Charitable advertising: Examining the effectiveness of genres of charity appeal texts using an eye tracking approach

Humans are inherently altruistic beings. This innate altruism leads them to forego self-interest for others and engage in charitable giving. Today, as charity and NGO,s are facing a shortages in government support and financial resources, they have been inteseted in using cost-effective marketing methods. This research investigates one of the most affordable charity marketing methods: Fundraising Letters and Campaigns. The study aims to help charities attract more donations by determining the framework of Fundraising texts and their effective elements.
The mixed-methods study conducted in qualitative and quantitative phases. Initially, 26 campaigns from 8 charity websites and 18 letters from 5 charity organizations were examined using Genre Analysis. In the quantitative phase, two charity texts were studied by subjects. Ultimately, 7 moves and 21 steps were identified in the letters, and 8 moves and 17 steps were identified in the charity campaigns.
Furthermore, eye-tracking results revealed that the "Soliciting help " move in charity letters and the "introducing charity" move in campaigns have been indentified as Pont of Gaze; thus they are the most important moves in each text. According to the results, the middle paragraph of charity fundraising texts receive more attention than other parts; therefore, it is recommended that important elements be placed in the middle paragraphs of fundraising texts.