An inductive investigation of participants’ attachment to charity sports events: the case of team water charity

ABSTRACT

Research question: Charities have begun utilizing sport events as a vehicle for obtaining contributions toward a designated cause and to differentiate themselves in the charity market. Although scholarship has focused on how people attach to a charitable organization, there is a lack of research investigating religiously based international charities. Therefore, this paper examines the attachment of participants in a running event fundraiser for a North American based Christian water charity implementing clean water systems in the developing world.

Research methods: Part of a larger ethnography, this study focuses upon semi-structured interviews conducted with charity fundraisers, race participants and charity organizers, before, during, and after the Miami Marathon. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded both individually and communally by the authors.

Results and Findings: Three distinct themes emerged: (1) embodied philanthropy; (2) embodied internalization of the cause; and (3) religiosity and international philanthropy. Theme three was divided into two sub-themes concerning (3a) religious systems of consumer ethics and global citizenship and (3b) participants as conduits for their religion. These themes developed as distinct responses for how individuals connect to an international cause unrelated to their everyday lives and show how a Christian water charity connects water poverty with the values of current and potential fundraisers.

Implications: Findings of this study show the important role of embodied action and religiosity in philanthropy. Results contribute to the existing literature on psychological attachment within the sport management literature, while extending the field to include religiously based international charities.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport for charity
• international aid
• psychological attachment
• sport and religion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 From this point forward, any names used in reference to organizers of events, participants, or organizational members are pseudonyms only. No real names are used in this project in order to maintain anonymity.