It Takes One: Fundraising for Children in Need
I have come to understand that one of War Child’s main goals as an NGO working with youth in Uganda is not only to screen the children for psychological issues… but also to urge the child’s caretaker to get treatment for the child if needed. It is groundbreaking to detect a possible psychological abnormality in a child early on… But, how much good does being aware of an issue really do if there is nothing done to fix it? What good can be done when the child never receives treatment? The sad reality is that many children in need of mental health services never reach them.
I’ve put a lot of my own personal thought into how to fix this issue. It is so saddening to think about children never gaining access to the healthcare that they need and deserve. Children are innocent. They have very limited control over what happens or doesn’t happen to them. It is very disheartening for the parents as well, when they seek resources but sometimes can’t afford to give fulfill their child’s needs. Oftentimes, it isn’t about “urging the caretakers” to get treatment for their children, but rather making the treatment more accessible and affordable. Something that could really make an impact in this area of concern is money — funding for mental health services for children who need them.
In my research of this topic, I came across two articles in particular in regards to fundraising for children in need. They both have the commonality in that they’ve found that focusing on ONE child in fundraising collection advertisements as opposed to a group of them, solicited more donations.
The public is often un-phased by social issues until they become more personal. A statistic (i.e. a phrase such as “12,000 children in the USA”) has been proven to be an inferior way to elicit emotion and appropriate action, compared to an image (i.e. a photo of a child) or a personal anecdote (i.e. a story of a child.) In an effort to understand why people ignore statistics yet will willingly rescue an individual, Paul Slovic conducted research utilizing a quote from Mother Teresa in 2007:
“If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”
Statistics and issues involving the masses often don’t spark any emotion, and therefore won’t solicit any action, but a personal story or photo will. In collecting donations for children in need, Slovic found that something as simple as switching a photo of two children to a photo of one child helped people to donate more.
In 2005, Kogut and Ritov found a similar phenomenon with children. A photo of one child solicited many more donations than a photo of a group of children in need. The appearance of one child only makes the cause or issue more personal to the viewer. When the cause becomes more personal, it becomes more emotional. People are more likely to take action when they are emotionally affected.
This information is something that I find helpful in thinking about ways to improve the mental health of these children. If we can get enough money to fund reliable mental health services for the children in need, we can break a major barrier and deliver them to a healthier life.
Strategic advertisements to bring in donations could assist in fundraising. Fundraising then leads to higher accessibility for mental healthcare. Higher accessibility for children means happier and healthier children. To me, the content of these articles is something worth exploring and implementing.
