BUSI 409 Week 5 Discussion Board Forum 3 Thread Example

Discussion Board Forum 3 Thread: Philanthropic Fundraising

BUSI 409 Nonprofit Management and Governance, Discussion Board Forum 3 Thread

Thread by [Student Name]

The forum prompt and the food bank example are composites; the textbook, research and Scripture cited are real, and textbook locations are given by chapter because page numbers differ between printings.

Understanding why people give is the starting point for any fundraising plan, and the research suggests that the most neglected reason is the simplest: someone asked.

Bekkers and Wiepking (2011) reviewed hundreds of empirical studies and identified eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving: awareness of need, solicitation, costs and benefits, altruism, reputation, psychological benefits, values and efficacy, the belief that a gift makes a difference. Some of these lie outside an organization's control, such as a donor's personal values. Others are almost entirely within it. A nonprofit decides whether to ask, how clearly it describes the need, how it thanks donors and how it shows the results of their gifts. The review's mechanisms of awareness and efficacy suggest that people give more when they perceive a need clearly and believe their gift will make a difference, which points to the importance of transparency about results in any appeal.

Worth (2017), in Chapter 13, describes fundraising as building relationships that move donors over time from annual gifts toward major and planned gifts. He emphasizes that most large gifts come from people who have given smaller amounts for years and that donors respond to personal attention. The research and the textbook point the same way: fundraising succeeds when organizations ask personally, explain the need concretely and show donors their impact. Most people who have never given to a cause were simply never asked in a way that reached them.

Consider the food bank. Most of its donations arrive in November and December, from people who drop off food or give online after a news story. A plan built on the research would do three things. First, ask directly, with a monthly giving program presented in person at volunteer shifts and community events, since being asked is one of the strongest triggers of giving. Second, make efficacy visible by telling donors exactly what a gift provides, such as how many meals a $25 gift supports, and by sending a short report on results each quarter. Third, thank every donor promptly and personally, which builds the relationship Worth describes and prepares some donors for larger gifts later.

The biblical application comes from Jesus's observation of the widow who gave two small copper coins. He said she had put in more than all the wealthy givers, because they gave out of their abundance while she gave all she had (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Luke 21:1-4). Jesus measured the gift by the giver's sacrifice, not its size. A fundraising program shaped by that teaching thanks a child's coins as sincerely as a foundation grant and treats small donors as partners rather than as a lower tier of the donor pyramid.

That approach is also practical. Small, faithful donors are the base from which major gifts grow, and they are the people most likely to volunteer, advocate and remember the organization in their wills. A food bank that learns to ask well, report honestly and thank warmly will rarely need to rely on one dramatic year-end appeal.

References

Bekkers, R., & Wiepking, P. (2011). A literature review of empirical studies of philanthropy: Eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(5), 924-973. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764010380927

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Worth, M. J. (2017). Nonprofit management: Principles and practice (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.