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User Views of Fundraising: A study of charitable beneficiaries’ opinions of their representation in appeals

Breeze, Beth and Dean, Jon (2012) User Views of Fundraising: A study of charitable beneficiaries’ opinions of their representation in appeals. Working paper. Alliance Publishing Trust, Centre for Giving and Philanthropy, London (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:37203)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://www.cgap.org.uk/uploads/reports/USER_VIEWS_...

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a study exploring the views of charitable beneficiaries on literature that is designed to appeal to donors. Ethical questions raised by using images of beneficiaries in fundraising materials have been a matter of debate for some time, but such debates normally only include the opinions of ‘powerful’ voices such as charity leaders, moral philosophers and media commentators. This research extends the parameters of the debate by

canvassing the opinions of those depicted, to ask: what do users think of the images of themselves found in fundraising appeals?

The study is based on five focus groups attended by a total of 38 young people living in, or attending services at, homeless hostels in four English cities. Focus group participants were asked their opinion of an array of images

of homelessness that had recently been used in fundraising campaigns run by major charities working in this field.

The findings demonstrate that this group of beneficiaries are visually literate, familiar with how marketing works and largely supportive of methods that maximize income. They understood why charity marketing often makes

use of contrived and simplified images to depict homelessness, and showed appreciation for the skills of fundraisers in balancing the accurate depiction of social problems with the need to generate enough donations to – literally, in most

cases – provide a roof over their heads.

Item Type: Reports and Papers (Working paper)
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Beth Breeze
Date Deposited: 05 Dec 2013 10:46 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:13 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/37203 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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