# Research shows charities losing out by not tailoring campaigns to social classes

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/08/02/research-shows-charities-losing-not-tailoring-campaigns-social-classes/
- Published: 2017-08-02T09:40:26+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Charities are losing out on potential donations by not tailoring their campaigns
to individual social classes, according to a research paper.**

DaHee Han, Assistant Professor of Marketing at [Desautels Faculty of Management](http://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/desautels-faculty-management),
McGill University and colleagues Ashok K. Lalwani and Adam Duhachek, considered 
individuals’ perception of their place in the social hierarchy and the degree to
which they accept this.

They found that on the low end of the social scale, people are more likely to be
moved by the need to help others, while people at higher social strata are more 
likely to react positively to ads that emphasise how good they will feel after giving.

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In an article on the paper published in [_Charity Times_](http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/fundraising-social-class.php),
Han said:

> “Although logic would suggest that those who perceive themselves as higher in 
> the social hierarchy would be more likely to donate to charity, our research suggested
> the opposite. In fact, we found that people who consider themselves to be on lower
> societal levels are more inclined to give charitably in order to endorse societal
> equality.”

According to Han, this is because those lower in the social hierarchy tend to be
more concerned about others and are therefore more motivated to help the less fortunate,
while those at the top are more motivated by campaigns that communicate the benefit
to themselves of helping others.

The research found that fundraising campaigns fail to consider donors’ motives and
are therefore unable to appeal to them, missing out on donations as a result. In
order to increase donations then, the research suggests that charities should pay
more attention to the motivations and class of potential donors when planning advertising
campaigns and target them at these demographics.

 * **[Civil Society Futures inquiry call for contributions](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/08/14/civil-society-futures-inquiry-call-contributions/)**(
   14 August 2017)
 * **[Macmillan top for satisfying donors in Institute of Customer Service report](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/12/28/macmillan-top-satisfying-donors-institute-customer-service-report/)**(
   28 December 2017)
 * **[Charitable giving makes people more attractive to others, data shows](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/02/14/charitable-giving-makes-people-attractive-others-eharmony-justgiving-shows/)**(
   14 February 2018)

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