Governments around the globe are failing to meaningfully address social crises, thereby placing additional pressure on non-profit organisations to meet increasing demands to care for those in need. One way by which non-profit organisations can galvanise more volunteer support and funding for their cause, is to enter into an alliance with a company or companies, and together create programs or initiatives to raise funds and awareness. Cause marketing is one such initiative, which also invites consumer involvement in varying degrees to help solve an issue or contribute to a cause. The past decade has seen the emergence of a more innovative form of cause marketing – one that requires a greater degree of consumer involvement, in particular their active participation in the initiative. Whilst there is a rich literature exploring commercial impacts of various cause marketing initiatives, there is very little research on the impacts to those consumers who actively participate in this more innovative form of cause marketing. This thesis contributes to the gap in the literature by exploring the direct and indirect impacts of active participation in a cause marketing initiative – on the participants themselves and more broadly on others. Using an interpretivist perspective, the researcher has undertaken a novel approach to qualitative methodology and analysis, and has drawn upon the literature of diverse fields such as psychology, social psychology, sports, tourism, social marketing, health and the non-profit sector. The case study chosen for this research was the cause marketing initiative: the Vinnies CEO Sleepout, which requires consumers’ active participation. Since it began in 2006 in Sydney, Australia, it has raised over AUD 49 million to fund the homeless services that St Vincent de Paul provides. Findings indicate that the impacts to the CEOs were considerable, particularly in the enhancement of human capital, mental health and social capital. ‘Compassion’ emerged as an unanticipated outcome. The ‘experience’ of the initiative was considered extremely important to the participants. Considerable positive change to CEOs’ social, eudaimonic and hedonic well-being was identified. Also noted were the examples provide by the CEOs of various changes (and potential impacts) to the well-being of their networks and the wider community
