Introduction
The problem the client of the Epilepsy Foundation wants to address is the demographic imbalances of the donors to the charity organization. Most current donors are comprised of the aging population, mainly female. Having a narrow donor population thus puts the client at a greater risk of reduced donations due to natural attrition (Greenhalgh & Montgomery, 2020). The foundation wants this issue addressed to ensure that the organizational programs remain sustainable over the medium and long term. The best way to do this would be to initiate campaigns that attract younger populations and males to the contributing pool.
Parties Affected
Parties Directly Affected
The Epilepsy Foundation
Several parties are affected by the prevailing problem at the Epilepsy Foundation of gender imbalances. The first and most directly affected demographic is the foundation itself. The impact of the reduction of funding as the donor population for the organization reduces will be great and will adversely affect the core activities of the charity organization.
The foundation relies on the contributions of members of the public to fund its programs that seek to eliminate epilepsy, pay employees who support the organization’s activities, and finance research and development projects to address the health challenge. With the foundation relying on the aging population, whose earning power and population size are expected to decrease daily, the charity organization will need more funds to finance its vision and mission.
People with Epilepsy
The world, particularly Australia, does not have shortages of people suffering and even dying from epilepsy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2023), around 50 million people globally have epilepsy, making it the most common neurological disease in the world. Epilepsy is a major challenge in Australia, with one in every 50 people suffering from the disease (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2022).
The organization’s core purpose is to support people living with this condition in Australia and beyond, and a lack of sufficient funding will result in the group being unable to get quality care. The families and individuals living with the condition will also not get the required education to manage the condition better. A decrease in funding due to reducing the main contribution base of older women will directly impact people with epilepsy. The level of impact of the problem will be high for this demographic and could result in increased morbidity and mortality rates.
Young Donors
Young donors represent a small group of contributors to the Epilepsy Foundation. However, the problem of reducing donations from the older female population due to natural attrition will make it necessary for younger donors to increase their contributions. The organization will be forced to ask the existing younger donors to try to convince their peers of the importance of donating towards putting epilepsy to an end, thus directly impacting them. The organization may also have to employ younger influencers to convince the younger demographic of the foundation’s missions and objectives and convince them to support its initiative.
The organization must be optimistic about the younger donors as studies show that younger donors are more likely to be enrolled in monthly donation programs than the average donor population (Konstantinou & Jones, 2022). Therefore, addressing the problem may increase the population of younger donors in Australia. The level of impact for the younger donors will be low as they will just be asked kindly to contribute more by their own will.
Parties Indirectly Affected
Employers and schools
The Epilepsy Foundation has formed strategic partnerships with schools and educational bodies on how best to accommodate people with epilepsy. Epilepsy is caused by repeated seizures that are caused by, among other factors, physical injuries, stroke, and increased stress (Galovic et al., 2021). Through their research and knowledge, the foundation ensures that employers provide good support to their employees, thus reducing instances of epilepsy. Epilepsy affects people of all ages; therefore, children are affected to the same degree as adults. The client ensures that teachers know well about this condition so that they can provide preventive and mitigative measures whenever it arises in their students.
The reduced funding to the organization will result in the workplaces and the schools needing to be more informed on the issue, thus less accommodating to people living with the condition. Attracting younger donors to the mission will indirectly boost the quality of services offered to this underprivileged demographic in the workplace and schools. The level of impact for the schools and the workplace organizations will be low as they have only a tiny percentage of people living with epilepsy.
The Community, Corporate, and Governmental Entities
Other parties that will be influenced by the problem of reduced funding due to the attrition of the main contributing demographic will be the community, corporate organizations, and governmental entities. The Epilepsy Foundation plays a critical role in mitigating the impacts of the condition by increasing the community members’ understanding of the issue. If the funding for the foundation is reduced, the foundation will likely forgo the education of the community members. This will, in turn, result in the community having misconceptions and being biased toward people living with epilepsy.
Corporate and governmental entities support charity organizations based on their degree of impact on society. Should the Epilepsy Foundation lose its main funding source and fail to attract the younger demographic, it will not be able to finance its core operations. This shall indirectly affect the corporate and governmental institutions that rely on the foundation for helping with the problem. The entities will, in turn, be forced to stop financing the charity and seek other alternatives. The level of impact for the community members, corporate organizations, and government will be medium and depend on the availability of alternative means for the entities.
Causes of the Problem
The Epilepsy Foundation’s problem of relying on the older female population as the main source of financing is caused by several factors. The foundation has historically prioritized engaging with older donors employed in the formal sector. Initially, the organization was keen to get new donors, but after establishing a sustainable donor base, it stopped doing advertisements to source new donors. Thus, the organization has yet to be keen to identify its large base, slowly leaving the job market, resulting in the current problem.
