# How to use sex to improve your fundraising - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/18/how-use-sex-improve-your-fundraising/ - Published: 2009-06-18T18:12:57+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake **Recent research from the University of Kent has suggested that some of the techniques we might associate with the more cheesy end of consumer advertising might actually help to support fundraising campaigns.** Academics conducted a study into “Darwinian psychology and its relevance to charitable giving, philanthropy and volunteering”. The results suggested that we are all more likely to give if in the company of someone we are trying to impress. Perhaps unsurprisingly, men were the most likely to give in this scenario. I suspect that this is a fact many charities have known for years given the number of badged, charity ‘rose sellers’ stalking restaurants for couples on a Friday and Saturday night. ## Advertisement The study concludes that using images of women associating themselves with a campaign or cause seems to affect both men and women positively. Also, women tend to be impressed by altruistic men and swayed by images of children (if only I’d known that 15 years ago). So aside from recycling Gillette or L’oreal adverts, how can charities use this information to their marketing advantage? Here are a few suggestions as a starter for ten; please feel free to add or share your views: * Use images of empowered women in your marketing. The most effective are often real-world images of attractive (but not contrived and obviously glamorous) women actively doing things that you are trying to promote. * That said, research suggests that for some inexplicable reason, women tend to prefer their media authority figures as male. I’m not making this up. When I worked at a healthcare company we proved the hypotheses several times over through creative testing. Time after time, images of doctors and surgeons were perceived as more credible by women if we used male models or shots.  * Choose the age of the models (or staff members you are going to photograph) to fit with the expectations of the target audience. In order to appeal to men in particular we need to remember that once guys hit 35, they don’t perceive themselves as much older than mid twenties. This pattern is continued as we age. This means that using images of ladies in their 40s won’t be as appealing to men of the same age as using images of women who are perceived to be somewhere in between 25 and 35. * This doesn’t mean you can start to drape scantily clad women over sports cars in order to encourage donations from men if it is out of context for your charity. For example you might be able to generate support for testicular cancer charities( as everyman did incredibly well with their [Rachel Stevens video](http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Testicular-Cancer-Rachel-Stevens-Everyman/24070)) using this approach but not every audience will find it relevant to your message( or your brand).  * Get a good gender balance to any comments or testimonials you are using BUT relevance must be the primary driver for inclusion. Recipients care less about gender than whether you are wasting their time. * Seek role models to build longer term associations with your charity and your activities. Consumer brands are perhaps best known for this with The Bisto Family being synonymous with family meals for those of us over a certain age. BT’s new home-hub family is fast acquiring similar status as people can relate to the circumstances and the surroundings, as well as the messages. This one is quite clever as it portrays the guy as being attractive because he is prepared to engage with his girl’s exiting family (see above)  * You could invite women to fundraising events to have dinner with known philanthropic men.  * How about sponsoring a string of speed-dating sessions held by any one of the larger matchmakers? You could make charitable giving, volunteering and philanthropy an integral theme so people would be looking for these very qualities and hopefully the guys will donate due to the pressure!  * Finally, don’t actually make sweeping generalisations about your donors or indeed take my word for the ideas above. Test it out for yourselves with your own audiences and see what happens. I’d be interested in your findings. ## Comments ### By: ianmacquillin - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/18/how-use-sex-improve-your-fundraising/#comment-3708 - Published: 2009-06-18T23:52:00+01:00 This research did not suggest that “we are all” more likely to give more if we are in the company of someone we are trying to impress. What it found was that men are more likely to give more if they are being observed in their giving by a woman they find sexually attractive. The converse however is not true. Women do not give more if they are being observed in their giving by a sexually attractive man. And neither men nor women give more if being observed by someone of the same sex. That’s why this research is Darwinian psychology rather than just psychology. I [blogged on UK Fundraising about this