EXPRESS: Too Painful to Donate: Why Don’t People Donate to Critical Illness Campaigns?

Charitable donations are increasingly shifting to online fundraising platforms, where numerous campaigns are displayed simultaneously. This research examines the role of campaign titles in attracting online traffic in this competitive environment, focusing specifically on a major category of medical fundraising. While fundraisers commonly include the names of critical illnesses in campaign titles (critical illness titles), our findings suggest that this emotion-laden driver can negatively impact donation performance. A series of seven studies—combining secondary data, field and controlled experiments—provides robust evidence for this undesirable critical illness title effect. Moreover, three studies offer mediation and moderation evidence showing that anticipated distress drives this effect. Donors tend to avoid critical illness title campaigns, opting instead for alternatives that still allow them to express empathy. However, this effect diminishes when there is a non-distress cue or when the alternatives are non-justifiable. This research contributes to the literature on charitable crowdfunding, prosocial behavior, and title effect, offering important practical implications for fundraisers.