Imagine that you work for a fundraising consultant. Write a 1-2 page, double-spaced memo to your boss in which you summarize the key takeaway points from Waters’ application of agenda-setting theory.

See Attached article and powerpoint.

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Introducing Communication Theory:
Analysis and Application
6th edition

Richard West, Lynn H. Turner

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Chapter 21

Agenda Setting Theory (AST)

©McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom.  No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

Chapter Overview

History of agenda setting research

Assumptions of AST

Two levels of agenda setting

Three-part process of agenda setting

Expansions and refinements to AST

Integration, critique, and closing

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AST at a Glance
The media play an important part in shaping social and political reality
The public learns how much importance to attach to an issue by the attention given to it by the media
The media may determine what issues are important

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Introduction
Media
Tell people what is important by the number of times they report a story
Indicate what is important by what features of a story they emphasize and which they do not

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History of Agenda Setting Research
Pretheoretical conceptualizing
Park – Editors are gatekeepers
Lippmann – Mass media connect “the world outside and the pictures in our heads”
Lasswell
Surveillance
Correlation

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History of Agenda Setting Research (continued)
Establishing the theory
McCombs & Shaw (1972)
Examined the public and the media’s agendas during the 1968 presidential election

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Assumptions of Agenda Setting Theory
The media establish an agenda and in so doing are not simply reflecting reality, but shaping and filtering it for the public
The media’s concentration on the issues that comprise their agenda influence the public’s agenda, and these together influence the policymakers’ agenda
The public and policymakers have the possibility to influence the media’s agenda as well

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Two Levels of Agenda Setting
Media framing
Size of headlines
Photographs included with a story
A story’s overall length and placement
Visuals accompanying a story
Priming
Cognitive process whereby what the media present temporarily influences what people think about afterwards

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Three-Part Process of Agenda Setting
The media agenda affects the public agenda, which in turn impacts the policy agenda
Complicating factors
Salience
Credibility
Conflicting evidence
Shared values
Relevance
Uncertainty

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Expansions and Refinements
Agenda Setting merged with ideas of Uses and Gratifications Theory
Who sets the media agenda?
High-power source and high-power media
High-power source and low-power media
Lower-power source and high-power media
Both media and source are low power
Intermedia influence and pack journalism

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Integration
Communication tradition
Socio-psychological
Communication context
Mass/media
Approach to knowing
Positivistic/empirical

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Critiques of AST
Scope
May be too large or too small
Media framing should be a separate theory
Utility
May not apply in new media environment
Heurism
Hundreds of studies
Applied to various topics in different countries

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Tracing the Impact of Media Relations and
Television Coverage on U.S. Charitable

Relief Fundraising: An Application of Agenda-Setting
Theory across Three Natural Disasters

Richard D. Waters

School of Management, University of San Francisco

Fundraising practitioners have often expressed the desire to gain media coverage of their nonprofit

organization because it will result in increased donations. Although this folklore is commonly

believed by many fundraisers, there is little evidence to support this claim. This study uses the

agenda-setting theory as the framework to test whether television news coverage of 3 natural disasters

and the nonprofit organizations working to provide charitable relief in wake of the events results in

increased donations to the nonprofit organizations. Using the 2004 Asian tsunami, 2005’s Hurricane

Katrina, and the 2010 Haitian earthquake to test the public’s response to relief efforts, the study found

little support for increased donations to the 5 leading organizations providing relief in relation to gen-

eric news coverage of the disasters. However, when the organizations were specifically mentioned by

reporters in the newscasts, noticeable same-day spikes were seen in donations to the organizations’

fundraising efforts. Similarly, when organizations were able to place spokespeople in the newscast

to talk about their efforts, increased donations resulted from these proactive media relations efforts.

As 2004 ended, one of the strongest earthquakes on record occurred along the floor of the Indian

Ocean. The resulting tsunami devastated 14 nations’ coastlines and killed more than 250,000

people from these nations and tourists from 54 other countries around the globe. Less than 9

months later, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast from central Florida to Texas, causing more

than $108 billion in damage and causing 1,833 confirmed fatalities. In January, 2010, the island

nation of Haiti was rocked by an earthquake measuring seven on the Richter scale, which

government estimates claim resulted in 316,000 deaths and the destruction of 250,000 residences

and 30,000 commercial and government buildings. Despite the widespread geographic distance

between these three locations and the causes of the damage, these three natural disasters share

one thing in common: Within hours of the events, nonprofit organizations began raising funds so

they could provide immediate humanitarian aid to those in need.

Annually, Americans donate close to $300 billion to nonprofit organizations. According to

the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Americans gave $1.6 billion in cash in the year following the
2004 Asian tsunamis, $3.3 billion to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and $1.4 billion

to the 2010 Haitian earthquake response. More than 130 nonprofit organizations raised funds

Correspondence should be sent to Richard D. Waters, PhD, University of San Francisco, School of Management,

2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117-1080. E-mail: rdwaters@usfca.edu

Journal of Public Relations Research, 25: 329–346, 2013

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1062-726X print/1532-754X online

DOI: 10.1080/1062726X.2013.806870

to help with these national and international relief efforts; however, the majority of the donations

went to a handful of organizations. Nearly one-third of the donations Americans made to the

tsunami relief efforts went to the American Red Cross (Baker, 2005), which also collected nearly

43% of the donations sent to Haitian earthquake relief (Lieu, 2011). For all three of the natural
disasters, five organizations dominated lists of the top fundraising nonprofits for the disaster

relief efforts: the American Red Cross, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, and

Doctors Without Borders.

Fundraising literature suggests that donors are more likely to donate to organizations that

serve their communities (Philipp, 1999) and to programs and services in which they are most

interested (Kelly, 1998). However, the emotional nature of natural disasters stirs feelings of

urgency in the public, who seek ways to help the victims (Waters, 2009). Donations to these

three disasters were received in record amounts, and numerous organizations suspended their

fundraising efforts early because they had already met their campaign goals.

