Charities

There are thousands of charities that operate around the world, all of which rely on public donations to help them to survive. But how do people choose which charity they will donate to and how much they will give? Also do they give to various charities or a specific one? 

Having looked at the TGI data from 2007 it showed that the most common charity for people to donate to was a form of cancer research charity. This may be from personal experience as it was females who gave more money. Around 35% of women of all ages gave to this charity. Having looked at the age brackets in the data it shows that females over the age of 65 gave more to the cancer charity (approx 41.2%) (TGI, 2007).

The Charity Industry.

Since the recession became a real issue in the UK, things have really become hard for everyone, especially when it comes to making ends meet. The charity industry has also suffered incredibly. A Mintel report from 2010 shows that the number of operating charities within the UK fell by 18,347 between 2009 and 2010. (Mintel, 2010). 

This fact has also been reflected in a quote that was given by Sir Steven Bubb head of the ACEVO foundation - 'We face significant cuts in public spending. Rising costs, rising VAT, loss of gift aid relief’ (Sky News 2011). The factors outlined in this statement are key issues that are facing the charity market today. 

What about large companies making links with charity organisations? Is to promote the charity? Or for the companies own gain. 

A WARC case study from 2004 shows that 50% of companies only support a charity to help persuade the charities supporter database list to use the sponsoring company (WARC, 2004). However the Mintel report states that two thirds of adults have a positive perception of brands that support charities (Mintel, 2010). The discrepancy between the facts can be argued that the Mintel report is more up to date as it was carried out in 2010. This theory was one that was not represented on TGI. 

Donation Methods

There are many different ways in which people can donate to their chosen charity. Having looked at the TGI data from 2007 it shows that the most popular that people donate is by donating cash or cheque by all the age groups included in the survey. 

(Source, TGI 2007)

However, if it was a friend or family member doing a charity event that motivated people to give donations according to the TGI data. This correlated with the data collected through the adult focus group. Having looked at this factor in more detail it shows that people in the age range of 35-44 were the most motivated this way (1234 out of 4532 people), this is something that has not changed over the years as people trust their friends or family members to ensure that money will reach the needy (TGI, 2007).

However the Mnitel report has opposing information that says that people are now donating old gifts and closed as opposed to money. (Mintel, 2010). This could be due the recession and people have a lower GDI and are possibly clearing things from their houses. This is a good way for the market to grow as the charities do not pay out for their stock which they are able to sell on.

Do Adverts Work?

TV Adverts are quite popular for charities, especially the larger ones, but are these adverts really that effective? We ran two focus groups, one with students aged between 18-21 and one with adults over 30 in full time education. The general feedback when this question was asked was that people are not affected by the images they see on TV, this lead onto the next question where we established that both groups were interested to see where their money went and what it was going to do.

One fact that was apposing in both groups was that the students preferred more local charities whereas the adults preferred larger charities as they believed these to be more trustful. 

After looking at the data available on the TGI website, it was apparent that when this survey was conducted women were more charitable. Having looked at all of the different questions used in the 2007 survey it is apparent that men contribute to charity in a small way (TGI, 2007).  This can be confirmed by the transcript of our focus groups where males did not answer as often as their female counterparts. The reason that males may not contribute as heavily as females is due to the fact that they may not be as taken by the charities marketing strategies, therefore charities could alter their schemes to attract male donations.  

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs can be used to analyse people opinions to charities:

· Self Actualisation – Giving a person less fortunate a helping hand.

· Ego Need – Having done a good deed a person can feel happier inside knowing they helped make a difference

· Social Needs – People can be felt to belong to a group if they join a charity organisation e.g. adopting a panda where they get regular feedback on the progress being made.

· Safety – For a charity such as WWF the person can feel safe knowing they have helped change the world for the better.

· Physiological – Simple life needs such as food, water & sleep.

The model moves starts at the higher level needs with Self Actualisation and goes down to the lower level needs with Physiological needs. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010) 

Many people will fit into at least one of these categories when it comes to donating to charity. For example people may donate to charity or join a charity group for a sense of belonging to the group and have a mutual value. A person who grew up or visited a third world country could make a donation to a charity supporting third world countries due to their memories and sights of what they saw.

