|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
How We Beg: The Analysisof Direct Mail Appeals
Femida Handy
York University
One of the reasons that nonprofit organizations have a comparative advantage over other organizational forms is that the nondistribution constraint renders them trustworthy in many transactions that require trust. However, the nondistribution constraint in and of itself may not be sufficient, and nonprofits must actively gain public trust. In particular, charities that are involved in fund-raising from the general public must make an effort to elicit and maintain donor confidence. The author proposes that they do so by a judicious use of signals and discusses the types of signals charities use to establish their trustworthiness to raise funds. Direct mail appeals, used by charities to raise funds from the general public, are examined to verify the signals discussed.
References
- Andreoni, J. (1990). Altruism and donations to public goods: A theory of warm-glow giving?Economic Journal, 100(401), 464-477.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Brody, E. (1996). Agents without principals: The economic convergence of the nonprofit and for-profit organizational forms. New York Law School Law Review, 40, 457-457.
- Burlingame, D. F. (Ed.). (1997). Critical issues in fundraising. New York: Wiley.
- Burlingame, D. F., & Hulse, L. J. (Eds.). (1991). Taking fund raising seriously: Advancing the profession and practice of raising money. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Causer, C. (1998, September). Testing and tracking your mail program. Nonprofit Times, 12(14) 16-18.
- Charities Aid Foundation. (1994). International giving and volunteering: The international comparative survey of who gives what to whom ... and why. West Malling, UK: Author.
- Chisholm, L. B. (1995). Accountability of nonprofit organizations and those who control them: The legal framework. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 6(2), 141-156.
- Cnaan, R. A. (with Wineburg, R. J., & Boddie, S. C.). (1999). The newer deal: Social work and religion in partnership. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Davis, M. (1991). Calling for greener fund-raising also increases donations. Marketing, 96(37), 16-16, 21-23.
- Fama, F., & Jensen, M. C. (1983). Agency problems and residual claims. Journal of Law and Economics, 26, 327-345.
- Frank, R. H. (1988). Passion within reasons: The strategic role of emotions. New York: Norton.
- Giving and volunteering in the United States. (1999). Washington, DC: Independent Sector.
- Glazer, A., & Konrad, K. A. (1996). A signalling explanation for charity. American Economic Review, 86(4),1019-1028.[Web of Science]
- Handy, F. (1995). Reputation as collateral: An economic analysis of the role of trustees in nonprofits. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 24(4), 293-305.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Handy, F. (1997, December). How we beg: Institutionalising of charities. Paper presented at the ARNOVA conference, Indianapolis, IN.
- Hansmann, H. (1980). Role of nonprofit enterprise. Yale Law Journal, 89, 835-901.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Hansmann, H. (1981). Reforming nonprofit corporation law. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 129, 497-526.[CrossRef]
- Hillier, B. (1997). The economics of asymmetric information. New York: St. Martin’s.
- Kuniholm, R. (1997). The complete book of model fundraising letters. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Lindahl, W. E. (1992). Strategic planning for fund raising: How to bring in more money using strategic resource allocation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Olson, M. (1971). The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Payne, A. (1998). Does the government crowd-out private donations? New evidence from a sample of non-profit firms. Journal of Public Economics, 69(3), 323-345.[CrossRef]
- Posner, E. A. (1998). Symbols, signals and social norms in politics and law. Journal of Legal Studies, 27(2), 765-798.[CrossRef]
- Posnett, J., & Sandler, T. (1988). Transfers, transaction costs and charitable intermediaries. International Review of Law and Economics, 8, 145-160.
- Ridley, J. G. (1975). Competitive signalling. Journal of Economic Theory, 10, 174-186.[CrossRef]
- Rose-Ackerman, S. (1996). Altruism, nonprofits and economic theory. Journal of Economic Literature, 34(2), 701-728.[Web of Science]
- Ross, S. (1973). The economic theory of agency: The principal’s problem. American Economic Review, 63, 134-139.
- Sargeant, A., & McKenzie, J. (1998). A lifetime of giving: An analysis of donor lifetime value. West Malling, UK: Charities Aid Foundation.
- Sharpe, D. (1994). A portrait of Canada’s charities: The size, scope and financing of registered charities. Toronto: Canadian Centre of Philanthropy.
- Spence, A. M. (1973). Market signalling: Information transfer in hiring and related processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Steinberg, R. (1993). Does government spending crowd out donations? Interpreting the evidence. In A. Ben-Ner & B. Gui (Eds.), The nonprofit sector in the mixed economy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Sugden, R. (1984). Reciprocity: The supply of public goods through voluntary contributions. Economic Journal, 94(376), 772-787.[CrossRef]
- Titman, S., &Trueman, B. (1986). Information quality and the value of new issues. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 8, 159-172.
- Torre, R. L., & Bendixen, M. A. (1988). Direct mail fund raising: Letters that work. New York: Plenum.
- Tullock, G. (1966). Information without profit. In Papers on non-market decision making. Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson Center, University of Virginia.
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 3,
439-454 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0899764000293005
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
D. M. Van Slyke, S. Ashley, and J. L. Johnson
Nonprofit Performance, Fund-Raising Effectiveness, and Strategies for Engaging African Americans in Philanthropy
The American Review of Public Administration,
September 1, 2007;
37(3):
278 - 305.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Sargeant and S. Lee
Donor Trust and Relationship Commitment in the U.K. Charity Sector: The Impact on Behavior
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly,
June 1, 2004;
33(2):
185 - 202.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. W. Clohesy
Fund-Raising and the Articulation of Common Goods
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly,
March 1, 2003;
32(1):
128 - 140.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
