The identification theory: A quantitative study of women's charitable giving motivation

Abstract

This quantitative research study examined differences in women’s giving motivation in a large membership based nonprofit across 3 types of women. The theoretical framework was based on the identification theory that postulates an individual‘s personal motivation to give was directly correlated to self-identification with an organization. The findings of this study indicated that overall 89% of the 855 respondents donated to another nonprofit with only 14% donating to the selected membership based nonprofit. As boundaries between nonprofit revenue sources and philanthropy are increasingly fluid, our theoretical understanding as well as our empirical research on fund development must expand to encompass these new fundraising strategies. The study summarizes the extant empirical literature on nonprofit financial development programs and compares this research to emerging work on women’s motivation for giving. Drawing on this literature, the study specifically calls for research on nonprofit fundraising that (a) gives greater attention to the links between volunteerism, identification and women’s giving motivation, (b) target marketing efforts of volunteerism and philanthropy to members with a bachelor’s or higher educational level, and (c) the data suggests the nonprofit sector should focus their efforts on approaches that deepen identification with the female donor base through programs that allow; service on boards, ongoing volunteer activities that change lives and more frequently asking for giving of financial resources.