One term that is often mentioned with philanthropy is “Fundraising”. Diverse sources have different definitions of fundraising; however, it is generally defined as the process of soliciting charitable or philanthropic giving from benefactors (individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies) for a charity, cause, or another enterprise (Business Dictionary; Oxford Dictionary; Worth, 2017)(3). Fundraising is closely associated with philanthropy. In fact, it is one of the methodologies that philanthropists use to engage benefactors in donating. In other words, if philanthropy is the end result, fundraising acts as the stimulus to yield that result (4).

Fundraising of non-profit organizations (NPOs)

According to the Internal Revenue Service, a non-profit organization (NPO) is defined as “a business that has been granted tax-exempt status because it operates for a social cause and a public benefit. Donations made to an NPO are typically tax-deductible to individuals and businesses that make them, and the non-profit itself pays no tax on the received donations or on any other money earned through fundraising activities.”

Fundraising is no doubt integral to the health and longevity of any NPOs. It is a great opportunity for a non-profit to bring in donations and is an excellent way to raise awareness around a cause or bring in new volunteers.

Fundraising of Vietnam non-profit organizations

Since the launching of the “Doi Moi” (reform) policy in 1986, along with officially becoming a full member of the World Trade Organization in 2007, Vietnam has been more exposed to international business practices; thus, seeing a steady economic development, as well as an increment in the corporate giving and the number of newly-established domestic and international non-profit organizations(5).

Although NPOs are not clearly defined in Vietnamese law as a classifier for organizations and do not enjoy a fully unified legal and regulatory framework, they can be classified into the following forms according to the law: Social relief establishments, Social and charitable funds; Associations, Scientific and technological organizations, and International non-governmental organizations(6).

Philanthropic efforts in Vietnam have primarily been initiated by mass organizations, such as the Fatherland Front, Women’s Union, Youth Union, and Farmers’ Union, etc. In recent years, the emergence of independent NPOs has filled the gaps in meeting untouched social needs(7).

As stated by The Asia Foundation (2012), the main sources of funds donated to NPOs in Vietnam are private citizen contributions, family donations to and volunteerism in community-based organizations located in the countryside, remittances from overseas Vietnamese living abroad, 11 corporations, and foreign funding from bilateral, multilateral, nongovernmental and private voluntary sources. Besides, NPOs raise funds from central and local government projects as well as merchandise sales and service fees.

Methods that are often employed by NPOs to raise funds are the door-to-door solicitation, gala events, TV shows, and sporting events. In recent years, local news media and social networking websites have proved their effectiveness in mobilizing individual giving, particularly among urban residents(8).

To date, much of the research relevant to the topic focused on two aspects, which will be discussed further in the Literature Review section: (1) How NPOs use social media and (2) How social media are utilized for fundraising. However, studies that demonstrate How NPOs are utilizing social media for fundraising are still in their nascent stage. This research hopes to contribute to the current knowledge base of this problem in Vietnam, whose literary works have not yet answered this question, with new empirical data from the existing NPOs in Vietnam.

2. Literature review

Social media has been widely adopted by NPOs worldwide. According to the Global NGOs Technology Report (2019), 90% of NPOs participating in the survey regularly utilize social media to engage their supporters and donors. Specifically, 84% of them choose to use Facebook as their primary social network. Therefore, it is integral to review prior literature regarding the use of social media by NPOs, as well as social media strategies used to raise funds to better understand what key findings were presented in the field.

The use of social media by non-profit organization

Prior works have looked into diverse facets in the utilization of social media. Lovejoy and Saxton (2012) proposed a well-known theoretical framework that was adopted by many publications. To understand how NPOs utilize new media in engaging with core stakeholders and the larger public, the pair initiated a ‘‘Information - Community - Action’’ microblogging message classification scheme and identify that content of NPOs microblogging posts often fell into the three said functions. The researchers also found that “information” and “dialogue” are two integral aspects of social media utilization that make it a strategic and interactive organizational communication and stakeholder engagement tool. While “dialogue” is also essential, “information” is believed to be the “base” form of communication for non-profits. Having a social media presence only is not enough to engage stakeholders and the general public, the type of post plays a vital role in engaging stakeholders. Findings indicated that longer posts and boosted posts are positively associated with audience engagement. In contrast, having many posts is a significant negative predictor of engagement as the audiences may consider it as news bombardment(9).

Then, there were Nah and Saxton (2012) who added insights to identify the determinants of three key facets of social media utilization, namely adoption, frequency of use, and dialogue. In other words, they aimed to understand what drives NPOs to adopt and utilize social media. Thereby, they designed and built a model which in turn brought together four key factors in social media adoption and usage outcomes: organizational communication strategies, internal organization resources and capacities, governance features, and external pressures.

A systematic literature review on how NPOs use social media for fundraising showed the benefits of using the said vehicle. The findings indicated that incremental Transparency and Accountability, Operational, Involvement and Engagement, as well as improved organizational image are the main benefits brought to NPOs through the use of social media (10). Meanwhile, a study by Nguyen (2016) identified the main obstacles of social media to non-profits, specifically in Vietnam, are the threat of poverty porn, backlash, control and measure difficulty, time-consuming, and lack of experience and knowledge about social media. However, both studies agreed that a clear and effective strategy, whether focusing on generic management of social media for NPO’s fundraising or on the management of some specific SM fundraising campaigns, is needed for NPOs to make full use of social media. The strategy should include a clear goal and target audience, the right social media tool, unique content that creates a dialogue with donors and other NPOs, and a plan that fits into organizational goals and objectives

The use of social media for fundraising

Researches on this aspect show the positive influence of social media on fundraising. Findings proved that NPOs who invest more in social media before a fundraising event and whose donors like and share their posts are more successful in their fundraising campaigns(11). The same study also shows evidence of positive associations between fundraising success and an organization’s Facebook network size (number of likes), activity (number of posts), and audience engagement (number of shares), as well as net of the effects of organizational factors including budget size, age, and program service area.

Other research distributes the fundraising success to certain types of causes that one NPO serves. It shows that online donors tend to donate to health charities that reflect immediate needs or benefits to the general public. It is also worth noting that the majority of online donations are typically small(12).

Laurol et al. (2019) stated that most studies in their literature review analysed publicly available social media data, but not internal social media data such as Facebook insights, etc. that might also show relationships between post reach, engagement, and target audiences, as well as inform more proactive social media strategies. The author hopes to fill the gap by attempting to obtain these internal social media data from the two NPOs that this study is going to examine.

Thematic analysis

Thematic analysis methodology was adopted to find the common themes existing in NPOs’ social media activity. Utilizing this methodology helped the author to understand (1) which themes were predominant amongst others through the frequency of use by NPOs, as well as (2) for which themes the audiences expressed their preference through comments and interactions on posts.

To solve the research questions, the author collected Facebook posts from fan pages of the two NPOs, Song Foundation and Tro Ngheo Vung Cao fund, from 2019 through 2020. Specifically, the two following campaigns were chosen after careful consideration: (a) the “Huong ve Mien Trung” campaign of Song Foundation in the last quarter of 2020, raising funds for building flood-resilient housing in Central Vietnam and (b) the 2019 “Tat Nien Com Co Thit,” collecting money for organizing a New Year celebration for underprivileged students in Vietnam Highland regions, started around October 2019 and ended in January 2020. It is noteworthy that the direct fundraising appeals of the 2019 “Tat Nien Com Co Thit” happened during December 2019. However, different fundraising efforts made from October 2019 also contributed to the campaign fund. Hence, posts during the mentioned period were also included.

The final database included hand-picked 181 posts. All the posts created during the two periods of time (October 2019 to January 2020 and October 2020 to December 2020) were gathered manually from the two organizations’ Facebook pages and groups to avoid missing data that may occur when using computer- based data collection tools.

Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase process in conducting TA was adopted. The reason for choosing this approach over others was that it was more suitable for inexperienced researchers like the author to learn and practice TA following these steps.

Generating Initial Codes Searching for Themes Involved Reviewing Theme Defining and Naming themes Producing the Report

Giving recognition and thanks

This category included posts that expressed gratitude and appreciation to volunteers and donors (both individuals and corporates) for their contribution to the “Huong ve mien Trung” and “Tat nien Com Co Thit” campaigns or their participation in fundraising events, and to followers who tuned in live events of the two organizations. Between the three types of Community-functioning Facebook posts, this one was used more frequently, accounting for 80% of the “Community” posts.

Acknowledgment of current and local events

In the case of Song Foundation and Tro Ngheo Vung Cao funds, posts sorted in this category often expressed appreciation towards events that a third party organized to raise money for the two NPOs. The events could happen online, e.g., an online concert named “Voices of Love” to raise money for Song Foundation, or offline, e.g., a Christmas charity running event to fund helping minority ethnic students in need.

This type of post only covered 2% of the total sample (N=4).

Response Solicitation

Response Solicitation is the only type of post with “dialogic messages” recorded in the two previous campaigns. The author found the “dialogic” elements in posts where Song Foundation started a Q&A session on their Facebook page and asked their followers to post questions on the comment section, or where Tro Ngheo Vung Cao funds asked for their online community’s opinions on for which school the NPO should choose to organize that year New-year celebration.

Posts that belonged to this category often attempted to provoke a response or interaction from stakeholders. The category also involved posts that “directly seek for a response, like polls, surveys, contests or request to share the posts to followers’ timeline” (p. 9)(16).

These messages only covered a small proportion of the total posts, four posts, to be specific.

4.5. Action

The primary purpose of posts in this category was to solicit the online community to take action for the organization. The “actions” recorded during the two campaigns could be directly donating money or buying calendars for fundraising, in the case of Tro Ngheo Vung Cao funds, or issuing a call for event attendance. The essences of this function, according to Lovejoy and Saxton (2012), were “promotion” and “mobilization.” Posts belonging to this function accounted for 30% of the posts created.

