Non-profit
Running head: EFFECTIVE PUBLIC RELATION METHODS
Effective Public Communication:
Public Relation Methods for Non-profit Organizations to Gain Higher Donor Support
Amanda Halle
Western Washington University
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Introduction
Non-profit organizations have been operating mostly on private donations and
volunteer or lightly paid staff since the early 1980s, when the Regan government cut a
substantial amount of financial support for non-profits (Yeon, Choi, & Kiousis, 2005).
Absence of government funding, an increase in the numbers of non-profit communication
creating competitiveness, and a lack of individual and household donations has put
pressure on non-profits financially (Venable, Rose, Bush, & Gilbert, 2005). Because
these organizations and charities are not for profit, they greatly rely on a regular support
from private donations.
In order to obtain donations and regular revenue, non-profit organizations must
have effective ways of reaching the public through advertising and public relations
(Waters, 2008). If a non-profit cannot acquire enough funding, the organization will not
be able to help the cause they serve. To succeed, a non-profit must know the most
effective ways to gain donations from both regular donors and new donors as well as
create lasting relationships with donors in order to effectively help their cause (Waters,
2008).
Grunig (1993) argued that creating both strong relationships with publics and
focusing on symbolic images were important for non-profit organizations. Studies have
found that both positive and negatively framed messages are persuasive ways of gaining
donor support (Das, Kerkhof, & Kuiper, 2008). Organizations need to know which is
message frame is the most influential.
Two communication theories are relevant to this topic, the uses and gratification
theory and the hypodermic needle theory. In 1979, research was conducted that revealed
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he uses and gratification theory, which assumes that people choose to use areas of media
that satisfy their likes and interests (Wood, 2006). How this relates to non-profit
organizations is people choose to donate or support a cause that they feel passionate
about and may use it to create identity online. (Satchell & Foth, 2008). The hypodermic
needle theory, which states mass media’s messages have a direct influence on passive
audiences, is now discarded by many mass media researchers (Severin & Tankard, 1992).
However, it is still a conceivable theory according to Severin and Tankard and should be
considered when measuring message persuasiveness. This relates to non-profits in the
measurement of persuasiveness in positive and negative message framing.
O’Neil (2006) says non-profit organizations must frame their messages
appropriately for their community and audience to be able to gain substantial donor
support. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which non-profits use
public relations and message framing to gain donor support. Advertising, message
framing, communication and overall presentation of the organization have an affect on
whether a person chooses to donate or not (Das, Kerkhof, & Kuiper, 2008). Some
research has been conducted in the area of non-profit organization’s relationship with
donors and donor behavior in the area of marketing but less has been done in the area of
public relations (O’Neil, 2006)
Terms
Positive message framing; negative message framing; donor; fundraising; public
relations; hypodermic needle theory; uses and gratification theory
Literature Review
Why People Give
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Despite the popular belief that people give to charity selflessly and without any
reluctance (Das, Kerkhof, & Kuiper, 2008), Klandermans (1984) suspects that people
choose to give out of expectation of the number of participants involved, the probability
of success their contribution will have and the overall probability of success if others also
participate. Even if a person feels strongly connected to a non-profit’s cause, they are
unlikely to give unless they feel their contribution will effectively help solve the problem
(Das, Kerkhof, & Kuiper, 2008)
Some people choose to give through the use of cause-related credit cards.
Mekonnen, Harris and Laing (2006) conducted research on whether linking credit cards
to support for a cause made them more attractive to consumers, for example, a credit card
linked with the World Wildlife Fund that donates 25 cents to the group every time you
put 100 dollars on your card. What they found was many people were motivated to use
the card primarily because of the financial return going back to the cause by using it.
However, they also found that most users who stopped using the card did so because the
overall relationship between the causal group and the cardholder was weak. Lack of
communication between the cause, the card company and the card holder also led to
consumer skepticism about how real the financial benefits were to the causal group.
