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 14th 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 15th February 2011]
· Solomon, M R, Bamossy, G, Askegaard, S, Hogg, M, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD
· TGI, 2007, Financial services > charities, [Online], TGI, Available at: https://www.kmrsoftware.net/netquestuni2/default.aspx, [Accessed 10th 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 12th February 2011]
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