Charitable Fundraising Research Articles

Algorithmic Decision Making: Can Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse Provide Technological Solutions to Modernise the United Kingdom’s Legal Services and Criminal Justice?

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) have had a profound impact on various sectors including Banking (Fin Tech), Health (HealthTech) and Charitable Fundraising (Charity Tech). The ‘natural’ ability of an AI system to independently perform and, often, outthink its human-counter parts by developing ‘intelligence’(simulating human intelligence) through its own experiences and processing deep layers of information i.e., complex representations of data, and learn has resulted in astounding improvements in the completion of tasks that are complex and technical, time-consuming.AI, with the ease of working with the most granular level of detail, can identify people and objects, recognise voices, uncover patterns and, in advance, screen for problems. Yet, RegTech (or LawTech/LegalTech) has not seen the same level of advancement. AI can provide solutions and enormous economic, political, and social benefits – in terms of public service administration. The purpose of this article is to explore advents in AI (ML and DL) and whether the criminal justice system, in the United Kingdom (UK), which is heavily overburdened, could benefit from some of the advances that have taken place in other sectors and jurisdictions, and whether automation and algorithmic decision making could be used to modernise it. This research draws on domestic and international published law, regulation, and literature, and isset out in six parts, the first partre views the position of the criminal justice system i.e., issues, part two then looks at relative technological advancements in AI, and the Metaverse. Part three explores current advents in AI relating to RegTech (LawTech/LegalTech) and how, if at all, the CJS can use this technology. Part four explores what aspects of the U.K.’s CJS would be fit for automation. Part five focuses on those matters pertaining to AI that pose problems in relation to matters in part 4 i.e., AI discrimination and bias, and explores safeguarding and mitigation including the requirement for explanation as set out in the GDPR. Part six concludes the discussion with some recommendations, as at, January 2024. It is suggested that AI and algorithmic decision making, with the correct legal framework and safeguards in place, could assist in modernising the CJS focussed legal functions, services in law firms, innovating for the next decade. This work is original and timely given the increased debate relating to how AI can assist in modernising the U.K.’s CJS, the global criminal justice challenges, solutions, and what, if any, role the Metaverse can play.

Assessing the predictive benefits of Waqftech smart contracts on corporate waqf crowdfunding among Malaysian enterprises

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the adoption of waqf technology (Waqftech) using blockchain smart contracts for corporate waqf crowdfunding. Despite the growing interest in Waqftech, Malaysian enterprises have not fully embraced this emerging technology because of uncertainty regarding the benefits it offers to contributors. The research incorporates two theoretical frameworks: the electronic data interchange (EDI) model for firms’ technology adoption, and the triple bottom line theory (TBL) for corporate social responsibility.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative method using a cross-sectional survey design with a five-point Likert scale questionnaire was used. Data was collected from 210 decision-makers representing small and medium-sized enterprises and analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings from this research suggest that Malaysian enterprises are influenced by both corporate and social predictive benefits when using blockchain crowdfunding, but not by environmental benefits. The adoption of blockchain smart contracts does not correlate with predictive environmental benefits because of misconceptions about the disruptive technology’s impact on biological and digital environmental preservation.Research limitations/implicationsThis research focuses on organizational behavior rather than individual users of waqf crowdfunding, and it is limited, primarily focusing within Malaysia and regions with similar waqf structures.Practical implicationsThe Waqftech framework allows innovative mechanisms for executing corporate waqf investment returns to the intended beneficiaries through the smart contracts’ platform. In addition, this study supports relevant corporate social responsibility and creating shared value technology adoption theories, including EDI and TBL. Aside from this, the study provides empirical implications for waqf management using fintech platforms.Originality/valueThis groundbreaking study focuses on creating a Waqftech model for corporate waqf crowdfunding. The results of this study are important for the development of government policies that support the use of Waqftech in charitable fundraising. More research on biological and digital environmental perspectives is proposed to foster investors’ confidence in the visibility of digital tracking and lead to swift investments in future metaverse fundraising platforms.

