Giving Donors Fewer Options Spurs Gifts at a Campaign’s End, Study Finds

As charities seek to wrap up a fundraising drive, they would be wise to offer donors one way to give rather than lots of options that could cause them to pause too long to deliberate, says a Stanford University marketing professor who just published her latest in a series of studies about how to motivate giving.

In the beginning of any campaign for money or for goods, it’s best to offer multiple ways to donate, says Szu-chi Huang, assistant professor of marketing at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, who studied donors to a blood drive. But when the campaign is about three-quarters of the way to the goal, it’s better to guide people toward taking only one action.

“What we found is that in the beginning, offering options signals to the public that the campaign can be successful” because there are a number of ways to reach the goal, says Ms. Huang.

Late in a campaign, though, it’s better to simplify the message.

“That actually helps motivate people,” she says. “What it does is minimize hesitation and deliberation. People therefore don’t need to stop and make a decision.”

Ms. Huang says her previous studies suggested that new charities and small ones might want to wait longer to limit options—until they are 90 percent of the way to their goal. The reason: Donors are less certain those groups will reach their goal, so they wait till the drive is closer to success.

There is one exception to her advice, she says: Charities with a lot of longtime donors may find that their supporters don’t like multiple options at all.

“They usually know the campaign can be successful,” she says. “A single pathway will probably work better.”

The results of the study were published in the December issue of The Journal of Consumer Research.