Emergency fund‐raising for disaster relief
- 1 December 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Emerald Publishing in Disaster Prevention and Management
- Vol. 9 (5), 352-360
- https://doi.org/10.1108/09653560010361393
Abstract
Two hundred members of the public were interviewed in high street and railway station locations in central London to ascertain the considerations that encourage them to donate generously to a disaster relief fund‐raising appeal. It emerged that the major fund‐raising triggers involved media representations of the indigency of aid recipients, portrayals of people helping themselves, and highly emotive advertising imagery. Although they were potentially patronising and demeaning to disaster victims, such depictions seemingly exerted powerful influences on donation decisions. Factors discouraging donations included media reports of unfair aid distributions, warfare or internal insurrection, and inefficiency in the relief operation. Combined fund‐raising efforts covering several organisations were viewed more favourably than individual charity initiatives. State endorsements of particular campaigns exerted little influence. Some but not all of the variables known to determine levels of donations to charity in general also explained the incidence of donations to disaster relief appeals. However, people with young children gave to disaster appeals more frequently than the rest of the sample, contradicting previous findings in the general (non‐disaster) charity fund‐raising area.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Image Building for Charitable OrganizationsSocial Marketing Quarterly, 2000
- Issues in disaster relief: progress, perpetual problems and prospective solutionsDisaster Prevention and Management, 1999
- Charity involvement and customer preference for charity brandsJournal of Brand Management, 1999
- Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature ReviewJournal of Marketing Management, 1999
- Emergency inter‐organizational relationshipsDisaster Prevention and Management, 1997
- Reflecting on the weaknesses of the international community during the IDNDR: some implications for research and its applicationDisaster Prevention and Management, 1997
- Reconstructing reality: interpreting the aeroplane disaster news storyDisaster Prevention and Management, 1996
- AIDS and the News MediaThe Milbank Quarterly, 1991
- Turning Conflict into Cooperation: Organizational Designs for Community Response in DisastersInternational Journal of Mental Health, 1990
- Determining the Future Policies for Disaster Management in the Southwest PacificDisasters, 1989