Six Dimensions of Donor Motivation: Take Five

The fifth measure that best predicted attitudes and behaviors in our donor motivation research model was personal values.

The personal values dimension examines the extent to which graduates:

• Donate because they feel that charitable donations make the world a better place
• Donate to charitable organizations because it makes them feel good
• Donate to charities because they believe that everyone should donate
• Donate because they want their children to donate to charities (setting a good example)

This dimension has tremendous implications for messaging strategy due to its catchall nature. Pressing global causes such as feeding the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless, working to improve the environment, and supplying medical cures for the sick and uninsured are examples of philanthropic initiatives that would likely appeal to those who give at least in part due to the personal values dimension. Therefore, institutions crafting messages around this dimension should:

• Discuss institutional alignment with organizations/initiatives that work toward the aforementioned causes
• Highlight donors who give to a wide variety of charities
• Focus not only on the societal benefits derived from donations, but also on how donors feel that they are making a difference via their charitable activities

 
The personal values dimension would be also important to consider when crafting messages that focus on legacies. For instance,

• Messages could discuss how specific scholarships and/or campaigns enabled people from different generations of the same family to attend the institution