No browsing, no donating: impact of image emotion and colour on browsing intention in online charitable fundraising

ABSTRACT Browsing behaviour, as a pivotal step before donation behaviour, plays a crucial role in online charitable fundraising, with little attention focused on attracting potential donors’ attention and improving their browsing intention. This research focuses on the colour elements of tone and saturation, as well as the victim’s emotion, to investigate the impact of their interaction on donors’ browsing and donation behaviour. The results of two studies indicate that presenting a victim image with happy emotion in low saturation, blue (vs. yellow) tones can enhance the individual’s attention to the victim’s image and further improve their browsing intention. However, when presenting images in high saturation, the colour tone and the emotion of the image have no significant influence on browsing intention. Besides, in low saturation, blue (vs. yellow) tones can enhance the donor’s donation rate and amount. These findings could help scholars and non-profit organisations understand how to present colour elements and victim emotions in the fundraising materials to stimulate the browsing and donation behaviours of donors.

Spatial inequalities in charitable fundraising and income generation for NHS acute trusts in England

IMPACT This article presents novel analyses of the income sources of National Health Service (NHS) acute trusts in England. The results suggest that there are variations according to deprivation in the extent of private financial resources available to NHS institutions. They suggest a need to open up discussions about how best to mitigate spatial differences in the charitable and private patient income of NHS trusts, particularly if these sources of income grow in importance going forward.

Some issues to consider if older people with complex care needs choose to die at home

PurposeThis viewpoint paper focuses on the important role played by hospices in the UK in providing specialised end-of-life care for older people with complex needs – particularly for the growing number who choose to die at home. With demand for such care growing, the paper highlights the funding issues facing the independent hospice sector and the implications for hospices of receiving more state funding. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the challenges that hospices in the UK face in providing home-based palliative and end of life care for older people.Design/methodology/approachThis a viewpoint paper informed by recent reports and research findings, as well as the author’s own work within the hospice sector.FindingsThe demand for specialised community-based and home-based palliative and end-of-life care is growing. The Covid-19 pandemic prompted wider discussion about what constitutes both “a good death” and good end-of-life care. This confirmed that most older people would prefer to end their lives free from pain, in familiar surroundings and not in hospital.Practical implicationsThe specialised end-of-life care provided by hospices is rated highly by the regulator and the communities which they serve. In recent years, more attention has been given to providing “hospice at home” services, but coverage is limited largely due to lack of funding, the bulk of which comes from charitable fundraising. To provide a more equitable service, the fragility of the hospice funding model needs to be addressed.Social implicationsIf the state expands its funding of hospice care, it is important that charitable fundraising also continues to take place and is encouraged. This will help ensure that the good links between hospices and local stakeholders are maintained.Originality/valueThe funding of the hospice sector in the UK has been the subject of several reports both by governmental and non-governmental bodies, several in the last year. However, it is an issue of growing importance and the whole subject needs a fuller airing in academic circles.

Bridging the Gap: The Role of the Charity in Voluntary Public Good Provision

Abstract This paper investigates how donors to food assistance charities respond to exogenous changes in recipients’ unmet needs. When food insecurity rises by one percentage point, the average food assistance charity increases fundraising by 0.9 %. Without this response, private contributions would have fallen by at least 0.2 %. These results are consistent with a model in which economic inequality simultaneously raises the donor’s marginal benefit of giving and reduces their awareness of the recipient’s circumstances. Charitable fundraising plays a key role in maintaining the charity’s revenues at a time when they are most needed.

