Working Paper Series

Abstract: Non-profit organisations and their financial viability to execute their missions are of growing importance and focus in a global context. In addition, the drastic increase in the number of non-profit organisations also poses increasing challenges for non-profits to compete for funding and resources, which has forced them to find ways to improve their fundraising effectiveness. Although research illustrates that the implementation of market orientation contributes to better organisational and fundraising performance of non-profit organisations in different countries, non-profit organisations find the transition to market orientation to be difficult. The greatest challenge is the lack of knowledge in using marketing techniques that are prevalent in the non-profit arena. The deficiency of non-profit marketing research in the Chinese context and the low generalizability of western studies in other cultural contexts deter non-profit organisations from elevating fundraising effectiveness through market orientation and relationship marketing with donors. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the extant literature in the field of fundraising-related market orientation for non-profit organisations and suggest agenda for future research. The paper highlights a research field that is becoming vitally important yet immature particularly for the Chinese context in Hong Kong.