Addressing Funding Issues for Danish Mental-Health NGOs

Purpose – Research has shown that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often fail to appreciate that in their market, donors represent clients. Moreover, the unstable income characteristics of NGOs emphasize the importance of conducting market analysis specific to such organisations. This paper aims to identify key factors that influence fundraising success for mental-health NGOs and determine the most advantageous fundraising approach based on a mixed-methods-study that encompass a literature review, two surveys and a case study.

Design/methodology/approach - Based on a structured literature review, the most important factors affecting NGO fundraising are unified into a decision-making framework. This framework is tested using a triangulation approach by combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The former based on a general survey and the latter based on a case study.

Findings - The results highlight 15 key factors determining the optimal approach for mental-health NGOs when fundraising in Denmark. Practical implications - The decision-making framework can be used to assess the most advantageous fundraising approach based on a variety of internal and external circumstances.

Originality/value - While private firms develop exhaustive market analyses, NGOs often lack analyses to cope with fluctuating environments and changing customer needs. This paper addresses this gap by identifying key factors that determine an optimal fundraising approach and proposes a novel decision-making framework for practitioners.