Digital Dialogues: The Role of Co-Creation and Storytelling in Donor Engagement of Water Non-Profits

On a global level, water nonprofit organizations (NPOs) strive to solve a cross-cutting global issue that are rather intangible to the public. Social media provides NPOs, who often struggle with human and financial resources, with low-cost and easy-to-use interface for attracting donors for their fundraising goals. Remarkably, the social media use of water NPOs remains poorly researched. This thesis therefore aimed to explore how American water non-profit organizations define their purpose to attract donors through an analysis of co-created posts on Instagram and the role storytelling plays therein. Applying the principles of dialogic communication theory, value co-creation, and storytelling, a qualitative content and semiotic analysis of Instagram posts were conducted to identify what purpose statement NPOs manifest, and secondly, how, i.e., through which methods and strategies, this purpose is communicated. The data for analysis consisted of Instagram post that included co-creation, communicated by three US registered charities, Water.org, Waves for Water, and Charity Water. The analysis identified the overall intention of all NPOs to end the global water crisis by providing clean in-house water supply globally. The improvement of socioeconomic areas of health, education, empowerment, and finances were communicated as steppingstones towards the ending of the global water crisis. Regarding the way this purpose was communicated, this research found the utilization of co-created posts on Instagram, wherein different stakeholders were incorporated as co-authors to aid in storytelling. Co-authors chosen were mainly stakeholders of high importance such as beneficiaries, brand partners, and donors, but NPOs were found to be the lead co-author in the production of posts. Usefulness of information and conservation of visitors were most used by NPOs to engage donors in a two-way communication. Visual analysis, through social semiotic analysis found that NPOs seemed to employ photographs and graphic elements to tell the story of how water transforms lives to attract donors. Through positive facial expressions, NPOs positioned viewers in the story of ending the global water crisis. The findings of the thesis reveal the multitude of strategic collaboration, dialogic principles, and visual tools endorsed by NPOs to stand out on Instagram to increase donorship.