Why do People Give?

As the nonprofit sector grows and its relationship with the public sector deepens, nonprofit managers are working harder at developing donated financial and human resources. Although much research on nonprofit fund-raising has looked at who donates and which fund-raising strategies are most effective, no work to date has connected the two concepts; to illuminate which fund-raising strategies work with which donors. Using interview data conducted with nonprofit fund-raising executives and survey data on Atlanta residents, the authors estimate the impacts of sociodemographic and economic characteristics on the success of different donor development approaches. After constructing conceptual and empirical models, the authors’ data analysis allows them to develop a set of management implications that will assist nonprofit managers in crafting development strategies for the organizations they operate.

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