Emphasizing Recovery or Improvement in Charitable Fundraising Should Depend on Event Controllability

Abstract

The situation of the recipients is a critical element of charitable fundraising information, yet the impact of different descriptions of their situation on the efficacy of fundraising efforts has not been extensively studied. This research classified fundraising information into two types: recovery-description (emphasizing that the recipients were in a favorable situation but have since fallen into a disadvantaged one, and that the donation brings the recipients back to their previous state) and improvement-description (emphasizing that the donation helps the recipients transition from their current disadvantaged state to a better one). Using one secondary data analysis (N = 978, Study 1) and six experiments (N = 1163, Studies 2/3a/3b/4/5a/5b), it was found that the recovery-description (vs. improvement-description) led donors to perceive charity projects are better at reducing loss (vs. increasing gains) and donors are more concerned with reducing loss (vs. increasing gains) when faced with uncontrollable (vs. controllable) events. Thus, based on the matching on regulatory focus, when recovery-description (vs. improvement-description) was used to describe uncontrollable events, and improvement-description (vs. recovery-description) was used to describe controllable events, individuals’ willingness to donate (Study 5) and actual donation (secondary data) were higher. This research proposes a new theoretical classification of fundraising information and demonstrates different types of information have divergent subsequent impacts. Our findings suggest to design fundraising information according to event controllability.

Keywords: recovery-description, improvement-description, event controllability, regulatory fit, willingness to donate