Artificial intelligence and deep learning: considerations for financial institutions for compliance with the regulatory burden in the United Kingdom

PurposeArtificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) are having a major impact on banking (FinTech), health (HealthTech), law (RegTech) and other sectors such as charitable fundraising (CharityTech). The pace of technological innovation and the ability of AI systems to think like human beings (simulate human intelligence), perform tasks independently, develop intelligence based on its own experiences and process layers of information to learn ever-complex representations of data (ML/DL) means that improvements in the rates at which this technology can undertake complex, technical and time-consuming tasks, identify people, objects, voices, patterns, etc., screen for ‘problems’ earlier, and provide solutions, provide astounding benefit in economic, political and social terms. The purpose of this paper is to explore advents in AI, ML and DL in the context of the regulatory compliance challenge faced by financial institutions in the United Kingdom (UK).Design/methodology/approachThe subject is explored through the analysis of data and domestic and international published literature. The first part of the paper summarises the context of current regulatory issues, the advents in deep learning, how financial institutions are currently using AI, and how AI could provide further technological solutions to regulatory compliance as of February 2023.FindingsIt is suggested that UK financial institutions can further utilise AI, ML and DL as part of an armoury of solutions that ease the regulatory burden and achieve high levels of compliance success.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to specifically explore how AI, ML and DL can continue to assist UK financial institutions in meeting the regulatory compliance challenge and the opportunities provided for financial institutions by the metaverse.

Charitable Fundraising, Government Advocacy and Public Health Crisis

Charitable Fundraising, Government Advocacy and Public Health Crisis

Emphasizing recovery or improvement in charitable fundraising should depend on event controllability

Emphasizing recovery or improvement in charitable fundraising should depend on event controllability

Donor advised funds: Ethical issues on the new frontier of philanthropy

AbstractThis paper analyzes critical ethical and legal issues related to the administration and use of Donor Advised Funds for charitable fundraising in American philanthropy. With the swift and profound reshaping of the philanthropic landscape caused by Donor Advised Funds, the mainstream charitable world continues to both digest how these changes affect their work and address the myriad of legal, ethical and donor/public relations issues that arise in connection with gifts to and distributions from them. This paper discusses the most relevant legal and ethical principles governing the sponsorship of, receipt from and contribution to Donor Advised Funds, sets forth the significant legal and ethical issues faced by each of these parties, and finally, puts forth recommendation for them to follow.

‘A prison is no place for a party’: Neoliberalism, charitable fundraising, carceral enjoyments and abolitionist killjoys

ABSTRACT This paper explores a case study of the struggle over the cultural meanings of charity and imprisonment related to United Way’s 2019 Rockin’ The Big House fundraising concert in partnership with Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the City of Kingston at Kingston Penitentiary. Contributing to literature at the intersection of penality, prison tourism, and the charitable sector, we examine how staging authenticity and fostering penal spectatorship were central to driving ticket sales for and encouraging enjoyment at the concert held on the grounds of Canada’s first penitentiary. Based on an analysis of internal government records and CSC communications with United Way, we demonstrate how event planning and advertising relied on denigrating stereotypes regarding criminalized persons. Highlighting the value of collective organizing, action research, and newsmaking interventions aimed at opposing carceral enjoyments, we illustrate how cultural meanings of penality can be confronted as a means to advance abolitionist politics.

A study of incentives in charitable fundraising

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine how self-driven (intrinsic motivators) and monetary incentives (extrinsic motivators) are mediated by an effort to affect fundraising outcomes. This integration sheds light on crowding out between the two types of incentives as well the drivers of fundraising outcomes, specifically effort and donations.Design/methodology/approachA field experiment is conducted over a two-month period, involving an online fundraising campaign with over 300 volunteers assigned to one of five different incentive conditions. A special website was created to monitor fundraiser efforts. Fundraisers filled out pre- and post-study surveys.FindingsWhile high monetary incentives result in the greatest immediate increase in funds raised, they crowd out future intentions to volunteer once incentives are withdrawn. Mediation analyzes show that fundraiser effort fully mediates the effect of intrinsic motivators and partially mediates the direct effect of extrinsic motivators on funds raised.Research limitations/implicationsA major limitation of field experiments is the lack of control, resulting in higher variation. However, while a more controlled experiment will reduce this variation, this goes at the expense of lower external validity.Practical implicationsResults indicate that – at least in the short run – monetary incentives can result in higher fundraising outcomes. However, this goes at the expense of a reduction in future volunteering once the incentives are withdrawn.Originality/valueThis study examines whether extrinsic or intrinsic motivators have a greater impact on funds raised and whether extrinsic motivators crowd out future intentions to volunteer. Different from previous research in which effort is a latent variable, the effort is directly observed over time.