After the 2004 Asian tsunami, nonprofit management scholars questioned when the donations

would start falling off sharply (Hale, 2005). On the Association for Research on Nonprofit

Organizations and Voluntary Action listserv, one member commented:

Not surprisingly, it follows media coverage. But there’s a trickle that come in (sic) for a long time

afterwards (come to think of it, just like media coverage). It’s one of those things that people in

disaster relief fund raising know about, but I can’t find anything publicly available. (Prives, 2005)

The notion that media coverage of the third sector would generate increased donations is a

widely held perspective among fundraising practitioners. Crosson (2005) noted that the

increased coverage of the tsunami would result in fewer donations being made to African crises

because they could not capture the media’s attention. Columnists at the Detroit Free Press and
the Christian Science Monitor (Wood, 2005) also questioned the relationship of media coverage
and nonprofit donations.

Despite the wide interest in the topic, few studies have been conducted to examine the

relationship between media coverage and nonprofit donations. Thus, this study aims to fill that

void by using mass communication’s agenda-setting framework to examine how strongly dona-

tions to the relief efforts for three separate natural disasters were impacted by the media coverage

of the disasters and the five nonprofit organizations that raised the most money for these relief

efforts. This will expand literature in nonprofit management by empirically testing an assump-

tion held by fundraising practitioners. It will additionally extend agenda-setting theory by

exploring it outside of a political communication context and with behavioral (rather than

cognitive) level data.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Crisis Fundraising and Media Coverage

Kelly (1998) formally defined fundraising as ‘‘the management of relationships between a chari-

table organization and its donor publics’’ (p. 8). The principal goal of the profession is to build

strong relationships by developing trust with, and communicating honestly with, donor publics

330 WATERS

so that donors are likely to respond to charitable solicitations when emergencies arise (Hall,

2002). Kelly (1998) stated that the main purpose of fundraising ‘‘is not to raise money, but

to help charitable organizations manage their interdependencies with donor publics who share

mutual goals and objectives’’ (p. 9).

Paula DiPerna (2003), the president of the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, noted that fun-

draising generally is not newsworthy and that the only way to turn it into news is to focus on

some unusual aspect of it. She also argued that news coverage of national and international crises

and the emotions evoked from the events can elevate fundraising into the media’s spotlight. In

the context of crises, newsworthiness also can arise from the unusual nature of disasters, includ-

ing opportunities for reporting personal dramas (Stewart & Hodgkinson, 1988), fascination with

horrific events (Payne, 1994), and the desire to help others (Raphael, 1986).

When the need to help others is reinforced by media coverage of disasters, donors indicate

that they are more likely to respond to crisis fundraising efforts (Bennett & Kottasz, 2000).

The results of this investigation support the fundraising practitioner literature, which suggests

that nonprofit organizations should also work with the media to educate donors about the crisis

and provide them an opportunity to evaluate the need for donations (Johnston, 2002).

Although Warwick, Hart, and Hallen (2002) focused on e-philanthropy and linking to

respected media outlets covering nonprofit issues, their message resonates for traditional giving,

as well. Nonprofit organizations should work to secure news stories highlighting their programs

and services because qualitative interviews with donors indicated that they were responsive to

news stories highlighting specific organizations and causes (Bennett & Kottasz, 2000). Addition-

ally, Howard and Mathews (2006) indicated that organizations could enhance their credibility by

addressing issues and crises during interviews and appearances on news programming. For non-

profit organizations, these appearances can be used to highlight their programs and create a sense

of urgency for donations and volunteers during times of crises.

Agenda-Setting Theory

Whether the relief donations come from traditional fundraising practices or from new

e-philanthropy strategies, practitioner literature suggests that fundraising efforts and media

coverage are intertwined. The mass communication theory of agenda setting provides a theoreti-

cal perspective to test this popular belief. Bernard Cohen (1963) originally stated that the news

media may not tell audiences what to think, but the media are very successful at telling audiences

what to think about. In the past 30 years, mass communication scholars have shown that the

media are quite successful in influencing public awareness of topics; however, there have been

fewer studies demonstrating a correlation between news coverage and behavioral change. This

study aims to fill that void by testing popular fundraising folklore that people would donate to a

cause if they simply had more exposure to it.

McCombs and Shaw (1972) proposed the agenda-setting theory after studying the 1968 Uni-

ted States presidential campaign, and the agenda-setting paradigm has spread quickly. The

theory has expanded over the past 40 years to include multiple levels of agenda setting. The first

level simply examines the perceived importance of an issue in relation to its coverage in the

media. The second level takes the issues highlighted in the first level and focuses on specific

attributes or dimensions of the issue being examined. Most recently, the third level of agenda

CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 331

setting examines how the attributes highlighted in the second level are conveyed in a tonal matter.

Applying these three levels to this study, the first level would focus on the natural disasters that

occurred, and the second level would focus on referencing specific nonprofit organizations work-

ing to provide charitable relief to the disaster victims. Finally, the third level of agenda setting

would focus on whether the specific nonprofits are portrayed in a positive or negative tone.

Although the seminal study on agenda setting focused on public opinion and political

campaigning, mass communication scholars have applied the theory to settings focusing on non-

profit issues, including environmental issues (D. Cohen, 1975), civil rights discussions (Winter

& Eyal, 1981), and health issues (Durrant, Wakefield, McLeod, Clegg-Smith, & Chapman,

2003). Media have been shown to have a positive correlation in the coverage of issues and their

perceived importance by the public. Hundreds of studies have confirmed the basic premise that

media salience of issues leads to increased salience of issues in public opinion (McCombs,

2004). Therefore, this study’s first hypothesis examines the relationship between news coverage

of natural disasters and their perceived importance by the public:

H1: Media attention to the natural disasters will be positively correlated to the public’s attention to

the event.