research](https://fundraising.co.uk/node/175650/#comment-3708) when it was first published last autumn. It’s important to demarcate the Darwinian aspect of this (i.e. that it applies to men being observed by sexually attractive women but not vice versa) as the paper that reports this finding suggests that men use conspicuous altruism as a mating signal, but women do not. Any implementation of these research findings by fundraisers therefore needs to be gender specific. ### By: adriansargeant - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/18/how-use-sex-improve-your-fundraising/#comment-3709 - Published: 2009-07-01T13:05:09+01:00 Adrian Sargeant Robert F Hartsook Professor of Fundraising Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis Yee Gods – is this for real? This is all very old news. John List in the U.S. identified that men give to attractive women in face-to-face solicitation some time ago – but marketers have known this for decades. The problem is that using sexual attraction in this way is ultimately self defeating because folks won’t give again when the ‘stimulation’ has gone. It also doesn’t work at all well in non face-to-face contexts. The better approach is actually to rely on psychology and to use an understanding of gender identity in a smart way to shape fundraising communications. We might even look at identities that have more relevance to giving and giving in certain contexts ! ### By: kevin baughen - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/18/how-use-sex-improve-your-fundraising/#comment-3710 - Published: 2009-07-02T09:36:17+01:00 I’m glad for the other comments on this blog and the conversations people have had with me about the contents. It would appear that views are quite polarised. Those of a more academic/research- oriented persuasion perceive that the activity suggested was an overly simplistic and old-fashioned view of the world. Conversely, the fundraising teams I have spoken with, who are dealing with day to day campaigns and this month’s target pressures, hold the view that the gap between great research and rubber hitting road is simply too wide. And they don’t feel they have the time to be the ones bridging it. So where does the ‘bridge’ come from? What may seem old hat to those familiar with good quality research may never have seen the light of day in a test campaign environment for a jobbing fundraiser. In reality, if great research thinking isn’t translated into practical ideas for testing, it’s going to remain an unrealised opportunity. And this would be a shame as research like this, old hat or not, proven in the USA versus the UK or not, doesn’t seem to have been fully tested here. If it had, fundraisers would be talking about their success in the trade press and on the speaker circuit and we would see more campaigns trying out some of the techniques. My point is simply this; let’s get the interesting thinking out to the coal face more quickly and in as pragmatic a way as possible. Let’s test real-world ideas and see what works for our charities. Some ideas will work and others won’t but for heaven’s sake, let’s not discourage trying. Kevin Baughen is the founder of Bottom Line Ideas (www.bottomlineideas.com) and a volunteer speaker for Cancer Research UK ### By: Redina Kolaneci - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/18/how-use-sex-improve-your-fundraising/#comment-3711 - Published: 2009-07-02T14:34:39+01:00 To be honest it seems to me that doing this kind of research probably cost more than all the donations men have given to impress attractive women 🙂 And probably the charity wii not see another donation from these men because that attractive woman he was trying to impress would stop him from donating. She will get the money from him to buy herself a new pair of Manolo Blahnicks ### By: HowardLake - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/18/how-use-sex-improve-your-fundraising/#comment-3712 - Published: 2015-08-08T10:39:00+01:00 British Heart Foundation’s 2015 research for its Raise Funds Your Way campaign confirms that attractive fundraisers are more likely to elicit a donation: [http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/goodlooking-charity-fundraisers-more-likely-to-receive-donations-10445520.html](http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/goodlooking-charity-fundraisers-more-likely-to-receive-donations-10445520.html) Almost a quarter of men (23 per cent) and 17 per cent women said they would donate if they were trying to impress someone. ### By: HowardLake - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/18/how-use-sex-improve-your-fundraising/#comment-3713 - Published: 2015-08-10T08:57:00+01:00 More evidence on this subject from University of Bristol research which looked at the attractiveness of photos on a JustGiving web page and the donations generated: [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/men-donate-more-to-charity-when-the-fundraiser-is-an-attractive-women-says-study-10182145.html](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/men-donate-more-to-charity-when-the-fundraiser-is-an-attractive-women-says-study-10182145.html)