Personal appeals to male investors can backfire

Women’s reproductive-health ventures face persistent funding gaps, partly because most investors are men who favor ventures aligned with their interests. Research suggests that engaging broader social roles and identities can motivate support for initiatives that do not directly benefit the decision-maker. We therefore test whether relational appeals (asking potential backers to consider the women in their lives) increase male interest. We report on two preregistered field experiments embedded in real fundraising campaigns. One venture, related to a period-care product (N=34,943), solicited funding via emails advertising an equity crowdfunding campaign. The second, related to a contraceptive pill (N=1,805,472), solicited funding via Facebook advertisements. Investor interest was measured based on email or ad click-through, respectively. Across both experiments, relational appeals reduced men’s interest relative to financially focused market-attractiveness appeals (e.g., highlighting the market opportunity). In contrast, though women's interest was systematically higher, it did not differ across appeal types.