Determinants of charitable donation intentions: a structural equation model

TLDR

Charities increasingly rely on individual donors, making the study of donor motivations a growing focus for nonprofit marketers. The study develops and tests a path model of the charitable donation process among religious individuals. The model incorporates religiosity, attitudes toward helping others, charitable organizations, advertisements, and behavioral intentions. Altruistic attitudes alone do not drive donation intentions; instead, religiosity shapes altruism and, together with targeted advertising and favorable attitudes toward charities, boosts intentions, suggesting that religious segments and ad messaging should be prioritized. © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.; the study presents a path model predicting charitable donation intentions among religious individuals.

Abstract

Abstract Currently charities have to depend more on individual donors and less on the government for funding. Hence, understanding the individual donor and what motivates them to contribute to charities is something, which has been of increasing interest to nonprofit marketers. In this article, a path model for the charitable donation process of a religious individual is developed and tested. The variables that are used in the model are religiosity, attitude towards helping others (AHO), attitude towards charitable organizations (ACO), attitude towards the advertisement (Attad) and behavioral intentions (BI). The results suggest that AHO by itself does not cause BI. Altruistic people need to be targeted with an appropriate advertisement message. Since religiosity is an important causal variable for AHO, segmenting and targeting individuals who are religious would be pertinent. Attempts to build favorable ACO would also be worthwhile. Religiosity Charitable donation intentions Charity advertisements. Path model for predicting intentions to donate. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.