A New Look at Nonprofit Online Fundraising: Persuasion Through the Means of Credibility and Psychological Consistency

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine how the persuasive elements of a message contribute to non-profit organizations\u27 potential to gain financial support. The purpose of the study was to apply theories of persuasion to advance an understanding of the underlying elements relevant to successful fundraising appeals. The two main constructs examined were credibility and psychological consistency. Applied to the context of non-profit fundraising, credibility refers to the judgments granting institutions and/or donors make about the believability of the non-profit organization or its individual representatives, and psychological consistency refers to donors\u27 internal drive to reduce inconsistencies between their behavior and their beliefs, values, or attitudes. The method of investigation involved a secondary research analysis of existing literature to illustrate how the level of credibility donors associate with an organization is likely to impact the effectiveness of fundraising messages, and to articulate the influence psychological consistency plays in the desire and motivation for donors to support non-profit fundraising efforts. Presented as a professional report, this study reviews the implications of the findings and offers specific ways in which non-profit organizations can improve the effectiveness of fundraising attempts via examples grantwriting and online fundraising campaigns