News Release

Beating the 'clutter': Charities must learn to stand out in the crowd

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Economic & Social Research Council

Charities must be genuinely distinctive to stand out in an increasingly crowded market, according to new research funded by the ESRC.

If they seem identical to other charitable organisations, appeals they make are doomed from the outset, says a study led by Professor Adrian Sargeant of the University of the West of England.

Researchers found that few facets of charity brands were genuinely distinctive. On the contrary, donors take the core values of charitable bodies as read, simply because they are charities.

The situation is very different from when people judge commercial brands, says the report. Donors seem to begin their appraisal of a charity from the position that the core values automatically apply, until they are given a specific reason to believe otherwise. Unless charities can come up with messages which get them noticed, they will appear to be ineffectual, bland and 'a contributor to the increasing charity clutter', says Professor Sargeant.

And he advises that for charities to make their mark they should not develop their brands in isolation, but instead do it with at least one eye on the competition. Professor Sargeant said: "Interest in branding seems to be growing. Those charities which bring in most money have long recognized the benefits. But now an understanding of the need for branding seems to be permeating the whole sector. And with good reason.

"Successful charity brands can have a very positive impact on how organisations perform, how donors feel about them, and on the income they get."

The study included focus groups of charitable donors, and a postal survey among 9,000 of those who support nine charities – three dedicated to the cause of children, and the same number to animal welfare and visual impairment. Donors identified 61 different 'personality traits' or values which they felt applied to the charities. However, researchers were struck by how similar people's perceptions of the organisations were. Professor Sargeant said: "What our study shows is that people have a strong sense of what it means to be a charity, but they find it very difficult to distinguish between causes - much less specific charities.

"To be blunt, it appears that charities are perceived as a bland, homogeneous mass of very similar organisations."

There was no discernible link between how a charity was viewed and how much money people would give it. Donors' income, wealth, age and gender were the key factors. However, there was a relationship between what a charity's values seemed to be and what percentage of an individual's charitable 'pot' they would be willing to donate.

Professor Sargeant said: "When it came to people deciding where to place the majority of their support, the key factors were the degree of emotional or intellectual stimulation it could give, how much influence people thought it could wield, and the tone of voice it adopted in communications.

"By contrast, values such as caring, compassionate, dedicated, ethical, honest and passionate are expected of a charity and may be a pre-requisite for support – but they have no influence at all on the amounts that will be given."

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Professor Adrian Sargeant on +44 (0)117 328 3486 or Email: adrian.sargeant@uwe.ac.uk

Or Alexandra Saxon or Lesley Lilley at ESRC, on +44 (0)1793 413032/413119

NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. The research project 'Conceptualizing brand values in the charity sector' was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Professor Sargeant is at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, BRISTOL BS16 1QY.

2. Methodology: The research included a series of nine focus groups with donors from each of nine charities - three each dedicated to the causes of children, animal welfare and visual impairment. A quantitative postal survey was conducted of a sample of 9000 donors - 1000 from each charity.

3. The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC invests more than £123 million every year in social science and at any time is supporting some 2,000 researchers in academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences to nurture the researchers of tomorrow. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk

4. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research (formerly accessible via the Regard website) and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk

5. The ESRC confirms the quality of its funded research by evaluating research projects through a process of peer review. Sometimes the ESRC publishes research before this process is finished so that new findings can immediately inform business, Government, media and other organisations. This research is waiting for final comments from academic peers.


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