Reputation spillover effects from grant‐providing institutions

Abstract

There is a broad academic discussion about the impact of funding grants from a foundation or a government department on individual support intentions toward the nonprofit organization receiving the grant. However, the role of the grant provider's reputation has frequently been overlooked. In this study, we experimentally tested whether there is a reputation spillover effect of a grant‐providing organization. Based on a real‐life example, we asked citizens to rate their willingness to donate to a nonprofit organization, and we experimentally manipulated the available information on funding sources. We test this for both a government department and a foundation as a grant provider. Our results suggest that not the act of receiving a grant, but the citizens' awareness about the funding organization—at least in the case of a foundation—has an impact on support intentions. In contrast, for a prominent government department as a grant provider, we did not find support for a reputation spillover effect.

Audience success or art for art's sake? Efficiency evaluation of dance companies in the United States

“…It is true, however, that entities who perform best in the three sequences tend to be the most widely recognized companies, which leads to a belief in the enormous power of so‐called star‐companies when it comes to fundraising. It is a kind of reputation spillover effect which can also be found in funding partnership (Willems, Waldner, & Vogel, 2019). Nevertheless, and by way of an additional comment, it should be remembered that, whereas the first and second stages in the dance activity sequence are controlled by management, the third stage is envisaged as a co‐production with the public, who ultimately decide whether or not to attend (De Witte & Geys, 2013).…”

The impact of face‐to‐face street fundraising on organizational reputation

“…The experiment started with an introductory text of two paragraphs (see Figure S3). In the first paragraph, we provided a short description of a fictional human aid organization named “Donors of Hope.” We used a fictional organization to avoid different effects due to previous knowledge (Willems, Waldner, & Vogel, 2019) and provided the same description to every respondent. In the second paragraph, which contained the experimental treatment information, we described the fundraising method that was used to attract donating members, that is, donors that sign up for a long‐term membership with regular donations.…”

“…Our findings show clear differences in the reputation of organizations that engage in face‐to‐face street fundraising versus those that apply letter fundraising. It is for further investigation to find out whether the negative effects of face‐to‐face street fundraising may be moderated by additional information, for example, through media attention or spillover effects from funding partners (e.g., Jones, Cantrell, & Lindsey, 2018; Willems et al, 2019).…”

Essays on Motivation and Leadership in the Public Sector - Habilitation dissertation

“…Article 6 (Willems et al, 2019) states that there is a broad academic discussion about the impact of funding grants from a foundation or government department on individual support intentions toward the nonprofit organization receiving the grant (Lu, 2016). However, the role of the grant provider's reputation has frequently been overlooked.…”