Open AccessThe success and future of gender‐specific fundraising propositions
Author(s) -
Pidgeon Stephen,
Lockier Pauline
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of nonprofit and voluntary sector marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.398
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1479-103X
pISSN - 1465-4520
DOI - 10.1002/nvsm.6090020102
Subject(s) - cites , argument (complex analysis) , appeal , proposition , conversation , style (visual arts) , test (biology) , social psychology , psychology , raising (metalworking) , focus (optics) , public relations , political science , sociology , linguistics , law , engineering , communication , geography , mechanical engineering , paleontology , philosophy , physics , archaeology , optics , fishery , biology , biochemistry , chemistry
Men and women use language very differently in conversation. They also use different types of information, presented in different ways, to make decisions. And yet in a targeted appeal for support, which is essentially a proposition providing information and seeking a positive decision, no account is taken by charities of the gender of the recipient. This paper argues that all appeals will, in the matter of a few years, be written in gender‐specific style, and cites focus‐group research and a recent direct mail test (producing an 85 per cent uplift in response), as well as extensive literature on the use of language by the sexes, to support this argument.