Researcher Studies Nostalgia as Trigger for Giving

Tugging at potential donors’ memories can prompt them to open their wallets for a cause, according to research by an Old Dominion University professor who is now taking his study to England, reports Third Sector, an online news source.

John Ford, who teaches marketing and international business at the Virginia school, will develop a scale for British charities to measure how the evoking of certain emotions and memories affects the tendency to give. “We think nostalgia might get through to people when other things don’t,” Mr. Ford said.