How could an international NPO’s China branch attract more individual donors from the Chinese working age segment? 

I

Organisations are facing more competition to attract potential donors especially in markets like China where consumers are not accustomed to donating to NGO’s as compared to mature markets from developed countries including the United States or the United Kingdom.

The question investigated in this report is, “How could an international NPO’s China branch attract more individual donors from the Chinese working age segment?”

A conservation-focused international NGO has been identified as the sample of this paper. This NGO currently identifies individual donors as an essential element of its charity-operation after a market research that focused on other NPO’s in China’s donor-base building strategies, but its social marketing has been overall ineffective due to the lack of breadth of promoting its organisation to those donors, in other words, targeting and positioning. 

While external factors include the sample population’s concern for transparency and corruption, an enhanced segmentation and targeting approach can reach out to a larger individual donor base. It is recommended that international NGO’s and NPO’s approach its targeted segment on trending social media, and focusing on internal strengths when promoting.

II

In this project, both primary and secondary research methods will be used in order to form an objective conclusion and recommendation that will be valuable to organisational management. Two interviews are conducted to get the organisation administrators’ perspectives, the first being a preliminary interview to investigate the operational organisation’s current position in identifying, segmenting, targeting and positioning to individual donors, while the second being  a more detailed Questions and Answers session.

Primary and secondary research have both been instrumental in reaching the conclusions and recommendations. While the paper has a central emphasis on primary research through interviews, E-mail exchanges, and questionnaires, the process of writing it has also demanded secondary sources including scholarly papers on individual donors, business and management textbooks, organisation websites and annual reports. 

Theoretical frameworks including donation as a source of finance, SWOT and PESTEL analysis, and De Bono’s six thinking hats will be used.

Several limitations are anticipated. First of all, the NGO under investigation may prefer to keep certain aspects, especially financial figures, confidential. This may become a drawback to detailed analysis on the implications of the decision the business needs to make about using the STP approach to attract more individual donors from China who are aged between 25 and 45. Secondly, the scope of the sample population involved in the questionnaire, though chosen according to the organisation’s intended segment chart, may be limited since such population may not be wholly representative of the segment’s general attitude towards individual donation. Like other primary research approaches, questionnaires are time-consuming and it cannot be determined whether the interviewees respond honestly. Last but not least, this NGO’s China branch has not published the 2012 Annual Report, thus data used may not be as recent as desired. 

III

Some of the findings include,

1. Majority of the sample who fit into the segment use We Chat as a primary form of social media, which the NGO that is researched in this project has not created a profile on. 
2. Majority of interviewees are willing to donate through purchasing ‘green’ merchandise products, while others prefer cash or online payments. 
3. Reasons for unwillingness to donate include concerns for transparency, corruption, and that it is the government’s duty to protect the environment for the people. 
4. Generally, after a thorough introduction of the NGO’s mission, the sample population became more willing to donate.

To analyse the above findings, I applied theories and tools below.

De Bono’s Thinking Hats

Positivity

1. Most of the interviewees are willing to donate and are aware of  the necessity of living a “green lifestyle”. 

2. The executive team of the NGO agreed that the purpose of having individual donors is not only another source of finance for the organisation’s operational and educational expenditures, but also a way of raising awareness.

Negativity

1. The NGO’s current attempt to build an individual donor base in China has not been able to position to the targeted segment as anticipated. 

2. So far, there is no clear timeline apart from the realisation that this task should be long-term and prioritised.

1. External factors including China’s political climate and social trend cannot be controlled by the organisation. 
2. It is demanding to create a trend of donating to environmental protection organisations where the need may not seem as urgent as that of a disaster relief agency.

Emotions / Judgements

Overall optimistic based on the NGO’s current realisation of the significance of individual donors and attempts to segment, target and position to them, yet getting a larger potential donor base requires more careful marketing planning. STP cannot be the only solution due to the novelty of the concept in the China market and political factors such as lack of government support and rumour about corruption.

Solutions

Adjust segmentation / positioning and (social) marketing mix: relevant aspects from the marketing mix are identified below, as part of the positioning adjustments.

