Rethinking non-profit brands through a volunteer lens: time for B2V

What is it about?

Many non-profit organisations (NPOs) deliver their services and mission through volunteers. Brand has been shown to be a powerful influence on the decision to volunteer. What was not known was the role that brand plays in volunteer choice between NPOs. Understanding this enables NPOs to be more effective at attracting the volunteers they need, particularly given limited budgets. Using Framework Analysis with a large qualitative sample, this paper contributes to that gap in knowledge. The research identifies three constructs driving volunteer choice of NPOs, sources of Brand Knowledge, level of Brand Engagement, and the behavioural process of choice, labelled Brand Discovery. Through exploring the relationship between these constructs, the study points to significant implications for NPOs for volunteer recruitment, importance of brand presence, and competitive set.

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Why is it important?

The study makes several contributions to theory and practice. It extends volunteer motivation theory to examine non-profit brand choice. It builds on Symbolic Consumption Theory and Decision-Making Theory to define patterns of volunteer decision-making behaviour. It describes automatic, explicit, or considered decision-making despite high-involvement behaviour. As a result, the research calls for a new perspective on non-profit brands when seen through a volunteer lens, described as Business to Volunteer (B2V).