Although much of the agenda-setting literature focuses on the public’s perceptions of the

importance of a particular topic, there have been a few studies that have successfully shown that

media coverage can influence behavior. For example, Roberts (1992) found that voting behavior

could be predicted based on the media’s coverage of election issues, and Sutherland and Gallo-

way (1981) found an agenda-setting influence on the public’s purchasing behavior after viewing

certain advertisements. More closely tied to nonprofit organization missions, individuals who

paid close attention to news coverage of health-related items were likely to change their beha-

viors to adopt a healthier lifestyle (Yanovitsky & Bennett, 1999), and individuals who actively

followed the announcement that Magic Johnson had HIV=AIDS were more likely to be tested
for the disease (Wanta & Elliot, 1995).

The agenda-setting framework provides the ideal research design to test fundraising practi-

tioners’ belief that news coverage of a social issue results in donations to organizations address-

ing that cause. Because the top five organizations received nearly two-thirds of the donations

made by the American public for the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and Haitian earthquake

relief efforts, examining their efforts in relation to media coverage reflects many of the

behavior-oriented agenda-setting studies. By comparing the organizations’ daily receipt totals

against the media coverage, it is possible to test the second hypothesis, which posits that media

coverage influences donations to the top fundraising organizations for the relief efforts:

H2: Media attention to the three natural disasters will be positively correlated to the donations

received by the five nonprofit organizations for their relief efforts.

Bennett and Kottasz (2000) found that British citizens indicated that they were more likely to

respond to crisis relief efforts when they learned about the assistance through the news media.

Even though the focus on crisis response is the delivery of aid and supplies, nonprofits should

not overlook the importance of media relations efforts. Positive working relationships with

media outlets can be used to leverage placement in the media, but to do so they must have

332 WATERS

an understanding of media deadlines, of the kind of stories that would appeal to journalists, and

of knowing how to communicate and respond to journalists’ inquiries (Yoon, 2005).

The connection between charitable giving and the nonprofit organizations’ media relations

efforts can be analyzed through the application of the second-level of agenda setting, which

examines the saliency of objects covered in the news. For this study, those objects are the orga-

nizations collecting charitable relief donations. The presentation of specific nonprofit organiza-

tions may have a strong influence on which organizations receive contributions from the public.

Although principally tested with political objects, second-level agenda setting should also have

applications in other contexts. For example, McCombs (2004) noted that agenda setting’s core

theoretical proposition deals with the transfer of saliency of elements from one agenda to

another, not just political issues.

To test this notion, a third hypothesis was created to examine the relationship between the

media’s presentation of the top five recipients of charitable gifts to the relief efforts and their

daily receipt totals:

H3: Media coverage that highlights an organization’s natural disaster relief efforts will be positively

correlated to the donations received by that organization.

Increasingly, agenda-setting theory studies are examining how specific objects are portrayed

in the media. In explicating the second-level of agenda setting, Ghanem (1997) compared this

element of agenda setting to the media’s ability to frame an issue to highlight certain dimensions

over others. Similarly, Hallahan (1999) felt that the angle from which a journalist presents the

news story has the ability to leave the audience with either a flattering or derogatory view of

the topic based on the tone of the article.

This potential portrayal reflects what McCombs and Yu (2005) call the third-level of agenda

setting, which allows the media to transfer positive or negative tones on specific topics. Public

relations practitioners frequently work with organizational spokespeople to prepare them for

working with the media so that the information shared and representation of the organization

creates a positive image for the audience. In many cases, such as these three natural disasters,

organizational spokespeople are often interviewed during news broadcasts to provide the most

up-to-date information. Howard and Mathews (2006) noted that the presence of an organiza-

tional representative enhances both the credibility of the organization and the importance of

the news story. Additionally, they argue that the presence of spokespersons conveys the urgency

and importance of crisis situations.

Schenkler and Herrling (2003) agreed that having organizational spokespeople present infor-

mation on the nightly news can be very positive for an organization. However, media relations

efforts are rarely simply an information subsidy. Although spokespersons may be able to deliver

a prepared positive sound bite, they must also be able to respond to reporters’ questions. Yoon

(2005) noted that experience and media training can prepare individuals for interviewing, but

having well-established relationships with reporters can also help an organization receive

positive coverage, especially when facing breaking news situations.

Because it is unknown whether the presence of nonprofit spokespeople helps or hinders their

organizations’ efforts to secure positive media stories about relief efforts, it is difficult to test

directionally for the third level of agenda setting with a formal hypothesis. However, it is poss-

ible to test the third level of agenda setting with a research question that assesses whether the

CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 333

presence of a spokesperson in a news story influences the public’s response to charitable relief

efforts. In this manner, the third level of agenda setting is tested to determine whether the

spokesperson is able to convey a specific tone in relation to his or her organization’s relief

efforts. The study’s only research question follows:

RQ1: Does media coverage featuring an organizational spokesperson positively correlate to the

donations received by the five nonprofit organizations for their disaster relief efforts?

METHOD

Ultimately, this report presents the findings of three separate agenda-setting studies conducted in

wake of the 2004 tsunami, 2005 hurricane, and 2010 earthquake. A similar research design was

carried out for all three natural disasters so that comparisons could be made across the three

events. For each individual study, a longitudinal time-series design was used to track the impact

of television coverage of the disasters on the public’s attention to the post-disaster relief efforts

and donations made to the organizations conducting those efforts. For each disaster, television

coverage was analyzed for 6 weeks following the natural disaster. This time range was chosen

primarily because it represented all of the fundraising data that the Center of Philanthropy at

Indiana University made available to the public for the three disasters. After 6 weeks of reporting

daily fundraising totals for the three events, the Center stopped providing updated daily totals

and returned to its normal, day-to-day operations. The time increment used for this project

was 1 day, which permitted a precise measurement of time lags to measure the agenda-setting

impact with a sufficient sample size of days for statistical purposes.

