Claire Tiffin, a social work student at the University of Arkansas, shortly after she successfully defended her Honors Thesis.

Author: Claire Tiffin | Major: Social Work | Semester: Spring 2022

This research experience was the culmination of my time at the University of Arkansas. From my first semester to my last, my research was always on my mind. I started this process with no experience in research, and I have already used so much of the knowledge I gained in my professional life. I learned how to find good sources, I learned how to set up a research guide, I learned the value of comparison, and I learned to professionally interview people. All of these skills can be translated into my work at nonprofits because like researchers, nonprofit organizations are working to find innovative ways to help their clients.

I chose my topic social media and fundraising because of my experience in the nonprofit field. I have interned at three different nonprofits, and each uses social media differently. I saw that during COVID, the nonprofits with stronger social media were able to fundraise immediately and therefore were not as heavily affected in that area. I found my mentor through the school of social work. Dr. Kim Stauss was fantastic to work with. She was constantly available to help me problem solve, she answered any question I had, and she supported me when my research did not go the way I wanted it to. My mentor played a huge role when it came to cutting the survey and adding more case studies. Dr. Stauss taught me how to reliably code and review transcripts. She encouraged me after weeks of postponed interviews. She guided me through the process, and she helped me every step of the way. Besides Dr. Stauss, another social work student, Hannah Baker, encouraged me as well. Hannah completed her interviews for her research in the fall, so she gave me advice on how to transcribe and review my transcripts.

The biggest challenge I faced during my research was recruitment. My original research study was a mixed-method approach involving the collection of surveys and a singular case study. I reached out to over 50 nonprofit organizations asking them to complete a survey. This Honors College grant enabled me to do this study because I was able to offer research survey participants incentives to respond to my study. I spent months trying to foster relationships and encourage responses, but in the end, only three responded. Because there were not enough responses to my survey, I added two more case studies to my project. I spent about two months encouraging survey responses, and then another two months interviewing and reviewing the new case studies.

I initially planned on attending the NASW Conference to present my research, but due to the survey getting pulled from my study, I was regrouping and interviewing the participants in my case study in the weeks before the conference. I did not let my setbacks stop me from completing my research, however. I found a link between social media and fundraising, and I found the best practices for fundraising online include having social media, being intentional (as defined by my research), and scheduled posting. The implications of my research show that more research needs to be done in the area of nonprofit fundraising narratives and the effect of social media overload. I plan to use my research at the nonprofits I work at to utilize social media to fundraise in the most ethical way possible. As I enter Graduate School at the University of Arkansas, I hope to expand further into this research.  I also dream of researching fundraising narratives and how those narratives affect clients negatively.