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Study Finds Supportive Messages Get More Donations Long-Term for Nonprofits
[January 15, 2015]

Study Finds Supportive Messages Get More Donations Long-Term for Nonprofits


Which charity would you be more likely to donate to over the long run: Feed The Children or Stop Child Hunger? According to a new study, you're more likely to support the first.

A new study out of the David Eccles School of Business found that charities in support of a cause are more likely to endure compared to charities in opposition to some problem. The study, "What's in a Message? The Longitudinal Influence of a Supportive Versus Combative Orientation of the Performance of Nonprofits," analyzed the message orientations that nonprofit organizations take toward their causes. It found that organizations adopting a supportive position garner greater long-term donations.

The study defined supportive messages as those that were promoting or aiding a cause or prosocial behavior, such as a campaign aimed at feeding more children each day. It defined combative messages as fighting, going against or preventing an erroneous behavior or problem, such as a campaign battling child hunger. Each of these campaigns suport the same cause; however, a simple shift from "Stop Child Hunger" to "Feed The Children" can affect donor behavior over time.



To test this proposition, Keith Botner, lead author of the study, and his colleagues, marketing faculty members Himanshu Mishra and Arul Mishra analyzed financial data from nonprofits' tax filings over a 10-year period, measured donor pledges to a registered nonprofit organization and examined actual donation behavior in a lab study. This study included an analysis of donations of both time and of money.

"Through our longitudinal examination, we demonstrate that a supportive orientation tends to outperform a combative orientation," said Botner, doctoral candidate in the David Eccles School of Business. "While negative messages have been shown to garner attention in the short-term, we find that supportive messages prevail over time. A supportive orientation is more promotion-focused, which tends to be more global and thus more closely aligned with the long-term 'greater good' of the cause."


This study can be found on the "Journal of Marketing Research" website and in the forthcoming February print edition of the journal.

About the David Eccles School of Business

Founded in 1917 in Salt Lake City, the David Eccles School of Business has programs in entrepreneurship, technology innovation and venture capital management. It launched the country's largest student-run venture capital fund with $18.3 million and is home to the Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and the Sorenson Center for Discovery and Innovation. Approximately 4,500 students are enrolled in its undergraduate, graduate and executive degree programs. For more information, visit business.utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.


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