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Understanding consumers’ motivations to donate to charity

AMB200Ana Maria Fuentes Diaz ID: n9345345Queensland University of Technology | Tutor name: Tifani Susilo

Ana Maria Fuentes Diaz n9345345 AMB200

I. Context and Problem/Opportunity

Donations are essential for non-profit organizations to survive as they can’t help

others without these (Wilcox, Cameron, Ault & Agee, 2004). Youngcare is a non-

profit organization that “is committed to helping young Australians with high care

needs live life with choice, independence and dignity” (Youngcare, 2015). Although

Youngcare has been successful in helping hundreds of young people, they still need

to help over 7000 young people that are still living in aged care because there is no

other suitable place for them to live (ibid). However, the problem is that Youngcare

needs more donors (donating money and time) to be able to do this. Thus, in this

report the marketing consultant will focus on how to influence millennials’ (generation

Y) motivations to donate.

II. Literature Review

A study conducted by Jones (2014) examined donations to disadvantaged recipients

at the Salvation Army and found that 36% of the participants were altruistic donors,

20% pure egoists and the remainder a combination of both. Altruistic donors are

motivated to donate only because they want to help others (Beldad, Snip & Hoof,

2014).When a person has altruistic motives it may well be that offering him/her

benefits such as tax advantages actually result in a negative response to donate by

the person (Guy,1988). On the other hand, egoists are likely to donate motivated not

only by helping others but also seeking for some sort of personal benefits (Bekkers&

Wiepking, 2011). For example, to avoid feelings of guilt. Egoists are likely to donate

money but as a one-time thing (ibid), whereas altruistic people want to be seen as

moral people and are more likely to constantly donate money and time (Kim, 2014 ).

It is then essential for marketers of non-for profit organisations to understand this

difference as it will help them to better target their promotional campaigns depending

on the outcome required (i.e. money or time donations). As mentioned before

though, people can also be motivated by a combination of altruistic and egoistic

motives. Specifically, for millennials motivations to volunteer based on career (i.e.

the volunteer wants to get career related experience through volunteering) or

personal aspirations (i.e. enhance and enrich personal development, esteem) also

involve altruistic motives (Clary & Snyder, 1999; Burns, Reid, Toncar, Anderson, &

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Wells, 2008; Burns, Reid, Toncar, Fawcett & Anderson,2006). Burns et. al (2006)

suggest that non-profit organisations should concentrate their efforts in appealing the

motivations of millennials as they want a better life in terms of improving overall

society rather than in a materialistic/individualistic way and therefore are more likely

to volunteer.

Merchant & Ford (2008) suggest that engaging people emotionally with the cause

can be effective to motivate people to donate. This emotional engagement can be

created by using two types of nostalgia; vicarious and personal. Vicarious nostalgia

motivates people to donate by using stories and memories outside of the memory

and experiences of the person. On the other hand, personal nostalgia involves the

memories and experiences of the person to motivate them to donate.

Small and Simonsohn (2008) suggest that people usually feel motivated to donate if

they feel identified with the victim. Therefore, marketers of non-profit organisations

should ensure there is some congruency between the donor and the victim when

trying to get people to donate. This congruency can be achieved by factors such as

age, closeness to the victim or even gender. Furthermore, being able to identify the

person that the donor is helping or knowing exactly were the donation is going

makes the donor feel more comfortable when donating (Sargeant, Ford & West,

2006).

III. Theory/Model/Framework

Maslow’s theory of needs suggests that human beings have needs and wants that

motivate their behavior (Dunmore, 2013). He suggested the hierarchy of needs

which is visualized as a pyramid of five levels (see Figure 1). The hierarchical

approach denotes that the order of development is fixed, which means self-

actualisation only becomes pre-eminent when the other four needs have been

fulfilled. Firstly, physiological needs; refer to needs to sustain favourable state of

being such as water, food and sleep (Maslow, 1970). Secondly, safety needs, refer

to the need of consumers to be secure (Baker, 2001). Love (social) needs, refer to

the need of belongingness and affection. Here the person will strive to achieve a

place in a group more than anything else. This need helps to understand donor

behaviour as donors tend to be motivated to donate when they feel identified with the

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victim (I.e. it gives them a sense of belongingness). Similarly, volunteering can also

help the donor to fulfil this need as it helps volunteers to increase their network and

feel loved by others (Burns at al., 2008). As discussed before, millennials tend to be

motivated to volunteer as they will usually benefit by enhancing their personal

development and self-esteem. Therefore, the esteem/ego needs also help to

understand donor motivations as they refer to a need for self-respect, self-esteem

and for the respect of others (Stephens, 2000). Additionally, donating money may

reflect internal feelings of growth and recognition which also contributes to fulfilling

their need for self-esteem (Tikkanen, 2007). Finally, in the highest level of the

pyramid are the self- actualization needs, here the person is looking to realize his/her

full potential (ibid). The person “seek a benefit beyond the purely personal and seek

communion with the transcendent […] they come to identify with something greater

than the purely individual self, often engaging in service to others…” (Koltko-Rivera,

2006 p. 306). Clearly, people who have altruistic motivations will fulfill this need

when volunteering/donating.

Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

IV. Recommendations

Promotion on Facebook.

Narrative messages are usually efficient at generating motivation to donate (Lee,

Hecht, Miller-Day, & Elek, 2011). Therefore, two narrative (story) video tapes will be

promoted through Facebook. Facebook was selected as it is the most used online

community by millennials (Roy Morgan Research, 2012). The first story will be

communicated by a group of millennials (males and females) who are ongoing

volunteers. They will talk about the benefits of being a volunteer at Youngcare,

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including personal benefits such as having more friends and learning new things.

Ensuring that the story is told by millennials will allow other millennials identify with

the narrator (Wilson, 2015). In this circumstance, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can

be applied, more specifically consumers will be motivated by their need for

belongingness because they are likely to want to volunteer to be part of the group

and make more friends. Additionally, narrators will promote Youngcare’s brand

personality (e.g. committed to help). By doing so the consumers may feel some

congruence with the brand and thus would like volunteer. Consumers may feel that

Youngcare’s brand personality is congruent with how they see themselves (Actual

self-congruence). Alternatively, they may feel that Youngcare’s brand personality is

congruent with how they would like to be (Ideal self-congruence) (Aaker, 1999).

The second story will be communicated by females and males, millennials who are

“victims” and have received Young care’s help. This will ensure that the target

market (millennials) feel congruency with the victim, which increases the likelihood of

getting the donation (Shang, Reed & Croson, 2008). Victims will talk about how

Youngcare has contributed to their wellbeing and how thankful they are with those

who have donated. This video will appeal to altruistic motives (i.e. helping others) of

people to donate. Being able to help others will make these donors feel that they are

achieving their full potential and thus they are fulfilling their need for self-actualization

(highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).

Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing uses unconventional marketing tactics and aims to attract the

maximum attention of consumers and diffusion of the advertisement by evoking a

surprise effect (Ashwin, 2006). Specifically, ambient marketing will be used as it aims

to surprise the consumer (in this case the donor) by placing advertisements in places

that consumers do not expect them (ibid). Since one in five young adults use public

transport as their principal way of transportation from study or work (ABS, 2008), it is

recommended that stickers with messages inviting people to donate are placed on

the floor of train stations and buses. Specifically, the stickers will have the pictures of

millennials (males and females) with messages such as “Emma and Charlie already

donated and their donation has been very helpful to provide young Australians with

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high care needs a live with choice. Be like Emma and Charlie, Donate now!” (See

appendix A). This message will aim to make the person feel motivated by their need

of belongingness, which is one of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Specifically, people

will like to belong to the group of “helpful” people who donate and thus donate to

become a part of that group. The sticker will also have a QR code so that they can

donate immediately online and if they want they can share on social media. The

motivation to share the donation on social media is ego-oriented and the person acts

to maintain the self-worth (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Therefore, Maslow’s esteem/ego

need is relevant here. Furthermore, the unusual location of the sticker will attract

donor’s attention. Once consumers’ attention is captured and they actually pay

attention to the emotions expressed in the message (see Appendix A) will have an

impact on the consumer and “emotional contagion” will occur. As a consequence,

the attitude of the consumer towards donating will be enhanced and he/she will be

likely to donate (Hutter, 2015).

New Volunteer program (product) and its promotion

As revealed in the literature review, millennials seek to fulfill their esteem needs by

improving their career related skills (Clary & Snyder, 1999; Burns et al., 2008; Burns,

et al. 2006). Considering that esteem needs are in the fourth level of Maslow’s

hierarchy of needs, the marketing consultant recommends the implementation of a

new volunteering service were participants can contribute to young care within their

professional area. Youngcare is currently constructing a new apartments for young

people with mid and high care needs. Since the design and construction of these

require professionals from different areas, Young care could recruit students from

different areas as volunteers to help develop the project. By doing so Youngcare will

not only provide the target market with a strong motivation to volunteer but also will

create a point of differentiation from other non-profit organizations that may not

appeal to the motivations of potential volunteers. The outline of the program should

be very specific and tell the potential volunteers the duration of the program, the

skills required to be considered and the benefits (new skills) that they will receive.

This will ensure that the expectations of the volunteer are met and this is essential to

ensure that they become an ongoing volunteer and create positive word of mouth

about the program (Burns et al., 2008). The program can be advertised in websites

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such as Seek as these are usually frequented by students looking for career

experience (Roy Morgan Research, 2010).

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Appendices

Appendix A

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