Perceived fear, empathy and financial donations to charitable services

Charities are non-profit services that address diverse social needs. As securing financial donations is critical to their continued operation, they engage in a range of fund-raising activities. Central to successful fund-raising is understanding what motivates people to give money. Thus, this research investigates the role of donors’ perceived fear and empathy, and how these influence the size of self-reported financial donations. Findings from the initial qualitative study (n = 32) informed the subsequent national quantitative main study (n = 400). Logistic regression revealed perceived fear and empathy as significant predictors, with perceived fear playing a lesser role and empathy playing a greater role in the self-reported donation of larger amounts of money to charities. These findings can assist charities with maximising their fund-raising efforts considering the growing competition for donors’ dollars, enabling them to provide a range of services which benefit society.