Thursday 26 April 2012
Claire Squires - what an extraordinary effect
In the wake of Claire Squires' sad and untimely death on Sunday is is extraordinary that 65,000 people have given £3/4 million to the Samaritans in memory of someone who the vast majority had never heard of before the marathon.
It's not unusual for the public to respond generously to a tragedy (witness the tsunami response) or when someone in the public eye dies (witness the Princess Dianna effect) but for a young women, doing the marathon for a great, but not huge charity (£10m turnover last year) is, in my view, extraordinary. So what is going on?
In my view the Spectrum of Philanthropy applies rather well here. It's not the cause, great though the Samaritans are, it is the the person doing the ask - albeit in this case a very powerful implied ask. But what do you think?
Were you minded to give and why? More of this, I hope, if I can persuade the Guardian to commission a thought piece from me. In the meantime however do please respond and let me know your feelings, emotions or cold logic about this phenomena.
Well it's in the Guardian at: What motivates people to give to charity?
Please post a comment there or here whether you agree or think it's something completely different!
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Incidentally I was invited to take part in a radio debate on "Sponsor Fatigue" after the marathon. What price now?
ReplyDeleteNow £800k and 70,000 donors. Why do people do it?
ReplyDeleteThe marathon makes people feel charitable. I think one factor is that Claire Squires' story and page provided an outlet for all those thousands of people watching it on telly and in the street who were feeling charitable and didn't know where to direct their awe at what it takes to do the marathon.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tim,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you're partly right though generally charitable feelings don't get transformed into gifts unless someone actually makes the ask. See the Guardian tomorrow (Wed 2nd) for more on the same.