Many fundraisers can attest to the power of social norms. In both anecdotes and previous research, we can see a clear link between social norms — behaviors that are common, valued and accepted by others — and charitable giving. Put simply: when you see someone donate, you’re more likely to donate yourself.
But what about causes or organizations with a smaller donor base? How can charitable causes with lower visibility inspire donors to give — and to give more? To answer these questions, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) explored the intersection of social psychology and philanthropy in our latest report, titled “Encouraging Giving to Women’s & Girls’ Causes: The Role of Social Norms.”
The research focused on women’s and girls’ causes, as nonprofits in this sector typically face unique challenges. Obtaining support can be difficult for these organizations; for example, research tells us that men typically give to women’s and girls’ causes at significantly lower levels than women.
Using women’s and girls’ causes as a model, we explored how social norms affect giving and whether that influence differs by gender. The report offers several key findings that fundraisers can leverage to tap into social norms — a powerful fundraising force.
The link between social norms and charitable giving is strong.
The research confirmed that both women and men are highly influenced by social norms. When people believe that others are interested in giving to women’s and girls’ causes, they have greater intentions to donate to these causes themselves. This is true for both female and male donors.
We’ve seen this come to life through the power of crowdfunding campaigns. Collective giving platforms create more visibility for donors’ behaviors, which can lead to “snowballing” or “bandwagon” effects in giving. Facebook Fundraisers are a great example, too. Just last summer, a couple on Facebook famously raised over $15 million dollars in less than a week. By tapping into both current events and the shareability of social media, the viral campaign became the highest-grossing fundraiser to ever be on Facebook. Giving inspires more giving, especially when you see your friends making donations.
Fundraising benefits from emphasizing the rising popularity of giving.
The research demonstrated that not all social norm messages are created equal. Focusing on the rising popularity of women’s and girls’ causes increased people’s intentions to donate compared to focusing solely on current levels of giving.
To put the research into action, fundraisers can create messages that emphasize the positive, rising trends in giving. For example, describe potential donor contributions as part of a “growing movement” or as an effort that is “gaining momentum.” Instead of highlighting recap numbers from donation campaigns, you can instead include real-time updates on fundraising progress.
Women and men react differently to social norms messaging.
Building on previous WPI research, this report affirmed that women and men differ in how they respond to messaging. For women, giving to women’s and girls’ causes is strongly tied to their perception of whether other women give to these causes. For men, their giving was tied to their perception of both women’s and men’s giving.
For women’s and girl’s causes, which typically see lower engagement levels from men, it may be especially useful to highlight testimonials from male donors. In practice, this might look like asking a male board member to write a LinkedIn post about why he supports your organization, including men in your online images or spotlighting quotes from male donors as part of a social media series. Fundraisers from all causes can apply this “visibility” strategy: in order to reach populations that give less frequently, try featuring testimonials or endorsements from a diverse mix of donors.
While charitable giving is often perceived as a highly personal experience, it’s critical for fundraisers to understand how much social influence plays into donations. Giving behavior varies between women and men — but both genders are receptive to the power of social norms messages.
For more information on how to incorporate gender differences into your fundraising strategy, explore the Women’s Philanthropy Institute’s growing body of research.
This resonates with me and my donor base. I have notices many of the younger donors are keeping their own separate checking accounts and the men are giving to one charity as the women are giving to a charity that relates to them. Great article.
I especially appreciate the comments on how messaging affects men and women differently. Thank you!
Thank you for summarizing this research!
This snapshot makes the research a little more accessible for putting the evidence into action. Thank you!
Want to send this on to my development office. Thank you!
Interesting – and a lot to think about.
Great article! Very interesting information.
Interesting info and something to keep in mind.
Very interesting!
Another important part of social norms is sharing about your own personal giving commitment during an ask conversation or presentation.
very interesting
Great points!
Thank you. I don’t think that most of us take these ideas into consideration when doing fundraising and we should.
Great information and tips! Thanks!
Good information!
Agree – you absolutely have to look at social pressure to make donations in addition to the personal side of things!
Thank you, interesting.
Agree with a lot, except over-simplifying the challenges of gender-causes giving. One can only hope that peer pressure would increase giving of a man to women’s causes, or an American to International causes, but the statistics and studies don’t seem to agree with the hope.
Like the idea of focusing on a “growing movement” instead of hard numbers.
This is something that advertising has been playing on since the advent of ads. It’s probably a good idea to cater to these norms, but it’s also a slippery slope. Playing
Good information!
Interesting!
I agree men and women certainly think differently even if they feel the same way about an organization.
Really interesting read! I appreciate seeing this all summarized on one spot.