Applying a stakeholder management approach to ethics in charitable fundraising

AbstractWhile nonprofit accountability literature recognizes many stakeholders, even theoretically grounded approaches to fundraising ethics tend to focus more narrowly on donors, organizations, and their missions. This paper draws on business ethics scholarship by proposing a stakeholder management approach to ethics in fundraising. This approach foregrounds intentional examination of the multiple stakeholders in the fundraising process: the organization; its donors; current beneficiaries; the broader population within the issue; the fundraisers themselves; and the community. Following stakeholder theory, ethical fundraising activities must align with the charitable mission of the organization, and take into account the legitimate interests of those groups and individuals who can affect, or be affected by, its activities. The process of intentionally identifying, prioritizing, mapping claims, engaging with, and monitoring stakeholders offers fundraisers, nonprofit executives, and members of governing and advisory boards a pragmatic means of aligning fundraising efforts with the mission, values, and long‐term strategy of their organizations.

A Study of Incentives in Charitable Fundraising

The purpose of this study is to determine how self-driven (intrinsic motivators) and monetary incentives (extrinsic motivators) are mediated by effort to affect fundraising outcomes. This integration sheds light on crowding out between the two types of incentives as well the drivers of fundraising outcomes, specifically effort and donations. This study examines whether extrinsic or intrinsic motivators have a greater impact on funds raised, and whether extrinsic motivators crowd out future intentions to volunteer. Different from previous research in which effort is a latent variable, effort is directly observed over time. A field experiment is conducted over a two-month period, involving an online fundraising campaign with over 300 volunteers assigned to one of five different incentive conditions. A special website was created to monitor fundraiser effort. Fundraisers filled out pre- and post-study surveys. Whereas high monetary incentives result in the greatest immediate increase in funds raised, they crowd out future intentions to volunteer once incentives are withdrawn. Mediation analyses show that fundraiser effort fully mediates the effect of intrinsic motivators and partially mediates the direct effect of extrinsic motivators on funds raised.

Can artificial intelligence, RegTech and CharityTech provide effective solutions for anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing initiatives in charitable fundraising

PurposeArtificial intelligence has had a major impact on organisations from Banking through to Law Firms. The rate at which technology has developed in terms of tasks that are complex, technical and time-consuming has been astounding. The purpose of this paper is to explore the solutions that AI, RegTech and CharityTech provide to charities in navigating the vast amount of anti-money laundering and counter-terror finance legislation in the UK; so that they comply with the requirements and mitigate the potential risk they face but also develop a more coherent and streamlined set of actions.Design/methodology/approachThe subject is approached through the analysis of data, literature and, domestic and international regulation. The first part of the paper explores the current obligations and risks charities face, these are then, in the second part, set against the examination of potential technological solutions as of August 2020.FindingsIt is suggested that charities underestimate the importance of the nature and size of the threat posed to them, this is significant, as demonstrated, given the growing size and impact of the sector. Technological solutions are suggested to combat the issues charities face.Originality/valueThe study is original because it is the first to create the notion of CharityTech and to specifically explore what technological advances can assist charities in meeting the regulatory compliance challenge.

GoFundMe launches new services for charitable fundraising

GoFundMe, a leading crowdfunding platform, has launched two new services aimed at helping charitable groups solicit cash donations from their supporters worldwide.

