An exploration of charity sport event donor perceptions of online peer-to-peer fundraising mechanisms

Abstract

ABSTRACT The employment of online peer-to-peer fundraising has become a critical aspect of the charity sport event experience. Charity sport event participants are encouraged and often requiredto fundraise as part of their involvement. Within this fundraising, participants increasingly use online peer-to-peer fundraising to solicit donations. The current research examines online peer-to-peer fundraising from the perspective of charity sport event donors. Guided by the diffusion of innovation theory and sociological approaches to technology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who had made an online donation in support of a charity sport event participant in the previous 12 months (N= 24). Four themes emerged from the interviews: technological detachment, technology eases pressure, saturated market, and cause integrity. These themes highlight concerns with the relative advantage inherent to online peer-to-peer fundraising as well as the importance of addressing technological adoption as a social process between users and technologies. The findings provide implications for event managers and charity managers to empower fundraisers to engage further with prospective donors through both online and in-person communication. HIGHLIGHTS Online peer-to-peer fundraising within charity sport events is investigated. Charity sport event donor perspectives are solicited through semi-structured interviews. Four themes emerged from the data suggesting some receptivity along with apprehensions towards the number of solicitations and causes. Charity sport event managers should empower and educate fundraisers and donors.