SEGMENTATION

TARGETING

PRODUCT

PLACE

PROMOTION

Thinking process and general analysis

1. Data collected suggests that the NGO has been able to promote its brand to individuals who are directly involved with its organisation, but not otherwise. 

2. Majority of the sample population are willing to donate upon a closer introduction of the NPO’s mission and projects. 

3. The current targeting and positioning approaches are insufficient, and there are areas for growth as identified above.

SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of NGO’s position in attracting individual donors from the chosen segment in the China market

STRENGTHS (INTERNAL)

-International organisation with a globally consistent brand image, differentiating the organisations from Chinese NGO’s and NPO’s.

-International celebrity endorsement may be more effective than having a national celebrity in an advertising campaign to attract more potential donors.

WEAKNESSES (INTERNAL)

-Individual donation through the STP approach is a new area that the NPO’s China branch is not familiar with or experienced in. Thus, it is hard to be successful in fundraising attempts from individual donors right away

-May depend on individual orgnisations. For a youth conservation organisation, it is challenging to attract the working age segment since adults are not directly involved in the projects or activities organised by the NPO and / or NGO.

OPPORTUNITIES (EXTERNAL: PESTEL)

-Technology offers a platform for people to donate online. Although from the survey, it is not the most desired form of donation, it is appealing to some people as a fast and convenient method

-China’s pollution levels is an increasing concern since already. Environmental issues might raise more concern by the government and individuals who will potentially support environmental NGO’s and NPO’s.

THREATS (EXTERNAL: PESTEL)

-It is uncommon that the government offers sources of finance to global conservation NGO’s although potential individual donors sometimes assume that the government plays a larger role in supporting such organisations and thus donate less or none

-With the economic crisis and shadow banking in China, people’s expenditures may be spent less on donations

-Those who follow social trends may find it untrendy to donate to NGO’s and NPO’s, since society has little emphasis on those types of donations

-Environmental protection may not seem as urgent a cause as disaster relief, for which social networkers  usually donate within 1 week or even 48 hours; from the survey above, people rate conservation relatively insignificant

-People may fear corruption or other transparency issues in China, where such scandals occur within NGO’s and NPO’s

Further Discussion: The general STP approach planned by the NGO is headed towards a clear direction that is proven to be potentially effective in reaching a larger individual donor base. However, the internal weaknesses and external threats as analysed above are hardly manageable by the organisation’s China branch alone.

IV

• The investigation demonstrates that the NPO’s China branch should partly adjust its STP approach to attract more individual donors from the Chinese working age segment. 
• The organisation’s current STP approach has been essential in getting more individual donors.
• Although individual donations have currently taken only 1.33% of the organisation’s total annual funding, they are significant in meeting NGO’s and NPO’s mission of getting individuals involved in shaping a better future.

It is recommended that: 

SEGMENTATION - Continue identifying the Chinese middle to upper class working age population as potential donors. In addition to the organisation’s plans by far, segment population according to the extent they know the NPO’s and NGO’s China branch as an organisation.
 

TARGETING - Increase the strength of Electronic Marketing (‘E-Marketing’) by starting to promote the ‘Donate’ Page, introduce the conservation merchandise which people can purchase as a way of donation, and start posts in popular social media sources like We Chat. For people who know the NPO’s and / or NGO’s well, whether due to company or children, friends or relatives’ involvement, avoid lengthy descriptions of the organisation and briefly state how donations will be directed towards the organisation’s operations. For those who are unfamiliar with the NGO, provide more details about its projects, trustworthiness, brand concepts, etc. Emphasise on the reliability of the NPO as a global organisation, and promote elements of the marketing mix (summarised below) for instance.

PRODUCT - A conservation advocacy organisation, as an example of an international NGO, focuses on youth empowerment and conservation education. This is a social product that benefits the society as a whole.
 

PLACE - No complicated distributional channels are involved. The less distributional channels, the more direct and less costly.
 

PROMOTION - Through presence on social medias; psychological or cost leadership approach in selling the NPO’s merchandise, etc.