Advancing towards contemporary practice: a systematic review of organisational performance measures for non-acute health charities

BackgroundOrganisational performance measurement is a recognised business management tool and essential for survival and success. There is a paucity of methodological studies of organisational performance measurement relating to non-acute healthcare charities and this study is the first to suggest a set of evidence-informed organisational performance measures for the sector.MethodsThis study was designed using a two-staged approach. A systematic review of peer-reviewed journal literature between 2003 and 2016 was conducted according to the twenty-seven (27) point checklist of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) complemented by a thematic analysis of eligible data using a cutting and sorting technique to generate a set of common measures of organisational performance for non-acute health charities.ResultsNot one study was found relating to organisational performance of non-acute healthcare charities however four records met eligibility criteria relating to non-acute or primary healthcare services with charitable fundraising capability. Three were case studies of specific organisations that related their approach to organisational performance measurement, while the fourth compared a case study organisation to a public service. Three different organisational performance frameworks and 20 organisational performance measures were used across the four studies.ConclusionsThe study concluded that (1) demonstration of organisational performance is relevant to non-acute health charities; (2) organisational performance measurement is feasible in this sector; (3) an evidence-based organisational performance measurement framework for the sector has not yet been developed nor has an existing organisational performance measurement framework been adapted for the sector, although the Balanced Scorecard is likely to be an effective option and (4) five leading measures – Quality of Service; Finance; Stakeholders (Customers and Clients); People and Culture; and Governance and Business Management; could be used to determine organisational performance in these sectors. Finally, ‘Mission and Purpose’ could be explored as a potential measure. Further research to understand why there is such limited published organisational performance evidence for the sector could be useful. Case studies of organisational measurement strategies of successful non-acute healthcare charities and research into important factors for organisational performance implementation in the sector may contribute to greater uptake and knowledge dissemination.

Ex-ante commitments to “give if you win” exceed donations after a win

Should fundraisers ask a banker to donate “if he earns a bonus” or wait and ask after the bonus is known? Standard EU theory predicts that these approaches are equivalent; loss-aversion and signaling models predict a larger commitment before the bonus is known; theories of affect predict the reverse. In five experiments incorporating lab and field elements (N=1363), we solicited charitable donations from small lottery winnings, varying the conditionality of donations between participants. Pooling across experiments, participants are 23% more likely to commit to donate from the winning income and commit 25% more when asked before the lottery's outcome is determined—relative to those asked to donate after they learn they have won. These differences are strongly statistically significant. This represents the first evidence on how pro-social behavior extends to conditional commitments over uncertain income, with implications for charitable fundraising, giving pledges, and experimental methodology.

Do the Ends Justify the Means? The Relative Focus on Overhead Versus Outcomes in Charitable Fundraising

Prospective donors are often sensitive to the amount of overhead in charitable fundraising. The present studies examine how differences in one’s personal commitment to a cause moderate the relative focus on overhead versus outcomes in charitable fundraising. Three experiments find that donors who are more committed to the cause are, in fact, accepting of higher levels of overhead. Experiment 1 demonstrates that people are willing to accept a higher level of overhead for causes that are more (vs. less) important to them. Experiment 2 provides process evidence by showing that perceptions of cause importance generally influence how people evaluate the intentions behind charitable fundraising versus its outcomes. Experiment 3 directly manipulates cause importance and demonstrates a downstream effect on actual donations. Together, these studies suggest a more general framework whereby differences in personal commitment change the relative focus on the intentions behind pro-social behavior versus the outcomes achieved.

The Influence of Social Media on Charitable Fundraising

Charities increasingly utilize social media tools in fundraising. This research studies three mechanisms by which Facebook “likes” affect charitable behavior: (1) signaling, (2) commitment escalation, and (3) social contagion. The first study manipulates the number of Facebook likes on a page and finds support for a signaling effect of the aggregate Facebook likes on charitable intent. The second study manipulates whether the visitor clicks a Facebook like or not. Results show that the act of “liking” a fundraising page in and of itself escalates one’s charitable intent. An auction field study sells artwork created by under-privileged youth, and utilizes Facebook and Facebook likes to disseminate word of mouth about these auctions. Results show that social media increases willingness to pay (WTP) in charity auctions. The number of Facebook likes has a direct signaling effect and an indirect social contagion effect on WTP, as Facebook friends pass on information, through their likes. Consistent with the commitment escalation hypothesis, clicking a Facebook like has a direct effect on WTP.