Moreover, the organization initially had a gender balance in the donation but was slow to address the donation fatigue issue. The foundation thus lost many of its male donors, who are known to have more fatigue than female donors (Bilén et al., 2021). The organization’s management is to blame for the negligence in monitoring the organization’s donation trends and patterns.
The Epilepsy Foundation relies on traditional forms of donations such as direct mail and tele-funding, which have a higher reach to the older demographic but are uncommon among the younger generations. The younger donors the organization should target to incorporate are the millennials and Generation Z, using social media as the communication medium. Nugroho et al. (2022) show that using the social media marketing strategy impacts this demographic brand awareness in South Korea, and the insights could also be applied to getting donations for the Epilepsy Foundation.
The problem is thus caused by the organization’s limited presence on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Additionally, the charity organization communicates in a manner that is not appealing to the younger generations. The messages for the Epilepsy Foundation are not appealing in terms of the visuals and audio and do not motivate the younger donors and the men to contribute more.
Limited product offerings also cause problems at the Epilepsy Foundation, and the organization is in a dilemma of introducing the products or ensuring they remain in favor of the state agencies. Making product offerings would result in the charity organization being able to attract the younger population towards donating to the foundation. The organization has yet to host youth-centric events such as road shows, sporting events, or music concerts that make the younger generation aware of the organization’s fund drive. Additionally, the Epilepsy Foundation’s techniques of acquiring new donors have been efficient compared to the strategies used by competing charity organizations.
Impacts on the Affected Parties
The Epilepsy Foundation has been significantly impacted by the uncertainties surrounding the sources of its funds, with the aging population’s donations reducing with each passing day. The resulting financial instability will make the Epilepsy Foundation unable to fund its main activities. Some critical employees could leave the organization due to delayed or reduced payment. Governments and corporate organizations will cut their donations, worsening the financial situation. Thus, the foundation will be unable to accomplish its mission and vision.
Reliance on donations as older women leave the donation market will result in people with epilepsy receiving limited support from the foundation. These individuals heavily rely on the foundation’s support for basic resources such as access to information and mechanical tools to manage their conditions (Deegbe, 2022). Should the funding go low, the quality of education, information, and care will also decrease, resulting in reduced quality of life for this demographic and its family. Reduced funding will also impact people with epilepsy as they will be less capable of coping with the stress and anxieties of the condition, which are preventable by regular guidance and counseling.
The foundation’s younger donors will be expected to contribute more to the charity event, thus significantly affecting their financial well-being. The donors shall also be assigned additional roles to communicate with their peers and introduce them to the organization. The problem could result in the country having an increased number of younger donors as the marketing campaigns for the charity organization will target this population segment.
Employers and schools will be impacted indirectly by the reduced funding to the Epilepsy Foundation. These two institutions rely on organizations like this to have their teachers and employees know how to handle the condition (Ko and Liu, 2021). The community that the charity organization supports may witness increased poverty levels and reduced well-being as their money could be used to treat this demographic. Their contributions to the community’s economic well-being will be altered. Moreover, governments and corporate bodies may be asked to contribute more towards this charity organization to ensure it continues doing its good work for society.
Project Development Plan to Address the Problem
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2022). Epilepsy in Australia, how many Australians have epilepsy? Web.
Bilén, D., Dreber, A., & Johannesson, M. (2021). Are women more generous than men? A meta-analysis. Journal of the Economic Science Association, 7(1), 1-18. Web.
Deegbe, D. A., Tshabalala, A. M., Aziato, L., & Casteleijn, D. (2022). Meanings of quality of life among people living with epilepsy in Ghana: A qualitative exploratory study. Epilepsy & Behavior, 129, 108527-108532. Web.
Galovic, M., Ferreira-Atuesta, C., Abraira, L., Döhler, N., Sinka, L., Brigo, F., & Koepp, M. J. (2021). Seizures and epilepsy after stroke: Epidemiology, biomarkers, and management. Drugs & Aging, 38, 285-299. Web.
Greenhalgh, C., & Montgomery, P. (2020). A systematic review of the barriers to and facilitators of the use of evidence by philanthropists when determining which charities (including health charities or programs) to fund. Systematic Reviews, 9, 1-13. Web.
Ko, W. W., & Liu, G. (2021). The transformation from traditional nonprofit organizations to social enterprises: An institutional entrepreneurship perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 171, 15-32. Web.
Konstantinou, I., & Jones, K. (2022). Investigating Gen Z attitudes to charitable giving and donation behavior: Social media, peers and authenticity. Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing, 27(3). Web.
Nugroho, S. D. P., Rahayu, M., & Hapsari, R. D. V. (2022). The impacts of social media influencer’s credibility attributes on gen Z purchase intention with the brand image as mediation: Study on consumers of Korean cosmetic product. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), 11(5), 18-32. Web.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2023). Epilepsy. Web.
4.50
Loading...