Media Content

A content analysis of television broadcast news stories was conducted to gauge media attention

given to the three natural disasters. All of the news programming on the three major networks

(ABC, CBS, NBC) and three selected cable outlets (MSNBC, CNN, Fox News) were chosen for

the analysis to examine the impact of 24-hr news coverage on potential donors. To obtain the

universe of stories, a Lexis-Nexis database search was conducted using the keywords tsunami,
Hurricane Katrina, or earthquake and Haiti in the main headline or news lead. After receiving
the totals for the six media outlets, a random sample of the transcribed-stories was taken.

One-third of all coverage was taken from each outlet, reflecting Neuendorf’s (2002) best prac-

tices for sampling archived news media. For the tsunami, hurricane, and earthquake disasters,

471, 683, and 524 stories, respectively, were generated from the sampling. The stories were ana-

lyzed to ensure that the search produced results that were actually focused on the disasters.

Public Attention

For the first hypothesis, the research used national public polls to correspond with the national

television coverage used in the content analysis. The desired goal was to measure the attention

the public paid to the disasters with the prevalence of news stories on these topics. For elections

334 WATERS

and political controversies, national public opinion polls frequently ask questions akin to ‘‘How

closely have you been following the news about a specific event—very closely, somewhat clo-

sely, not too closely, or not at all?’’ After examining the polls and database section of

Lexis-Nexis and a variety of other academic databases, it was determined that the public was

rarely polled about these three events, especially the Asian tsunami and Haitian earthquake. Poll-

sters from Gallup and Fox News did provide polls that measured responses to Hurricane Katrina.

Because of the limited data concerning the perceived importance of the Asian tsunami (3 polls),

Hurricane Katrina (8 polls), and the Haitian earthquake (4 polls), it was necessary to combine the

data across all three crises to measure the relationship between the perceived importance and

media coverage. Even with the data combined, the number of data points measuring perceived

importance was relatively small. However, Pearson’s correlations were able to be calculated

comparing the number of news stories focusing on the natural disaster in the previous week

to the level of public agreement that the natural disaster was important news.

Fundraising Data

In the 6 weeks following each of the three disasters, the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana Uni-

versity published daily updated contribution totals of the charitable contributions for relief

efforts received by more than 130 nonprofit organizations. These totals included confirmed cash

contributions, total confirmed in-kind donations, and total corporate and foundation giving to

relief efforts. Given that the daily totals were provided, it is possible to examine whether media

coverage on the disasters had a prompt impact on the public. It was decided that this level of

time-lag was appropriate for this study, given previous disaster fundraising studies that found

evidence that members of the public often avoided news stories about disasters after first hearing

about the events (Waters, 2009).

For purposes of this study, the only data analyzed are the daily totals for the top five fundrais-

ing organizations (the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Catholic Relief Services,

World Vision, and UNICEF). Information for other prominent organizations, such as Save the

Children and the Salvation Army, would have been included in the analysis individually if more

complete data were available. The Center for Philanthropy’s information did not have updated

data for every organization during every release of the daily totals. For this reason, the large

number of missing data points made statistical analysis for these organizations unreliable. For

example, the top five organizations had donation totals available for all 42 days but the Salvation

Army, which had the next most complete information, had information for only 19 days.

Nonprofit Organizations in the Media

The sample of televised news stories was coded for several different attributes, including the

presence of nonprofit organizations, their spokespersons, and story tone. When nonprofit orga-

nizations were mentioned by name, this information was recorded in an open-ended question.

Additionally, the stories were coded for the presence of spokespersons. If an official represen-

tative of the organization (the President=Chief Executive Officer, member of the Board of Direc-
tors, or someone from the communication department) was interviewed or featured during the

story, this was noted in the analysis. Given the large number of organizations raising funds

CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 335

for the relief efforts, it was felt that highlighting an organization during the newscast represented

a successful media relations effort. Although this measure of media relations does not take into

account organizational news releases or media pitching efforts, it is felt that inclusion of any

organization in a broadcast reflects at least a minimal media relations effort in that the organi-

zation agreed and participated in an interview for the news story. A nonprofit organization that

ignored media requests for interviews or failed to follow through with participation would have

not had an active media relations program.

Although participating in interviews is only one measure of media relations, it should be

noted that reliance on media relations tactics (e.g., news releases) does not take into consider-

ation those situations where organizations are contacted directly by the media without having

first submitted materials to the media. Given the nature of crisis situations, it is not uncommon

for the media to contact organizations before they have materials ready to be distributed

(DiPerna, 2003). For this reason, inclusion of an organizational spokesperson—especially in

natural disaster situations—is an appropriate measure of media relations.

Two individuals coded the sample. After a 2-hr training session, 10% of the sample was
coded. Intercoder reliability scores, using Scott’s p to take chance agreement into consideration,
were calculated for all variables, including nonprofit organizations mentioned (p ¼ .88), whether
the news story featured a nonprofit spokesperson (p ¼ .91), and tone of the news story (p ¼ .90).
Additional variables not used in the agenda-setting statistical tests were also coded and found to

be reliable between the coders, including media outlet (p ¼ .98) and date of news story (p ¼ .97).

Time Lags

To test the agenda-setting power of the media, it was necessary to test the relationship between

media coverage and charitable donations with multiple time lags. In previous agenda-setting

research, the range of optimal time lags has varied considerably, and scholars have argued that

the determination of which time lag to use often rests in the context of the study (Meraz, 2011;

Wanta & Hu, 1994). Manyena (2012) specifically focused on the exploration of time lags in an

examination of the consequences of time lags in relation to natural disasters. The study proposes

that because natural disasters receive a lot of media attention after occurring and begins to wane

in the weeks after the event, it is important to examine the impact of time lags as frequently as

possible, rather than extending the time lag to weeks. Similarly, the quickly unfolding and fre-

quently updating information concerning natural disasters makes it probable that one day’s news

may have an impact that day, but it may be out-of-date the following day (Uscinski, 2009). For

these reasons, this study uses a one-day time lag to test its hypotheses and research question.

