• Projekt

    Zusammenfassung

    Attention is a limited and valuable resource (Stroud 2017). This is true not only in the free market economy, but also in the health care sector. Here, attention focuses on certain diseases. For example, “research on cancer is carried out by more leading scientists from all disciplines than on any other disease” (Lauterbach, 2015, p. 13). Eckart (2013) calls cancer the “King of Diseases”. However, “this has never been true from an epidemiological perspective” (p. 105). For instance, cardiovascular diseases are more common than cancer to be the cause of an unnatural death in Germany (Destatis, 2022). Nevertheless, people also seem to be more prone to donate their money to organisations raising funds for cancer patients than those raising funds for patients with cardiovascular diseases.

    Since the “language and visuals employed with reference to a certain disease socially construct that disease” (Dan, 2017, p. 523), one can wonder whether the way the disease is presented and perceived has an influence on the amount of attention it receives. Hence, there should be a big incentive for fundraising organizations to influence the perception of the disease they are fundraising for and to advocate for a specific framing. Advocacy could, therefore, not only “help organizations achieve their mission” (Mosley, Weiner-Davis, & Anasti, 2020, p. 335), through raising awareness but also through establishing a perception of the disease beneficial to the fundraising efforts. To be able to do so, fundraising and advocacy strategies would have to go hand in hand within one organization.

    According to Ness et al. (2019), there is insufficient relevant literature on fundraising in Germany, especially on fundraising in healthcare. Moreover, “even though we define civil society organizations as an integral part of the good governance of society – and their internal processes thus are expected to influence also the external governance processes – we have little knowledge about the strategic processes within these organizations” (Einarsson, p. 181). This work aims at closing this gap in literature.

    Therefore, this study will answer the research question:
    Is framing being used strategically as an advocacy tool in fundraising?

    This dissertation, based in third sector research, will take an interdisciplinary approach to the topic of framing in fundraising and advocacy-work of organisations. It will address the gap in literature regarding academic writing on fundraising efforts in Germany. Finally, the researcher hopes to contribute to the understanding of the interplay between fundraising and advocacy efforts within organisations as well as on the powerful effects of framing a topic to one’s advantage.

    Literaturauswahl

    Dan, V. (2017). Integrative Framing Analysis: Framing Health through Words and Visuals (1st ed.). Routledge Research in Communication Studies. Milton: Taylor and Francis.

    Destatis (2022). Gesundheit: Todesursachen. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Gesundheit/Todesursachen/_inhalt.html#sprg229156

    Eckart, W. U. (2013). "Der König der Krankheiten" - Wie entstand die besondere Aufmerksamkeit für Krebskranke? Ein Essay. Zeitschrift für Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualität im Gesundheitswesen, 107(2), 105–115.

    Einarsson, S. (2010). How do Discourse and Governance interact within a Popular Movement? Case Study Research from Sweden.

    Lauterbach, K. (2015). Die Krebs-Industrie: Wie eine Krankheit Deutschland erobert (1. Auflage). Berlin: Rowohlt.

    Mosley, J. E., Weiner-Davis, T., & Anasti, T. (2020). Advocacy and Lobbying. In H. K. Anheier & S. Toepler (Eds.), The Routledge companion to nonprofit management (pp. 335–348). New York: Routledge.

    Ness, J., Heyder, R., Hassel, T., Helfers, C., Horst, P., Kreßirer, P., et al. (2019). Warum und wie fördern Menschen Medizin?: Spenderverhalten an Universitätskliniken in Deutschland. Gesundheitsökonomie & Qualitätsmanagement, 24(06), 292–299.

    Stroud, Natalie Jomini (2017): Attention as a Valuable Resource. In: Political Communication 34 (3), S. 479–489. DOI: 10.1080/10584609.2017.1330077.

  • Werdegang

    seit Juni 2023 Mitglied der Graduate School of Politics (GraSP) an der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Forschungsgruppe: Civil Society and Governance.
    seit Februar 2023 Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin Westfählische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
    Juni 2022-Januar 2023 Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft Westfählische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
    seit Mai 2021 Beginn des Promotionsstudiums an der Westfählischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster
    September 2018-September 2019 MSc NGO and Development Management University of East London
    Oktober 2015-Juli 2018 BA Kommunikationswissenschaft Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

  • Methodik

    1. Quantitative Content Analysis:
      To answer RQ 1, a quantitative content analysis of three publications (Zeitung für Krebsforschung, Die ZEIT, Deutsches Ärzteblatt) and for three different time periods (1950/51, 1979/80, 2007/08), chosen on the basis of a thorough literature review, has been conducted.
    2. Integrative Framing Analysis I:
      To answer RQ 2, an Integrative Framing Analysis of selected articles from step 1 will be conducted.
    3. Integrative Framing Analysis II:
      To answer RQ3 one organisation will be chosen to serve as a case study. Fundraising material of this organisation will be analysed with an integrative Framing Analysis
    4. Interviews and Document Analysis:
      To answer RQ4, an organisation analysis will be conducted for the organisation chosen to serve as case study. For this step, a series of interviews will be conducted, and documents will be analysed.