Channels for Non-profit Messaging
In today’s world, the use of technology is a fast, efficient way to spread messages
to large numbers of people. Non-profit organizations use advertising as a primary tool to
gain recognition and support for their cause. Research by Sciulli and Bebko (2005)
revealed that social cause advertisements, whether they are on television or in print, are
different from mainstream, commercial advertisements because they promote some sort
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of behavioral change that will enhance society. In order for the advertisement to clearly
promote the presented cause, it must contain some amount of emotional appeal in order
to separate itself from an advertisement selling a product (Sciulli & Bebko, 2005).
Websites offer non-profit organizations an inexpensive way to reach and interact
with donors, volunteers and journalists. Marken (1998) explained the internet as an ideal
medium for organization’s because of its high interactive potential which is better for
relationship building. Successfully managing a website can boost an organization’s
fundraising development as well as volunteer recruitment (Kang & Norton, 2004).
Research by Yeon, Choi, and Kiousis (2005) revealed that most non-profit organizations
offered the most interactive features on the donor related pages of the website. They
concluded that most organizations created web pages that were targeted and mostly
informative for donors because donors are held more important than even volunteers and
journalists to non-profit organizations.
Another very effective way for non-profits to advocate through the internet is
through social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr
(Satchell & Foth, 2008). Satchell and Foth concluded:
The digital generation seeks to create, manipulate, control, play, identify themselves,
express their taste, their beliefs, political affiliations, their aesthetics, their sexuality and
humor via digital representations…creating a digital presence that reveals ‘This is who I
am, this is what I believe in’ (p.24)
Non-profit organizations can use these insights to help them connect with a
younger generation with the purpose of social change and community action.
Positive vs. Negative Message Framing
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The way non-profit organization’s messages to the public are framed, positive or
negative, could have affect on the message’s success (Das, Kerkhof & Kuiper, 2008). An
example of a negatively framed message is, “6 million children die from AIDS every
year.” A positive way to say this message would be, “With your support, fewer children
will die from AIDS every year.” There are also ways to positively or negatively framed
visual images such as pictures or videos. A non-profit could try and motivate people to
donate by showing a picture of starving children, looking sad and sick or they could show
a picture of children looking happy and healthy because they received donations and now
have a better life. Studies have been done to measure the persuasiveness of both positive
and negative message framing but reveal that one way is not largely more effective than
the other (Das, Kerkhof & Kuiper, 2008).
What Das, Kerkhof and Kuiper concluded in their research about message
framing was that importance of the charity was better perceived when negative message
framing was combined with statistical evidence. For example “A child dies from poverty
every four seconds.” But they found a positive frame created better understanding of the
organization’s cause when paired with anecdotal evidence. For example, “Since her
sponsorship, Jessica has done better in school and has a hope for her future.”
A campaign to increase the use of condoms in order to stop the spread of AIDS
among adolescent women in Brazil was conducted in 2003. Commercials were played on
television, radio and billboards showing the well-known pop singer Kelly Key walking
into a pharmacy and without demonstrating any shame, asking for condoms. This
message was to show girls, in a positive way, how easy and shameless asking for
condoms is. Results of a survey after the release of the commercial revealed that 90% of
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the viewers perceived the advertisement as “excellent” or “good” at conveying the
campaigns message (Porto, 2007).
Another effective way to be positive through fundraising messages and
advertisements is for the organization to convey to the public the likelihood of their goal
being reached. This however does not say that by portraying the value of the charity’s
goal is a sufficient way to gain support, but it is a very effective way. Despite this fact, in
many organizations messages, the focus is on the problem their cause is supporting,
rather than the probability of reaching their goal (Das, Kerkhof, & Kuiper, 2008).
Research Question
Although past research reveals that people better understand a non-profit’s value
and importance when it is positively framed with anecdotal evidence or negatively
framed with statistical evidence (Das, Kerkhof, & Kuiper, 2008), I would like to propose
a new research question.
RQ: Which methods in public relations and message framing increase donation income
for non-profit organizations?
The dependant variable will be the number of donations a non-profit receives over
a period of time. The independent variable will be positively or negatively framed
messages and evidence.