Eva Maria Jedicke1, Stephan Olk2, Adnan Zogaj1, Dieter K. Tscheulin1, Jörg Lindenmeier1, 1 University of Freiburg, Germany, 2 Horn & Company, Düsseldorf, Germany
Volunteering is a cornerstone of individual well-being and social cohesion, with millions of people donating their time to nonprofit organizations. Given the increasing demand for volunteers as a resource and the competition nonprofits face, our research examines the role of volunteer appeals, a form of persuasive advertising, in influencing individuals to donate their time to social causes. In our recently published NVSQ article, we present findings that guide nonprofit organizations in tailoring effective volunteering campaigns, and to tailor volunteer appeals to specific audiences.
In doing so, we considered four critical attributes that can shape volunteer appeals: time commitment; emotion arousing imagery (in particular appeals to “guilt” and “pride”); slogans that activate volunteer motives, and; accountability seals that serve as signals of the credibility and trustworthiness of a nonprofit organization.
What we did…
To address gender differences in volunteering, we conducted two studies focusing on volunteer activities that are prevalent in either female or male demographics (i.e., tutoring and coaching youth soccer). Both studies use student samples. Our study used a Choice-Based-Conjoint (CBC) methodology to assess preferences for volunteer appeals and to estimate the relative importance of design attributes. Respondents evaluated volunteer appeal concepts with different design attributes and selected their preferred option from a set of choices in each task. Participants were presented with three different volunteer appeals with different combinations of attribute levels, as well as a no-choice option. Utility estimation in CBC analysis involves part-worth utility models, where each attribute level is assigned a unique utility value. The total utility of a volunteer appeal is the sum of the part-worth utilities of its attribute levels.
What we found…
We find that motive-based slogans are the most important attribute in volunteer appeals, the slogan representing the motive to enhance one’s personality and self-confidence is favored by most participants. Emotional arousal through pictorial representation was the second most important design attribute in the study. One picture of sad children was used as the guilt appeal, while the pride appeal was represented by a picture of happy children. Both were the respective contexts of the studies. The guilt appeal was disliked by most participants, showing that the arousal of a negative emotion (i.e. guilt) leads to a dismissive attitude rather than motivating students to volunteer. Instead, respondents appear to prefer pride appeals. Furthermore, the perceived time commitment ranks third in importance. The utility of the volunteering appeal decreases as the communicated time commitment increases. In addition, this study shows that the content of the seal of approval is considered the least important attribute of volunteer appeals, possibly because participants did not recognize substantial differences in content between efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency. This may also be due to the limited impact of positive information on organizational reputation conveyed by the seals, as organizational reputation is considered a hygiene factor.
Segmenting the Volunteer Market
A latent class segmentation analysis revealed three distinct market segments, shedding light on heterogeneous preferences among potential volunteers. These insights enable nonprofits to more effectively tailor volunteer appeals and foster engagement across a spectrum of varying motivations. We named the identified segments the unmotivated segment, the highly motivated segment, and the semi-motivated segment. The segments of particular interest to nonprofits are the highly motivated segment and the semi-motivated segment. Each segment requires a different approach. Targeting the unmotivated segment, may not produce the desired result of increasing volunteer engagement. The highly motivated segment should be targeted by greatly emphasizing the enhancement slogan. The other design attributes can almost be neglected considering this segment. The semi-motivated segment needs a different approach. The time commitment, the arousal of emotion and motivating slogans are all important for this segment. The volunteering appeal should only communicate a small amount of time needed for volunteering. Participants in this semi-motivated segment need to be targeted with slogans that highlight benefits that can be obtained by investing the time in volunteering, like social or human capital and the emotional arousal of pride.
Concluding Remarks for Guiding Nonprofits in Tailoring Effective Strategies
In sum, we suggest that nonprofit organizations can adopt mass communication or communication strategies tailored to the above-named volunteer segments based on the budget for volunteer recruitment. Specifically, we recommend using slogans that activate the enhancement motive, generate anticipatory feelings of pride, communicate a low or moderate time commitment, and highlight efficiency through accountability seals. When possible, we advise nonprofits to implement segment-specific targeting strategies. In the semi-motivated segment, nonprofit organizations must communicate a low time commitment in particular. In the motivated segment, volunteers can be motivated to invest a moderate amount of time by emphasizing the enhancement function. Based on these insights, nonprofits can navigate the complexities of volunteer motivation, design appeals that resonate within specific segments, and maximize the impact of their volunteer recruitment efforts.
Click here to read the free full-text article: Maria Jedicke, E., Olk, S., Zogaj, A., Tscheulin, D. K., & Lindenmeier, J. (2024). Designing Effective Volunteering Appeals: Results of Choice-Based Conjoint and Latent Class Segmentation Analyses. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640241227166
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