Posted: March 2nd, 2022

How to Raise Voluntary Giving for Nonprofit Sports

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
How to Raise Voluntary Giving for Nonprofit Sports
Clubs: An Analysis of Factors Influencing Donations
Svenja Feiler • Pamela Wicker • Christoph Breuer
Published online: 8 August 2014
International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2014
Abstract Nonprofit sports clubs generate revenue from a variety of sources. One
of the main income categories is donations. Previous research only analyzed the
amount of money generated through donations, but not the influencing factors. The
purpose of this study is to investigate determinants of donations for nonprofit sports
clubs. The study is based on the public goods theory (Weisbrod in ‘‘The economics
of nonprofit institutions.’’ ‘‘Studies in structure and policy.’’ Oxford University
Press, New York, pp 21–44, 1986) and the contract failure theory (Hansmann in
Yale Law J 89(5):835–902, 1980) and makes use of an unbalanced panel data set
from a nationwide online survey of nonprofit sports clubs in Germany (n = 41,343).
The results show that particularly the provision of elite sport and the promotion of
young talents positively influence the reception of donations. Moreover, sports clubs
caring for social aspects, companionship, and conviviality as core values are able to
generate higher revenues from donations. The same applies to clubs employing paid
staff. Contrary, a commercial orientation was found to have a negative effect.
Re´sume´ Les clubs sportifs a` but non lucratif ge´ne`rent des revenus a` partir de
sources diverses. Parmi celles-ci, les dons constituent l’un des principaux postes de
revenus. Les e´tudes existantes n’analysent que les sommes ge´ne´re´es par les dons,
sans conside´rer les facteurs d’influence. Cette e´tude vise a` rechercher les de´terminants des dons faits a` des clubs sportifs a` but non lucratif. Elle est base´e sur la
the´orie des biens collectifs (Weisbrod 1986) et sur la the´orie de l’e´chec du contrat
(Hansmann 1980). Elle exploite les donne´es d’un panel non compense´ provenant
d’une enqueˆte re´alise´e en ligne au niveau national et portant sur les clubs sportifs a`
but non lucratif en Allemagne (n = 41,343). Les re´sultats indiquent que les faits de
proposer un sport d’e´lite et de promouvoir les jeunes talents influencent
S. Feiler (&) P. Wicker C. Breuer
Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management, German Sport University Cologne,
Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany
e-mail: s.feiler@dshs-koeln.de
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Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239
DOI 10.1007/s11266-014-9489-3