Facebook as a Tool for Fund-raising and Support by Religious Organizations

Mark D. Johns, Luther CollegeFollow

Abstract

This pilot project explores the use of Facebook by a number of religious and denominationally affiliated non-profit charity or social purpose organizations. International relief agencies, youth ministry organizations, camping ministries, missionary organizations and others have established "causes" on facebook.com that are designed to gather "members," further ongoing interaction, and raise funds. Some have suggested that "causes" function, at least in some cases, as expressions of "brand communities" (Hassay & Peloz, 2009; Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001), and questions exist regarding the strength of social ties in such brand relationships (Haythornthwaite, 2002). Facebook users were surveyed, a variety of "cause" pages were observed, and online interviews were conducted with a small number of Facebook cause members, in order to test various methods for examining these causes. The present study clarifies the questions, and notes the limitations of each of the methods tested. Some preliminary suggestions for effective use of the cause function are put forward.

Journal Title

Iowa Journal of Communication

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Recommended Citation

Johns, Mark D. (2011) "Facebook as a Tool for Fund-raising and Support by Religious Organizations," Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 43: No. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol43/iss1/4

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