In-kind donations – peculiarities and challenges of product philanthropy

Abstract

In-kind donations are an essential resource for many nonprofit organizations (NPO). However, their high practical relevance is not yet reflected in the literature on nonprofit marketing and fundraising which still focuses primarily on cash giving. Against this background, we summarize the limited and fragmentary literature on in-kind giving and provide some practical insights. The paper makes several contributions: first, we present an income classification of NPO’s manifold mix of resource sources that includes in-kind donations. Second, a classification of (cash and non-cash) donations categorizes the heterogeneous forms of donations and, in particular, financial surrogates. Third, and based on this typology, we develop a comprehensive definition of in-kind donations as an important step towards conceptualization. Fourth, we outline the specifics of in-kind donations and associated challenges via three case vignettes that illustrate practical experiences of NPO in dealing with product philanthropy. Finally, we give some recommendations for NPO’s in-kind fundraising endeavours and indicate avenues for further research.