Given the daily updates of data concerning contributions to the three disaster relief efforts, it

was deemed appropriate to use a 1-day lag that was measured for an entire week (e.g., the cor-

relation of Sunday’s news stories on Monday’s updated total and repeatedly correlated against

the remaining 6 days of the week). In other words, media coverage was tracked up to 7 days

prior to the Center of Philanthropy’s updated reported fundraising totals.

RESULTS

Television coverage of the three natural disasters varied considerably by news outlet, with a

wide variance of coverage on both the network and cable outlets. Between the six broadcast

336 WATERS

and cable networks (ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, and NBC), the random sample

included 471 stories about the 2004 tsunami, 683 stories about Hurricane Katrina in 2005,

and 524 stories about the 2010 Haitian earthquake. A trend developed from the reporting of

all three natural disasters. The number of stories increased steadily after the disasters happened,

reaching a climax in the second or third week, which gradually started decreasing in the remain-

ing weeks that were examined. This inverse parabola shape held true for all three disasters.

Testing the study’s first hypothesis could not be done individually for each of the three natu-

ral disasters because there were insufficient data points that focused on the public’s perceived

value of importance of each of the three events as a news story. There were three public opinion

polls taken focusing on the Asian tsunami, eight taken about Hurricane Katrina, and four that

centered on the Haitian earthquake. An attempt to correlate the percentage of respondents in

each survey who felt that the natural disaster was an important or somewhat important news
story and the corresponding number of news stories about the disaster that happened in the pre-

ceding week was attempted; however, it produced unreliable results for the tsunami (r ¼ .42,
p ¼ .36), hurricane (r ¼ .68, p ¼ .031), and earthquake (r ¼ .78, p ¼ .11). Given the low number
of data points individually, the public opinion poll data was aggregated into one test of corre-

lation across all three events, given that the initial tests all measured the correlation of the pub-

lic’s perceived importance of the natural disaster with the amount of news coverage it received in

the preceding week. When the 15 polls and the news coverage data were combined, there were a

sufficient number of pairs to conduct a Pearson’s correlation test (Wimmer & Dominick, 2006).

The resulting correlation (r ¼ .64, p ¼ .005) indicates that there is a moderate-to-strong relation-
ship between the public’s perceived importance of the natural disasters and the amount of news

coverage the events received. Thus, hypothesis one was supported.

The study’s second hypothesis tested the behavioral component of the agenda-setting theory

and predicted that media coverage of the three disasters would be positively correlated to the

donations received by the nonprofit sector for its relief efforts. However, there was only partial

support for this hypothesis. As shown in Table 1, there was an immediate agenda setting impact

that weakened slightly for the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders across the

three disasters. For example, news stories about the 2004 tsunami did appear to correspond to

the same-day donation totals that were reported by the Red Cross (Spearman’s q ¼ .50,
p ¼ .03) and Doctors Without Borders (Spearman’s q ¼ .39, p ¼ .047). UNICEF also experi-
enced an increase in donations to its charitable relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina (Spearman’s

q ¼ .43, p ¼ .031) and the Haitian earthquake (Spearman’s q ¼ .53, p ¼ .026), but it news stories
about the Asian tsunami did not impact its fundraising efforts (Spearman’s q ¼ .14, p ¼ .76).

Moving beyond the 1-day lag to examine the overall impact of the news stories that focused

on the natural disasters reveals an interesting pattern for the American Red Cross and, to a lesser

extent, for Doctors Without Borders. News stories about the tsunami, hurricane, and earthquake

continued to have an impact on donations made to the American Red Cross in the days after they

aired. Although the days varied in terms of the positive impact experienced for the two organiza-

tions (2–4 days for American Red Cross, 2–3 days for Doctors Without Borders), news stories

focusing on the natural disasters had a lingering impact on their charitable relief totals.

Looking at individual disasters, Table 1 shows that news stories about the Asian tsunami did

not result in increased donations to UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, or World Vision. Like-

wise, news stories about Hurricane Katrina did not result in increased donations to Catholic

Relief Services or World Vision, even though they did for the remaining three organizations.

CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 337

Catholic Relief Services was the only nonprofit that did not receive a boost in its fundraising to

the Haitian earthquake in response to media coverage about the general event.

The third hypothesis tested the second level of the agenda-setting theory and predicted that

donations to an organization’s relief efforts would be positively correlated to news stories that

highlighted the nonprofit organization. This hypothesis was supported, to some extent, for all

five of the organizations across all three natural disasters. Using the 2004 tsunami as an example,

when the American Red Cross (42 references), UNICEF (24), Catholic Relief Services (14),

World Vision (19), or Doctors Without Borders (18) were mentioned during news stories about

the tsunami, they experienced a surge of donations following the stories.

Continuing to highlight the study’s findings by using the 2004 tsunami as an example, Table 2

shows that there was a very strong correlation between media coverage and same-day donation

totals that continued to show a moderate positive correlation as the days progressed for the

American Red Cross (Spearman’s q ¼ .59, p ¼ .009) and Catholic Relief Services (Spearman’s
q ¼ .59, p ¼ .009). UNICEF (Spearman’s q ¼ .38, p ¼ .046) and Doctors Without Borders
(Spearman’s q ¼ .39, p ¼ .047) experienced an influx of donations on the day following stories
that highlighted their relief efforts.

