Ruth K. Hansen is an Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s College of Business and Economics. She regularly teaches Fundraising for Charities, Foundations of Nonprofit Organizations, Organizational Behavior, and Contemporary Research Methods.
Dr. Hansen has more than 20 years’ professional experience as a fundraiser, and has developed and taught professional development workshops on ethics in fundraising. Her research focuses on the practice of fundraising, popular support for unpopular causes, and policy affecting charitable organizations.
Her dissertation, The Role of Stigma in Writing Charitable Appeals, uses a dramaturgical framework and mixed research methodologies to examine how fundraisers write appeal letters for nonprofits that serve groups of clients with different levels of perceived stigma. It incorporates issues of perception and decision making, communication and persuasion, and social and personal identities.
Recent articles have been published in Nonprofit Management & Leadership, Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, and Journal of Nonprofit Education & Leadership.
Ruth K. Hansen is an assistant professor at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s College of Business and Economics, and director of the Institute for Nonprofit Management Studies. She teaches classes in nonprofit organizations, fundraising, organizational behavior, and research methods. Her research focuses on the theory & practice of fundraising, and equity and inclusion in resource mobilization. Dr. Hansen has more than 20 years’ professional experience as a fundraiser, and is a former board member of AFP-Chicago. Recent publications include “Applying a stakeholder management approach to ethics in charitable fundraising,” published in the Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing and “Gary Neighborhood House: Managing mission and uncertainty in the Civil Rights era,” in the edited volume Hoosier Philanthropy. She contributed the chapter, “Theory in Fundraising,” to the new edition of Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, which was featured on Bill Stanczykiewicz’s First Day Podcast from The Fundraising School. Her research with Dr. Lauren Dula on fundraising appeal letters, supported by the AFP Foundation, is the subject of an upcoming article in Advancing Philanthropy.
Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
A dissertation fellowship based on: substantive contribution to knowledge and understanding of fundraising or philanthropic behavior; emphasis on understanding ethical approaches; methodological rigor; and applicability for donors, grantmakers, or fundraisers.
Impulse Giving Decisions: How Common is Check-out Charity?
Lauren Dula
Businesses are more and more inclined to ask customers for donations to a charity at the register, providing little time for the donor/customer to identify the organization or decide on the benefits of giving. Engage for Good (2021) estimates that there w...
Testing Fundraising Messages in Acquisition Letters: The American Public Responds
Lauren Dula
There is a robust body of literature examining people’s responses to fundraising choices, much of it focusing on direct mail. Experiments, some in the laboratory and some in the field, have studied responses to positive and negative framing, use of an emo...
Do parents read appeals differently? Responses of Parents and Non-parents to Fundraising Appeals for Children’s Cancer Care
Lauren Dula
This paper uses survey responses and experimental treatments to consider how parents respond to fundraising appeals for a children’s cancer charity, compared to adults without children.<br> <br>A fairly robust literature examines determinants of giving, o...
Exploring the Twin Dynamics of COVID and BLM on Resource Development for Latinx Arts Organizations
Alissa Santana
Lin-Manuel Miranda famously asked, “Who will tell your story?”- an important consideration in critical theory. But from a resource dependent standpoint, another relevant question is, “Who will pay for the telling of your story?” Located within the context...
Impulse Giving Decisions: How Common is “Checkout Charity”?
Lauren Dula
This study uses data from a larger study (N=1400) to explore the phenomenon of “impulse giving” – spontaneous giving prompted at a store checkout, such as rounding up, adding on, or purchasing a token displayed within the store to show evidence of donatio...
Gender and Values in Direct Mail Solicitations: Research Sponsored by AFP Levis Fundraising Research Grant
Lauren Dula
This session will:<br>Report on an experiment funded by the AFP Levis Research Award. Previous research identifies two values-based approaches used by fundraisers in writing human services appeals. The project tests those approaches for reader response in...
Gender and Values in Fundraising Appeal Letters
Lauren Dula
While there is robust literature on donor motivations, which is likely to inform fundraisers’ practice, many researchers know little about fundraising practice. As a result, research tends to draw on the substantial “gray literature” – that is, the numero...
Fundraisers and Social Capital: Social Capital as a Theoretical Lens for Understanding Fundraising
L.J. Alborough
When we consider the relationship of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and civil society, we tend to consider how the social capital created by such associations promote interaction, or shared work toward a common good. Within this understanding of the NPO s...
Do Fundraising Appeals Contribute to Social Polarization? Identifying Causal Mechanisms.
Avner Ben-Ner, Lehn Benjamin
Reports suggest that Americans are increasingly polarized and less tolerant of differences. This polarization is evident in everything from the politics in Washington to the proliferation of extremist groups. Although nonprofits are often associated wit...
Science of fundraising: A meta-review of studies using experimental methods in fundraising
Abhishek Bhati
This paper extends the review of literature conducted by Lindahl & Conley (2002) and Bekkers & Wiepking (2011) focusing on mechanisms and practices driving charitable giving. We analyze 186 articles in fundraising using experimental methods from the perio...
Meanings of "Community" in Fundraising Practice: Connotations, Boundaries, Obligations, and Treatment of In-groups/ Outgroups
This study uses qualitative content analysis to analyze a unique dataset of fundraising appeal letters and transcripts of interviews with fundraisers to better understand how the individuals raising funds for charities understand the meaning of “community...
A Penny for Your Thoughts: How do Fundraisers Think about Clients and Donors When Writing Appeals?
Intentional communication is essential to fundraising: it defines relationships between askers, givers, and beneficiaries. But most fundraising research focuses on donor behavior, without considering the type of beneficiary, or fundraisers’ discretionary...
Unpopular: Examining the Role of Client Stigma in Writing Charitable Appeals
How does social acceptability of a client population – or its absence – affect how fundraisers craft appeal letters? Research on fundraising often focuses on donor behavior, without considering the type of the beneficiary and the discretionary decisions ...
Do Fundraisers Write Different Appeals for Stigmatized Groups?
Professional Fundraising: Longevity, Effectiveness, and Vocational Satisfaction
T.S. Austin, J. Goodwin, T.H. Jeavons, D. King, S.K. Nathan, H. O’Connor, P.M. Rooney, G. Shaker, E.R. Tempel
Building Knowledge: Positioning Nonprofit Programs in Institutions of Higher Learning
C. Brunt, R. Long, P.M. Rooney, P.C. Weber
Discretion is Key: Some Factors in Fundraisers' Interpersonal Communications with Donors
Scholarly literature on philanthropic giving abounds, and many studies consider fundraising choices at an organizational level, but scant attention has been paid to the active interpersonal role of the fundraiser in communicating with donors. Practitione...
Civil Rights, Urban Renewal, and the Final Years of the Gary Neighborhood House
Neighborhood House, established 1909, was the first social service organization in the city of Gary, Indiana. As Gary evolved into a city facing racial segregation, crime, and labor struggles, Neighborhood House adapted to needs and resources within its ...
Measure for Measure: Capturing Generosity in Volunteering
Richard Steinberg, Barbara Duffy, Yuan Tian
We develop two indices for measuring individual generosity in volunteering, based on the notion that generosity is higher when the volunteer makes a larger (gross) sacrifice. Generosity is volunteer time divided by available time, and the measures
differ ...
What do you value? Examining gendered responses to fundraising appeals.
Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Reframing Fundraising Research: The challenges and opportunities of interpretivist research practices and practitioner researchers in fundraising studies
Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Gary Neighborhood House: Managing Mission and Uncertainty in the Civil Rights Era
Hoosier Philanthropy
Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
Advancing Philanthropy
Association of Fundraising Professionals
Journal Article, Professional Journal
Vol. 30 Iss. 2 Pg. 29-31
April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2023
An Introduction to Fundraising Theory
In Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, 5th edition (G. Shaker, S. Nathan, E. Tempel, W. Stanczykewicz, eds.). John Wiley & Sons.
Book, Chapter in Textbook-New
Pg. 35-44
2022
Applying a stakeholder management approach to ethics in charitable fundraising.
Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing.
Journal Article, Academic Journal
January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2022
Cultivating support: Social capital as a theoretical lens for understanding the fundraising process
ISTR Working Papers Series
Publicly Available Research Working Paper
Vol. Volume XII, Virtual, July 2021
November 2021
Giving by Bequest (Chapter 6) 2021
Giving USA
Research Report
Pg. 132-145
June 2021
Recognizing the plural sector: Nonprofit studies in a business school environment
Journal of Nonprofit Education & Leadership
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 11
April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2021
A literature review of experimental studies in fundraising
Journal of Behavioral Public Administration
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 3 Iss. 1 Pg. 1-19
April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2020
Stories of strangers: Writing donor acquisition letters in the human services.
Nonprofit Management & Leadership
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 31 Iss. 1 Pg. 153-173
April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2020
Giving by Bequest (Chapter 5) 2019
Giving USA: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2018
Research Report
Vol. 64 Pg. 126-144
June 2019
Giving by Bequest (Chapter 6) 2018
Giving USA 2018: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2017
Research Report
Vol. 63 Pg. 133-146
June 2018
Giving by Bequest (Chapter 6) 2017
Giving USA 2017: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2016
Research Report
Vol. 62 Pg. 129-143
June 2017
Using the National League for Nursing Faculty Preparation for Global Experiences Toolkit for successful application for the Fulbright scholar award.
Nursing Education Perspectives
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 38 Iss. 4 Pg. 214-215
May 2017
Giving by Bequest (Chapter 5) 2016
Giving USA 2016: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2015
Research Report
Vol. 61 Pg. 97-110
June 2016
Book Review: Michael Edwards, Civil Society, Third Edition.
VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations
Book Review
Vol. 26 Iss. 1 Pg. 414-416
2015
Book Review: Nonprofit Organizations and Civil Society in the United States by K. LeRoux and M.K. Feeney.
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
Book Review
Vol. 44 Iss. 5 Pg. 1071-1073
2015
Whattsamatta wit U, or U really got a hold on me
ISTR Working Papers Series
Publicly Available Research Working Paper
Vol. IX
June 2015
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