Reference List:

·  Mintel, Charitable giving UK, [Online], Mintel, available at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=538933/brochure/id=538933, [Accessed 14^th February 2011]

·   Sky News, Funding cuts ‘threatens charities’, [Online], Ursula Errington, Available at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Government-Funding-Cuts-Threaten-Survival-Of-Charities/Article/201101215895344?f=rss, [Accessed 15^th February 2011] 

·  Solomon, M R, Bamossy, G, Askegaard, S, Hogg, M, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4^th ed, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD

·  TGI, 2007, Financial services > charities, [Online], TGI, Available at: https://www.kmrsoftware.net/netquestuni2/default.aspx, [Accessed 10^th February 2011]

·   WARC, 2004, Working with charities is good business, [Online], Andrew Nebel, Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=bdcf8ae8-f65b-419b-ae5e-93de18585d60&q=working+with+charities, [Accessed 12^th February 2011]

Social Class

Does social class still exist in todays society? Do people still feel segregated by it? This topic is closely linked with culture, there is a posting for culture further down in the blog. 


Sociologists define social class as the grouping of people by occupations. Doctors and lawyers and university teachers are given more status than unskilled labourers. The different positions represent different levels of power, influence and money. In days gone by your class would affect your chances of getting an education, a job, and it would also affect the people who you could socialise with and marry. (projectbritain.com)


Solomon actually links social class with income quite clearly in the text book, giving the topic a chapter. The two have been linked by the following:

• 'Social class appears to be a better predictor of purchases that have symbolic aspects, but low to moderate prices (cosmetics/ alcohol)'
• 'Income is a better predictor of major expenditures that do not have status or symbolic aspects (major appliances)'
• 'Social class and income data together are better predictors of purchases of expensive, symbolic products (cars, homes, luxury goods)'

(Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010, P467)


Brassington & Pettit describe social class as 'a form of stratification that attempts to structure and divide society' (Brassington F & Pettit S, 2007, P86).


At the turn of the century there were three main types of social class, High class, middle class and low class. However today there are 7 different classes,  to try and distinguish between the different classes would be difficult as they are closely interlinked. 


Different cultures would have different ways of determining social class, for example Indian's use a caste system which is even more complex than the british way! (There is much more about different cultures in the previous posting entitled 'culture'


Social class can be determined by ones hobbies, those who play golf are thought of as a higher class, it can be awarded by ones job, the higher the position in work can help a person move up the ranks in the social class spectrum. 


What about those who win money? What class do they fit into? Should they move up the ranks just because they have money? Personally up to a certain extent yes, if they can afford a higher style of life then so be it, however, I feel that these people may have not worked hard for the lifestyle as others and should still remain as down to earth as possible, I understand that this may not always have been the case but I feel that people should not change their friends just because they have more money than their peers. 


There is a scene in Friends where Monica buys extra lottery tickets secretly and gets found out, after finding them Rachel threatens that if these tickets win the group will leave Chandler & Monica, to which Monica replies 'I'll buy new friends'! This video clip can be seen on by clicking on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyKcfraV1c&feature=related
The clip shows how Monica would be willing to leave her friends behind if she won the lottery. 


However, people try and change their social class without doing any of these by simply lying about their work and hobbies, this is known as social mobility and they attempt to change their class for their own personal gain. 


Self respect would have an impact on how a person sees themselves against others. 


Marrying between classes can cause a culture shock in certain cases, as if a woman from a higher class marries a man from a lower class she automatically moves down the scale. For example if a top city solicitor was to marry a dustbin man the lifestyle that she would be accustomed to.Yes this is unfair and not very modern but this also stems back to the days of the first and second world war where the men were known to be the breadwinner. Unfortunately full equality still hasn't quite reached some parts of the world.

The 'Chav' class has come around over the last few years, where kids try to act like they are much older but don't realise what idiots they look like. The group of people who fall into the category often text 'lyk dis' and walk 'lyk dey got a banana stuck up somewhere painful!' (if they aren't wearing their trousers as low as their ankles. For everyone else this is a really annoying group of people as they are often attributed with causing problems in their local areas. 


It can be accepted that the chav group can be classed as a culture rather than a group. However the difference is small between them and social classes can be assumed to divide cultures. 


I did the Great British Class Survey and got the following result:

You scored 96/100 for economic capital

Your financial resources are higher than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.

You scored 100/100 for social capital

Your social network is wider than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.

You scored 70/100 for cultural capital

Your range of cultural interests is broader than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.

Your 'coat-of-arms'

We’ve used your results to create a fun, personalised 'coat-of-arms

Reference list:
Brassington F & Pettit S, 2007, Essentials of marketing, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD


Project Britain, 2010, Social class in england, [Online], Mandy burrow, Available at: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/class.htm, Accessed 28th April 2011


Solomon M, Bamossy G, ASkegaard S & Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4th edition, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD.