Securing Donor Support on Nonprofit Commercialization: The Effects of Thematic and Episodic Message Framing.

The effect of nonprofit commercialization, the increased reliance on revenues from commercial activities such as program and service fees, is one of the most significant topics in nonprofit finance studies. Commercialization can jeopardize nonprofits' efforts to secure financial sustainability as donors become reluctant to contribute to highly commercialized nonprofits. This study examines the effect of thematic and episodic framing in acquiring support on nonprofit commercialization with an online survey experiment. The findings reveal that both thematic and episodic framings increase willingness to donate and volunteer, and combining both framings is more effective than using a single framing, suggesting that nonprofits can benefit from message framing in persuading donors and stakeholders of nonprofit commercialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]