It is interesting to note that World Vision (Spearman’s q ¼ .51, p ¼ .028), Doctors Without
Borders, and UNICEF, along with the American Red Cross, reported increased donations that

continued in the days following the news coverage. As shown in Table 2, similar patterns

emerged when the time-lag correlations were conducted for the five organizations’ daily

TABLE 1

Correlation Between Generic Television Coverage of Three Natural Disasters and Donations Made to the

Leading Nonprofit Organizations’ Relief Efforts

Television coverage precedes donations

�6 �5 �4 �3 �2 �1 0 Day-Lag

2004 Asian tsunami

American Red Cross �.06 .10 .19 .26 .39� .42� .50�
UNICEF �.02 �.18 �.26 �.01 �.14 .04 .14
Catholic Relief Services �.43� �.39� �.25 �.16 �.35 �.08 �.12
World Vision �.19 �.28 �.21 �.06 .03 .14 .25
Doctors Without Borders �.12 �.17 �.05 .15 .21 .33 .39�

2005 Hurricane Katrina

American Red Cross .07 .18 .22 .39� .45� .62�� .89���

UNICEF �.01 .04 .15 .22 .32 .38� .43�
Catholic Relief Services �.21 �.09 �.08 �.03 .05 .18 .21
World Vision �.18 �.07 .02 .09 .22 .20 .29
Doctors without Borders �.12 �.10 �.07 .04 .23 .39� .48�

2010 Haitian earthquake

American Red Cross .12 .15 .28 .37� .55� .72�� .76��

UNICEF �.08 .02 .15 .23 .30 .39� .53�
Catholic Relief Services �.30 �.21 �.06 .08 .13 .24 .32
World Vision .05 .08 .13 .21 .29 .36 .44�

Doctors without Borders .04 .07 .09 .24 .37� .48� .69��

�p < .05. ��p < .01. ���p < .001.

338 WATERS

fundraising totals and the daily news coverage they received in wake of Hurricane Katrina and

the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Although the strongest statistical significance continued to be

found for the American Red Cross across the time lags, each organization had a statistically

greater number of charitable donations being contributed by the public after they were specifi-

cally named in news stories. Therefore, support was garnered for the third hypothesis. There was

an agenda-setting behavioral effect that was not simply limited to immediate reactions to the

news coverage; for some nonprofits, the behavioral effect held over for multiple days following

the news reports.

The study’s research question attempted to test the third level of agenda setting by asking

whether the presence of an organizational spokesperson from the five nonprofit organizations

would result in increased donations to that organization. It should be noted that, for these stories,

an additional Chi-square test was carried out to determine whether the inclusion of an organiza-

tional spokesperson was more likely to indicate that the news story had a positive tone; this test

strengthened the connection to the third-level of agenda setting as it was found that the spokes-

people were found to be in more positive than neutral or negative stories (v2 ¼ 202.68, df ¼ 2,
p < .001). For the 2004 tsunami, representatives from American Red Cross had 19 appearances in news stories; the remaining organizations also had multiple appearances: UNICEF (11), Cath-

olic Relief Services (8), World Vision (12), and Doctors Without Borders (8). A similar pattern

was present for Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake as the American Red Cross gen-

erated the most media coverage and spokesperson opportunities; Catholic Relief Services had

TABLE 2

Correlation Between Television Coverage Mentioning Specified Nonprofit Organizations and Donations Made

to those Organizations’ Relief Efforts

Television coverage precedes donations
�6 �5 �4 �3 �2 �1 0 Day-Lag
2004 Asian tsunami

American Red Cross �.45� �.21 .28 .36 .00 .44� .59��
UNICEF �.09 �.29 .19 �.34 �.29 .56� .38�
Catholic Relief Services �.38� .01 �.08 �.12 .23 .35 .59��
World Vision �.19 �21 �.10 �.11 .35 .51� .14
Doctors Without Borders �.39� �.35 �.30 �.18 .56� .43� .39�

2005 Hurricane Katrina

American Red Cross .24 .35 .42� .49� .63�� .83��� .95���

UNICEF .04 .11 .19 .21 .34 .41� .54�

Catholic Relief Services .02 �.03 .08 .06 .09 .24 .42�
World Vision .03 .14 .16 .21 .25 .38� .32
Doctors Without Borders .04 .10 .19 .33� .45� .48� .52�

2010 Haitian earthquake

American Red Cross .19 .23 .37� .48� .62�� .74�� .85���

UNICEF .11 .02 .23 .21 .28 .43� .57�

Catholic Relief Services .00 .09 .14 .21 .28 .33 .39�

World Vision .03 .12 .15 .26 .35 .39� .47�

Doctors Without Borders �.02 .09 .18 .20 .39� .54� .73��

�p < .05. ��p < .01. ���p < .001.

CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 339

the least. This research question was supported with the strongest statistical support of all of the

studies’ inquiries.

As Table 3 shows, very few of the organizations experienced a same-day increase in dona-

tions after their spokespeople appeared in newscasts. Only the American Red Cross experienced

same-day boosts after news coverage of all three natural disasters. Doctors Without Borders was

the only other organization to receive the same-day gains based on the media coverage they

received after the Haitian earthquake (Spearman’s q ¼ .41, p ¼ .032). Interestingly, all five orga-
nizations across all three disasters received increased funds in the days following their spokes-

persons’ appearances in news stories. The American Red Cross (Spearman’s q ¼ .56, p ¼ .010)
and Doctors Without Borders had the biggest boost in their charitable relief donations; however,

all of the organizations experienced these increases. As shown in Table 3, a similar trend

emerged across all three natural disasters in that having a spokesperson representing the organi-

zation during the news story helped lead to increased donations to the organization’s charitable

relief efforts. The continued support in the days following the spokespersons’ appearances did

not last as long for UNICEF or Catholic Relief Services; however, correlations demonstrated that

there was a statistically significant increase in their donations in the short-term following their

appearances in the news.

