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To increase charitable donations, not-for-profit organisations sometimes include a pre-giving incentive such as a monetary gift alongside a request to donate. Little is known about how monetary pre-giving incentives impact subsequent donation intentions, particularly for young consumers who are an important market for the not-for-profit sector. Using the principles of reciprocity, this paper aims to examine whether the value of monetary pre-giving incentives induces obligation (i.e. a negative psychological state) and/or gratitude (i.e. a positive psychological state) and whether this subsequently impact young consumers’ initial donation amount and future donation intention.

This research uses a one-factor, three-level between-subjects experimental design (n = 274) to test the effect of different values of pre-giving incentives on gratitude, obligation, initial donation amount and future donation intentions of young consumers.

Higher value pre-giving incentives increase young consumers’ experience of obligation and subsequent donation intention as well as future donation intention. Unexpectedly, gratitude towards the organisation was not influenced by the value of the pre-giving incentive but did increase obligation.

This research highlights an ethical tension about the use of pre-giving incentives to solicit donations from young consumers: while this strategy is effective, it activates an obligation that can negatively impact young consumers’ wellbeing. As such, it also contributes to extending the limited empirical examination of the ethics of fundraising. Theoretically, this research extends understanding of the distinct but simultaneous mechanisms of gratitude and obligation, which has not received sufficient research attention, generated by the norm of reciprocity within the not-for-profit context.

The West Midlands region has been poorly represented in national media and especially in fictional media forms. The Archers is therefore a very important part of representation of the region to the nation. These two representational elements — regional and national culture — are part of the BBC’s duties under the Royal Charter. As such, they form a core obligation for the BBC. For many years arguments have raged over whether Ambridge is located in Worcestershire or Warwickshire. This is, of course, largely a matter of interest within the region, but does have some wider implications about narrative fiction. Whilst, in one sense Ambridge and Borsetshire are purely fictional, they simultaneously have a potential impact on the national image of the West Midlands and especially its rural areas. This chapter will consider both reasons to suggest that The Archers is specifically drawn from the county of Worcestershire and issues of identity formation that may arise from the representations offered by The Archers of the county and the West Midlands region.

Young people who are looked after by the state face challenges as they make the transition from care to adulthood, with variation in support available. In the past decade, funding has been directed towards organisations to pilot innovations to support transition, with accompanying evaluations often conducted with a single disciplinary focus, in a context of short timescales and small budgets. Recognising the value and weight of the challenge involved in evaluation of innovations that aim to support the transitions of young people leaving care, this paper aims to provide a review of evaluation approaches and suggestions regarding how these might be developed.

As part of a wider research programme to improve understanding of the innovation process for young people leaving care, the authors conducted a scoping review of grey literature (publications which are not peer reviewed) focusing on evaluation of innovations in the UK over the past 10 years. The authors critiqued the evaluation approaches in each of the 22 reports they identified with an inter-disciplinary perspective, representing social care, public health and organisation science.

The authors identified challenges and opportunities for the development of evaluation approaches in three areas. Firstly, informed by social care, the authors suggest increased priority should be granted to participatory approaches to evaluation, within which involvement of young people leaving care should be central. Secondly, drawing on public health, there is potential for developing a common outcomes’ framework, including methods of data collection, analysis and reporting, which aid comparative analysis. Thirdly, application of theoretical frameworks from organisation science regarding the process of innovation can drive transferable lessons from local innovations to aid its spread.

By adopting the unique perspective of their multiple positions, the authors’ goal is to contribute to the development of evaluation approaches. Further, the authors hope to help identify innovations that work, enhance their spread, leverage resources and influence policy to support care leavers in their transitions to adulthood.

WHEN these words will be read, those who do so will know the worst—and the best—that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has done to them. We, not having a crystal ball, nor much faith in such, are thereby handicapped for we must write only days before the speech is given.