Israeli researchers delving into the psychology of giving and what attracts a donor to a specific organization, have donated the fruits of their work to SOS! Surveying groups in Israel and Greece, they offered a small payment to responders and then suggested they could donate the sum back to an organization. They chose SOS because of its important work in Israel and all over the world.
As a direct result of their research SOS Children's Villages is the recipient of NIS 6,000. Ahituv Gershinsky , Director: “We were very pleased to be part of this interesting project, but didn't think respondents would return their payment for participating as a
donation. Well, we were pleasantly surprised. We are grateful to Danit and Liat and the MIDGAM PROJECT WEB PANEL for the opportunity to receive help for the children at risk in SOS villages."
The research partners, Dr. Danit Ein-Gar of the Marketing Department, Recanati Graduate School of Business at Tel Aviv University, and Dr. Liat Levontin of the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, released a
series of comprehensive surveys aiming at demystifying the formula according to which people give money to charities.
They concluded that organizations need to consider their audience's psychological distance to the charity to determine the most effective giving campaign. They must determine whether to present to the donor a
focus on the recipient of the service via a personalized message (e.g. "victim" stories) or to use a more general approach. The decision is influenced by the differences in the target population vis-a-vis their relation to the “victim population," as well as the
duration of the campaign.
The conclusions of the study are pertinent to non-profits which are constantly seeking a magic formula in their campaigning strategies. “We have a profound interest in the findings of this survey in order to understand how to improve our fundraising efforts. This will take some hard
thinking. However, in contrast, not much thinking is needed to realize the immediate impact their donation has on the wellbeing of our children," adds Gershinsky with a smile.