The time lags across the three natural disasters found support for the third level of agenda

setting; that is, the tone of media coverage of specific attributes (e.g., specific nonprofits repre-

sented by their spokespeople in this case) were transferred from the media coverage to the

TABLE 3

Correlation Between Television Coverage Featuring Nonprofit Organizations’ Spokespersons and Donations

Made to those Organizations’ Relief Efforts

Television coverage precedes donations
�6 �5 �4 �3 �2 �1 0 Day-Lag
2004 Asian tsunami

American Red Cross �.02 �.28 .14 .01 .76�� .87��� .39�
UNICEF �.37� �.07 �.05 .01 .42� .75��� .04
Catholic Relief Services �.33 .11 .02 .00 .52�� .56�� �.11
World Vision �.19 .–10 �.13 .39� .41� .68��� �.21
Doctors Without Borders �.27 �.31 �.09 �.23 .42� .76��� �.29

2005 Hurricane Katrina

American Red Cross �.03 .12 .19 .42� .68�� .85��� .54��
UNICEF .–.21 �.07 .06 .28 .40� .45� .20
Catholic Relief Services �.18 �.04 .03 .10 .20 .39� .31
World Vision �.06 .10 .13 .24 .37� .51� .19
Doctors Without Borders �.21 �.03 .12 .27 .35 .58�� .35

2010 Haitian earthquake

American Red Cross .17 .26 .40� .53�� .66�� .79��� .56��

UNICEF .02 .10 .19 .31 .32 .38� .31
Catholic Relief Services �.05 .03 .18 .28 .39� .46� .23
World Vision �.14 .07 .21 .24 .29 .39� ..32
Doctors Without Borders .08 .13 .15 .32 .45� .64�� .41�

�p < .05. ��p < .01. ���p < .001.

340 WATERS

public’s mind based on the greater contributions from the public as reported by the nonprofits

after their news appearances.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study provide partial support for fundraising practitioners’ beliefs that news

coverage of charitable issues, specifically natural disasters, would generate donations for their

organizations. None of the study’s hypotheses were rejected outright, and the research question

found positive support for third-level agenda setting. Testing the case of donations to the three

natural disaster crisis relief efforts, this study found that simple coverage of the event showed no

correlation with reported daily donation totals except for the American Red Cross and Doctors

Without Borders, organizations that raised roughly one-half of all the total relief effort donated

to the 130 organizations that responded to the three disasters with fundraising initiatives.

However, when nonprofit organizations were mentioned in the news stories, donations to

their relief efforts increased. Correlations demonstrated that the response from the public was

even greater when an organizational spokesperson was interviewed during the news story. Test-

ing the second level of agenda setting, it was shown that the mere mention of nonprofit organiza-

tions by name helped bring in more donations to their relief efforts for all five of these

organizations. When their media spokespeople were interviewed and participated in the stories,

they were generally able to convey positive messages about the organization. This test of the

third level of agenda setting demonstrated the power of framing issues. In this case, the positive

messages from the spokespeople were relayed to the public, who then acted on these messages

by rewarding the nonprofits for their good deeds.

For fundraisers, these findings echo practitioner folklore that praises the power of the media

in relation to gaining financial support from the public. The significant statistical correlations

between news coverage and donations to charitable relief efforts provide evidence beyond gen-

eral public survey findings that news stories impact how natural disasters are viewed by the pub-

lic and how they respond to them (Bennett & Kottasz, 2000). Johnston’s (2002) encouragement

that nonprofit organizations leaders work closely with the media to advance their cause and

secure funding from the public can also find validation in the study’s findings.

Perhaps most interesting for the study’s research question was the lack of statistical support

for a same-day increase in donations in response to organizational spokespersons’ appearances

in newscasts. With the exception of the American Red Cross in all three disasters and Doctors

Without Borders after the Haitian earthquake, none of the remaining organizations saw same-day

donation increases stemming from their appearances in newscasts. However, they all experi-

enced increased donations in the first and second day following those appearances.

This delayed increase hints at the organizations’ ongoing fundraising efforts in wake of the

disasters. It is not uncommon for organizations to take video and sound bites from these news-

casts and weave them into e-mail blasts and social media campaigns designed to perpetuate the

coverage of the organization and encourage others to contribute who may not have seen the live

newscasts (Waters & Tindall, 2011).

In follow-up exchanges with fundraising directors at the national headquarters of three of the

five organizations, I discovered that Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, and World Vision all

used their appearances in national media in various communication opportunities to their

CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 341

existing supporters. Whether by highlighting the appearances on blogs or e-mail blasts, the orga-

nizations were persistent in maximizing the reach of their media appearances. Just as Warwick

et al. (2002) advocated linking mainstream media with electronic media, three of the five

nonprofits under examination followed their guidance and saw increased donations to their

charitable relief efforts.

For fundraisers, this study shows the importance of testing widely held beliefs. Contrary to

practitioner folklore, simple coverage of an issue does not correspond to the donations given

to that issue unless the organization is the unquestionable leader of that cause. For the three dis-

asters, the American Red Cross raised at least one-third, and up to one-half, of all the relief dona-

tions that were made in wake of the natural disasters. Based on the organization’s history in

responding to crises in the United States and abroad, there is little doubt that the Red Cross

is one of the most prepared organizations for responding to crises. News coverage of natural

disasters boosted donations to this organization but not to others.

For nonprofit organizations that are not the recognized leader in their area of focus, it is

important to note that this study found that participating in news helped generate more dona-

tions for the organizations. Relying on media coverage alone will not boost donations to a

nonprofit organization. It takes a proactive media relations effort to foster an environment that

encourages donations to flow into campaign coffers. As Wenger and Quarantelli (1989)

pointed out, the news media can be used to educate people about crises, but they can be used

for much more.

It is important to note that this study does not purport causation between mentions of non-

profit organizations or appearances by organizational spokespersons in the news stories and

donations to the nonprofits. Statistically significant correlations from archived data from the

Center of Philanthropy and Lexis-Nexis does not provide evidence that the members of the pub-

lic who saw the news stories felt that the natural disasters were important situations that war-

ranted support; nor do the correlations prove that seeing a nonprofit organization highlighted

in news stories would result in donations from the public. Without an experimental environment,

the causation cannot be proven; however, this study follows previous agenda-setting studies that

demonstrate a correlation between news coverage and the public’s attitudes. This study advances

agenda-setting theory by providing evidence of a correlation between news coverage and public

behavior in a non-political setting.

