Relational marketing as fundraising strategy: the case of the Vera Cruz Social Center

Abstract

The organizations that are within Social Economy, very State dependent have the financial perspective amongst their biggest issues. With the financial down flow, their survival is very much at stake. Several authors are in favor of applying concepts of relational marketing within nonprofit organizations (OSFL in Portuguese). In fact, they appear as a response to the need of fundraising and customer loyalty on behalf of the donor companies and long-term relationship. However, it is important to ascertain the level of the existing relationship between these two sectors as well as social responsibility induced motivations in companies that reside in Aveiro.

This project is based on the actual literature and although the scarcity of the existing literature regarding relational marketing in nonprofit organizations, it aims to generate knowledge around this specific theme and answer to questions such as success factors in the dual relationship companies - nonprofit organizations the way that communication promotes fund raising and customer loyalty. Accordingly, this project fits the descriptive study case criteria, and for that matter the study will use a qualitative approach and a nonprobabilistic convenient sampling method using semi-structured interviews. The investigation evolves three studies with three samples, in a total of 24 respondents, namely 8 from nonprofit organizations and 16 companies.

The main results of this study are:

Study 1: nonprofit organizations appeal more frequently to small and medium companies because they are more easily reached and closer to the community; the supplying companies of the nonprofit organizations are the first to be contacted by these; as well as poor developed relationships and communication with the companies

Study 2: Companies tend to collaborate punctual and informally and they do so in a philanthropic motivational way, valuing non-material benefits. In the case of small and medium companies, personal contacts assume special importance in the placement of donations.

Study 3: Credibility, corporate imaging and mission and values alignment constitute relational facts of success.