4.6. The impact of social media in NPOs’ fundraising efforts

The survey targeted two subjects, (1) people who donated/volunteered to NPOs and (2) people who have never donated/volunteered to any NPOs. When dividing respondents into such two groups, the author wanted to test whether social networking sites were the primary source of information and significantly influenced the two groups’ donation behaviour? Knowing this would directly affect non-profits’ fundraising efforts; thus, it is imperative to find out the answer.

When asked about the source of awareness of calling for donations/support information, surprisingly, respondents from both groups stated that “Social networking site of NPOs” is their primary source of awareness, accounting for approximately 74% of total responses from both groups. Although being posted on the same platform, the calling for donations/support information “On social networking sites/forums/websites that do not belong to the said NPOs” hardly reached Facebook users. Of the total sample, only 19% (N=32) of those who donated to an NPO and 16% (N=6) of those who have never donated to any NPOs responded that they saw the said information on these channels.

Among those who donated/volunteered to NPOs, “Recommendation from family members/friends/colleagues” and “Recommendation from a reputable individual” are the following two significant sources of information, comprising 35% and 28% of the total responses, respectively. The remaining information sources, including: “Website of the organization,” “(e-)Newspaper/Magazine,” “Television,” or “Events,” all accounted for less than 15% of the answers.

As for the group who have never donated/volunteered, the second primary source of information was “Television,” with 42% of total responses. Following that, “(e-)Newspaper/Magazine” and “Recommendation from family members/ friends/colleagues” held third place with 21% of the sample. Meanwhile, “Website of the organization,” “Events,” “Recommendation from a reputable individual” all have a small proportion of responses.

Concerning the level of trust in information posted on NPOs’ social media, it is noticeable that most subjects had a neutral attitude to somewhat trusted the said source of information, accounting for 37% and 43% of the total responses, respectively. Fewer respondents placed high trust (14%) in the information posted on the said channel. Very few respondents (2%) responded that they distrusted the information, and only 3% of them strongly distrusted it.

Respondents were also asked what content they were interested in the most when browsing the social networking page of an NPO fundraiser. The top 3 topics of interest to them were “Information about individuals/communities in need and Content calling to spread the donation message or call to donation/support action” (78%), “Information about the organization (History, Vision and Mission, Goals, Website, Contact information)” (63%) and “Update on organizational activities after receiving donations/support from donors” (59%).

At the same time, they were asked about the types of content formats they reckon that NPOs needed to implement on their social networking page. “Photos” was the leading content format in respondents’ minds (78%), followed by “Video/ GIF” and “Livestream” with a thin gap between the two formats, comprising 37% and 40% of the sample, respectively.

5. Discussion

Non-profit organizations are using social media increasingly to attract and retain donors by its contagious social effect. Social media has proved its efficiency in reaching a broad audience base within a short amount of time, thereby being time-saving and economical for fundraising communication efforts of NPOs and boosting donations. Around the world, many NPOs have raised funds successfully thanks to the contagion of social networking sites. One of them is The Humane Society of the United States, which raised $200,000 in 2013 (about 5% of the donor funding) by utilizing their Facebook cover photo integrated with a clear call-to- action and interacting actively with donors on their Facebook.

This study addressed the use of social media and its impact in fundraising by Vietnam NPOs with the hope to contribute to current research situation on this issue.

Song Foundation is an Informational organization while Tro Ngheo Vung Cao fund is more of a Promoter and Mobilizer.

From the study results, it can be concluded that the social media activities of the Song Foundation and the Tro Ngheo Vung Cao funds during their two campaigns aligned with the framework of Love Joy and Saxton: Information - Community - Action.

“Update on organizational activities after donations/support from donors.” All three factors are included in the Love Joy and Saxton’s “Information - Community - Action” model (2012). Therefore, in order to be able to raise funds effectively, an NPO must adhere to the microblogging message classification scheme strictly and distribute posts of the 12 categories to best suit their organization.

Besides three notable types of content that NPOs should focus on when utilizing social media for fundraising purposes, this study also sheds light on which content formats are needed to lead to stakeholder engagement and gain their trust for the organizations. The survey results of this study aligned with the previous research of Carboni and Maxwell (2015), saying that ”photos are significantly more likely than other types of posts to generate support” (p.25)(19). Besides images, video and surprisingly live stream are two content formats that NPOs should emphasize when building a fundraising communication strategy.

This study’s most obvious limitation is the demographic information of the sample group. Since the author adopted the non-probability sampling method, most respondents resided in the city where the author lives, Hanoi, and the typical age group is 18-24, which represented people that the author was the most likely accessible to. One part of the reason was that when the author posted the survey in charity /non-profit organizations’ Facebook group, not many group members were willing to complete the survey. In addition, the short time frame to gather data is also a factor that contributed to the limit of the sample. The sample, therefore, limits the generalizability of the study results.

The use of Facebook for gathering data was somewhat consuming since the author needed to scroll down the timeline to the 2019 timestamp of the two NPOs’ Facebook page and group to read and screenshot posts.

In addition, this study only surveyed two non-profit organizations that the author considers typical in Vietnam, so it may not represent the results of all organizations present in Vietnam.