Categorizing Donor Engagement Levels: Scale Development and Tests

Charities today are faced with the difficult task of attracting more individual donors than ever before. Yet knowledge about how to influence an individual's intention to donate is limited (Bennett & Savani, 2003). It is recognized that many factors influence an individual's donation behaviour, but it is not clear how these factors work together to cause specific donation behaviour. This thesis proposes a model to address this gap in the donation behaviour literature. It also recommends the use of engagement, rather than commitment, to define donor association. Finally, it develops and tests a donor engagement scale that allows for donor categorization based on varying engagement levels. Data was gathered from a sample of 221 respondents and analyzed using factor analysis and latent class analysis. This scale has obvious practical implications for non profit organizations as it can assist them in their fundraising efforts. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.