Language for Online Fundraising
By Matthew Fang (’25)
Does Language Really Matter?
Yes! An extensive study of crowdfunded projects showed that language accounted for 58.56% of the variance around successful funding (Mitra & Gilbert, 2014). More specifically, the psycholinguistic features of language used in crowdfunded projects have been demonstrated to be influential towards the projects’ success. (Desai et al., 2015). In this article, we will cover a few tips to help strengthen your next online fundraising campaign.
Inclusive vs. Exclusive Language
Let’s start by defining two common types of language used in fundraising messages. Inclusive language is governed by words such as the first-person plural pronoun “we” and the possessive pronoun “our.” Exclusive language is expressed by words like the second-person singular pronoun “you” and the possessive pronoun “your.” Pairing different types of language with different types of messages will significantly change a reader’s intention to donate, as we will see later on.
Gain-Framed Messages vs. Loss-Framed Messages
Next, let’s explore two common types of fundraising messages. Gain-framed messages, or gain-messages, refer to messages that focus on the positive outcomes of donating. For example, “Your donation to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will help prevent pandas from starvation.” Loss-framed messages, or loss messages, refer to messages that highlight the negative outcomes of not donating. For instance, “Without your donation to the WWF, pandas will starve.”
Conclusions
Generally, gain-framed messages can lead to higher donation intention than loss-framed messages; however, different combinations of framing and language use can significantly alter the success of the fundraising message.
Gain-framed messages with exclusive language generate the highest intentions to donate. One reason is that these messages contain a language of hope, which suggests to the readers that their donation carries the power to bring forth positive change. Another reason is that these messages ensure the readers that their donations will be going towards the specified cause.
Loss-framed messages with inclusive language can also lead to intentions to donate. This may be counterintuitive since loss-framed messages generally carry a negative tone. Yet, the inclusive language seems to override the tone’s effect by creating a sense of connection to a larger community, making the reader feel included in the organization’s activity.
Loss-framed messages with exclusive language generate the lowest intentions to donate. Rather than expressing the significance of the readers’ donations, exclusive language in this scenario evokes a feeling of guilt within the reader. It may make the message seem accusatory and make readers think that the organization does not care about its donors.
Creating Your Message: Do’s and Don’ts
Hopefully, that wasn’t too long of a read. To summarize, gain-framed messages with exclusive language are what you ideally want to create, and loss-framed messages with exclusive language are what you want to avoid at all costs. If you really need to use a loss-framed message, definitely write it with inclusive language to ensure a reasonable level of intent.
*A majority of this article was based on the study conducted by Gamze Yilmaz and Kate G. Blackburn as cited below.
Bibliography
Desai, N., Gupta, R., & Truong, K. (2015). Plead or Pitch? The Role of Language in Kickstarter Project Success. 8.
Mitra, T., & Gilbert, E. (2014). The language that gets people to give: Phrases that predict success on Kickstarter. Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531656
Yilmaz, G., & Blackburn, K. G. (2022). How to ask for donations: A language perspective on online fundraising success. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 30(1), 32–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2020.1808660
