Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2 Submit Assignment

When I began this assignment, I wanted to focus on the segment of people that would be providing the contributions to a nonprofit. At first, I thought this may be hard to find three people that would be willing to share their donating experience. I was surprised to see that I ended up with sixteen people instead of just three that actively donate and were glad to share their experience. This gave me a great idea of why people would want to donate and really showed me there are lots of people out there that would be willing to contribute to a nonprofit under the proper conditions.


The first thing I noticed during my interviews is everyone was wanting to donate for the feel-good factor. People really enjoy the satisfaction it brings them from helping someone else. Many people were apt to donate to charities that were close to their heart. For instance, people who had children were more likely to donate to children’s hospitals. One girl who had a disabled son would choose to donate to helping those with disabilities. Another factor I noticed was donating for convenience. If the donation was a simple as clicking a button or using a drop box many people were very likely to donate. I noticed many of the retired with substantial income were most likely to donate. One man donated from his business for 30 years to a children’s hospital and said he would absolutely do it again. It gave him great pride to be able to contribute to helping save people. One factor I thought was interesting is many people wanted to know how much of the proceeds were going to the actual cause. While many chose to donate to well established companies they would be more likely to donate to those whose larger percentage was going to the cause. Donating to personal charities was popular as many people would donate to someone they had established some sort of connection and relationship with. Another thing I learned is some people were spontaneous donors. For instance, they would randomly donate if asked in a store or online.


The post evaluation for everyone seems to be the emotional fulfillment that comes with helping someone. They know they have made a good decision when they feel good that their contribution will make a difference in the world.


These interviews gave me a lot of information into the purpose behind someone’s reasons for contributing to a nonprofit. I think targeting people in the community that had experience disasters or had someone close to them experience disaster would make them more likely to contribute. I think by making it convenient to donate would give an advantage over some charities. Reaching out to retirees with medium to higher income could help with contributions. I also think establishing a way to recognize people for their contributions would create something intangible and turn it into something tangible. The overall satisfaction from being able to help others is what this nonprofit would be based on.