Online Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations via Social Media Marketing: A Critical Success Factors Analysis in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

Abstract

Despite its relevance for nonprofit and fundraising practices, there is no evidence of the drivers of nonprofit social media marketing success. We address this research gap by empirically identifying the critical success factors in nonprofit social media marketing using structural equation modeling to analyze data from 116 social media marketing professionals in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Disaggregate analysis confirms seven success factors, while the more holistic aggregate analysis confirms three factors: Community and Dialog Orientation, Quality of Content Implementation, and Organizational Framework. We use importance-performance map analysis to provide an additional performance dimension and identify the most crucial levers of nonprofit social media marketing success. Measures of Community and Dialog Orientation prove to be the most important. This study contributes to theoretical understanding, and the managerial implications benefit an understanding of which measures NPO marketeers or fundraising professionals should prioritize to increase success.