. Placing their needs at the centre of the donation process does appear to lift responses but it buys complex stakeholders whose philanthropic gift loses its altruism and starts to demand benefits and league ladder type competitive KPI’s. Albeit couched nicely in lovely sounding social responsibility terms but bringing with them increased compliance costs to meet their needs, thus reducing the net available to meet the cause’s frontline needs.

   — Craige Gravestein    Sep 4, 06:14 PM    #

3. This article asks the question: Have charities become too focused on consumers’ needs? In the sense that non-profits focus too much on what rewards they can give back to donors, then yes. But in the sense that non-profits need to focus on what donors perceive to be important, then the answer is very clearly no. All non-profits have two sets of clients — the people whose needs they meet, or the environment they are protecting, or wildlife they conserve; and then they have the donors for whom what they do is important. It’s always important to focus on marketing to donors in a way that donors feel fulfilled in giving to an organization that meets a need they find important. When non-profit marketing is done correctly, consumers don’t need trinkets and “rebates” for their reason to give.

   Stephen Forbus
   www.ProFundraisers.com

   — Stephen Forbus    Sep 4, 07:18 PM    #

4. Nonprofit messages delivered via radio, TV, Internet, and print are competing with for-profit companies for consumers’ attention. To some degree the challenge is for the charity to stay in front of the consumer, providing them opportunities and motivations to give — to give before the consumers’ money is given or spent elsewhere.

   — Kevin Feldman    Sep 7, 11:10 PM    #

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