Small charities’ impact on society Essay

small charities are defined solely by the annual income/revenue. For instance, charity commission of Wales and England, define small charities based on an annual turnover of less than £100,000. Similarly, Canada Revenue Agency (2008) defines small charities with total revenues under $100,000. Ayer et al. (2009) suggest the size of small charities can further be divided in two sub-categories. For example, within the Almanac, small charities can further be divided by charities with income less than £10,000 and £10,000 to 100,000 (NCVO, 2012). Brouard et al., 2012 study on small charities includes other variables - designation type rural/urban location, religious/secular nature and charitable activity category in determining the size of small charities (Brouard et al., 2012). Charity income should not be the only variable to define the size of a charity.A wealth of literature relating to the merits of small charities reveals the value and impact that such charities offer or deliver to society. Small charities are rooted or embedded in their local communities (Baker et al., 2011) and as such have good knowledge and understanding of the people and communities (Robinson 2014) allowing them to deliver effective services informed by local context (Independence Panel, 2015). They are able to act as 'anchors' within their community, providing stability and addressing local needs (Locality, 2015). Terry (2015) noted that being responsive to individual/local context is crucial for small charities when working with people with complex needs. Furthermore, many small charities have an established history of helping individuals and communities through difficult times (Baker et al., 2011) as they are distinctively placed to help those hardest to reach (CSJ 2013).
some researchers (Kendall and Knapp, 1994 Brandsen et al., 2005 Westall, 2009) have been critical of the appraisals of small charity's benefits and impact. It is argued that the real added value of their work is intuitive and unmeasurable (Botham and Setkova 2004 Weaver 2014). Digital marketing has undergone phenomenal growth since its inception (Robinson et al., 2007) transforming the approach to marketing which is not just traditional marketing boosted by digital components (Liu et al., 2011 Jrvinen et al., 2012). The Internet is the main vehicle of digital marketing in delivering marketing messages and has become the fastest growing marketing medium of this decade (Ha, 2008). Blickle et al., (2009) states that digital marketing could be termed as the usage of information technology and digital tools for marketing activities. Karjaluoto and Ulkuniemi , (2015), for instance identified a number of digital communication channels such a website, search engine, e-mail, social and mobile media that are used for digital marketing and highlighted that they help manage and maintain firm-client and firm-stakeholder relationships. The range of digital communication tools helps deliver content and enables interaction with audience through the different online communication tools (Wymbs, 2011). The Digital Marketing Institute cited by Smith (2007) further defines digital marketing as adopting digital technologies to create an integrated communication that is targeted and measurable and aids in attaining and retaining customers while developing relationships.