Why people give

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WHY PEOPLE GIVE


Che Green - 15/09/09 -

Charitable donations are declining, foundation assets are shrinking, and the economic downturn isn’t done yet. So maybe there’s no better time than now to examine why people give to nonprofit organizations and how animal advocates can maximize their appeal to donors. According to research, the more specific your request and the more closely you can tie people’s donations to tangible outcomes, the more likely you are to increase and maintain your fundraising.

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According to HRC’s Animal Tracker survey, 25% of U.S. adults donated to animal groups over the past year (data were collected in 2008). About 5% of all adults volunteered for an animal cause during the same time. These may sound like modest numbers, but they translate to more than 55 million donors and more than 11 million volunteers (of course, these two groups overlap significantly). What is it that causes these people to give their money and their time to animals?

A recent NY Times article by Nicholas Kristof and featuring Peter Singer may shed some light. In it, Kristof writes, “As some research suggests, people give in large part to feel good inside. That works best when you write a check and the problem is solved. If instead you’re reminded of larger problems that you can never solve, the feel-good rewards diminish.” In short, people are more likely to give to tangible and solvable problems and less likely to contribute to seemingly intractable “big issue” causes.

This is a real challenge for animal advocates because many of the issues we work on are large in scope. To be compelling for most donors, however, we should narrow the focus of our appeals. Instead of talking about the plight of feral cats or farm animals in general, talk about a particular colony that is out of control or an especially cruel method of confinement. Of course, many animal advocates do these things already, but it’s important not to forget that the personal is always more powerful than the philosophical when appealing to the public.

For more on this topic, see “Why Do People Really Give to Charity?”
( http://www.ssireview.org/opinion/entry/why_do_people_really_give_to_charity/ ) on the Stanford Social Innovation Review website.


http://www.humaneresearch.org/node/3428