Nonetheless, the study highlights the importance of media relations efforts. Yoon (2005)

maintained that organizations cannot simply view media relations activities as information sub-

sidies. Nonprofit practitioners must be knowledgeable about working with the media so that they

respond to inquiries in a professional and timely manner. Proactive media relations certainly

involve the preparation and distribution of news releases, media kits, and other appropriate tac-

tics; however, reactive media relations—especially when done in the context of unpredictable

natural disasters and crises—weigh equally in the communications toolkit. Despite facing issues

involving the collection and mobilization of relief aid, nonprofit practitioners must be willing to

dedicate time and resources to working with the media. Truly prepared practitioners will develop

a solid understanding of the media’s operations and how journalists work. Hiring a public rela-

tions firm to conduct a media training session simply will not suffice, and mastering the prep-

aration of a sound bite will only go so far when dealing with crises. Organizations must develop

relationships with reporters so that they understand how to work with the reporters requesting

information and interviews.

342 WATERS

The study’s results show an agenda-setting influence of the media on the public’s perceived

importance and charitable behavior. That is to say, there was an increase in the attention that the

public paid to the natural disaster as the number of media stories increased. There was also a

demonstrable correlation between the news coverage of organizations and the public’s resulting

behavior of sending money to disaster relief efforts. In most agenda-setting studies, there is

ample evidence looking at issue salience in the public; however, instances providing support

for a behavioral component are much less common. Data for this study held a reverse pattern.

Limited data was available to examine issue salience among the public because of the lack of

public opinion polling conducted in relation to these three natural disasters. However, there

was ample evidence supporting an agenda-setting impact on the public’s behavior. When non-

profit organizations were able to get their organization on the media’s agenda, they were able to

detail what the organization was doing and how they were using charitable gifts. The data

collected show that there was a strong correlation between news coverage of the organization

and the donations received by the organization immediately after that coverage.

CONCLUSION

By showing a connection between news coverage, media appearances, and charitable giving,

this study provides insight into how nonprofit organizations can improve their fundraising

efforts. Although fundraisers often say that news coverage guides donations to charitable causes,

this test did not show such correlation except for the dominant organization in global disaster

relief efforts. Instead, the results of this study show that organizations would be better served

by focusing their attention on working with news media to secure coverage of the organization.

Whether these appearances come from proactive (e.g., distribution and follow-up of news

releases) or reactive media relations efforts (e.g., responding to media inquiries with interviews

and information), the result of the increased work for nonprofit fundraisers is likely to be

increased charitable contributions.

Limitations of the Study

This study focused on three natural disasters that impacted very different geographic regions of

the world: Southeast Asia, the Gulf Coast of the United States, and the Caribbean islands.

Results of the news coverage content analysis showed that the closer the disaster was to the Uni-

ted States, the more media space was given to the disaster. Therefore, it is possible that geogra-

phy plays an important role that was not truly accounted for in this study. Another limitation that

must be addressed concerns the magnitude of these three events. As discussed in the introduc-

tion, these three disasters caused substantial loss of life and damage to physical property. The

emotional impact and devastation caused by the disasters is unlike typical nonprofit organization

missions. As such, the correlation between news coverage and charitable donations may not

extend to other nonprofit issues.

Additionally, this study only looked at the top five fundraising organizations for those relief

efforts. Although the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University collected fundraising data for

more than 130 organizations, the data were not complete for most organizations. These organiza-

tions simply did not have staffing available to process donations as quickly as they were coming

CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 343

in, much less calculate daily totals to report to an independent organization researching the nonprofit

sector. A frequency count showed that the news stories in the sample highlighted an additional 14

organizations during the time period examined following the three disasters. Had the fundraising data

been more complete, statistical analysis could have been run on these organizations as well, to show

a stronger support for the agenda-setting hypotheses. It would have been interesting to test the

agenda-setting theory with nonprofits of different sizes (e.g., regional, national, and international)

or stature. However, as previously stated, the smaller organizations simply were unable to provide

this data as timely as the larger nonprofits with many fulltime professional fundraisers.

One final limitation that needs to be addressed from a public relations perspective is the

analysis of media relations activities. Unfortunately, specific media relations efforts, such as dis-

tribution of news releases or pitching stories to the media, were not archived for public access.

So, it was difficult to measure the nonprofit organizations’ media relations efforts accurately.

However, given the interdependent nature of the relationship between journalists and public rela-

tions practitioners as advocated by Sallot and Johnson (2006), it was decided that references to

nonprofit organizations by name and inclusion of organizational spokespeople could represent

reactive media relations activities because the media often approach organizations involved in

crises for information before information subsidies are ready to be distributed.

Future Research

The results of this study illustrate how mass communication theory can be used to broaden the

understanding of both fundraising and public relations activities. This study explored the

agenda-setting theory by examining three highly unusual events: international natural disasters.

The significant results from this study may not be generalizeable to noncrisis conditions.

Additional tests that examine nonprofit issues not involving disaster relief, such as AIDS or can-

cer research, should retest these hypotheses for the overall cause and the impact on major orga-

nizations working on these causes. These tests would deepen the understanding of the media’s

influence on charitable giving and help fundraising practitioners incorporate even more public

relations planning and activities into their program development. Fortunately, the results provide

a benchmark for future studies examining the impact of media coverage on nonprofit organiza-

tions’ donations for other crises and more general nonprofit programs.

Additionally, this study focused exclusively on the role of the television media in relaying

information about the natural disasters and nonprofit organizations providing relief effort. How-

ever, other forms of communication may have also played a significant role in influencing the

public’s behavior. Both word-of-mouth and Internet chatter, especially for the 2010 Haitian

earthquake, may have increased significantly given the scope of the disaster. Future research

could examine these venues, as well as the impact of social media and text messaging to provide

a more comprehensive understanding of the media’s impact on charitable donations. Given the

increasing amount of scholarship focusing on the intermedia agenda-setting effect that

Web-based news and social media outlets have on traditional news outlets (and vice versa), it

would be wise to examine the impact of these forms of news delivery on the public’s charitable

response as well. Then, fundraisers and nonprofit communication specialists will be in a better

position to strategically advance their organizations’ missions and programs with their

institutional track records and an established media presence.

344 WATERS

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