How sharing of supporters reveals competition amongst non-profit brands

Abstract

The traditional method of identifying non-profit competitors places those with similar objectives as forming the competitive set (looking inside out). This research provides a different perspective by looking at supporter behaviour and how this is shared across the non-profit sector (outside in). The research also applies the Duplication-of-Purchase law to a new context. Four data sets from the US and Australia highlight that the overlap of supporters at cause-based groupings (e.g. children versus animal focused) and brand level (e.g. World Vision versus RSPCA) is largely determined by supporter numbers. This supportercentric analytic view can highlight key competitors and potential collaborators that would be missed using the traditional inside-out perspective.