Does shared experience always solicit more donations? It depends on where you stand

Nonprofits design solicitations to improve monetary donations and support for the cause. Using different solicitation appeals, we investigated the influence of combining hypothetical and perspective spatial distance on donation amount and willingness to support the cause. Three studies evaluated evoking construal fit using an image to manipulate participants’ perspective spatial distance and a written scenario describing a victim’s response to distress to manipulate hypothetical distance based upon a donor’s shared experiences. Results concluded that donors favor solicitation appeals where the victim confronts challenges with an optimistic mentality instead of a feeling of negativity. Mentalities that are cognitively more difficult for donors to imagine due to a lack of shared experiences, which we use as a proxy for hypothetical distance (i.e., high construal) and, therefore, more worthy of donations and support. When an image on the solicitation is perceived to be spatially close (i.e., low construal), the main effect attenuates due to construal fit. The current research contributes to construal level theory by evaluating construal fit’s application to solicitation, with practical use for cause marketing and the designing of solicitation appeals.