Brand positioning and image development are important topics for any religious organisation wishing to provide an effective service to the public. It follows that in a world with increasing religious options, the position strategy decision and the brand position statement are essential aspects of a fully responsive religious organisation. To investigate these issues the author presents the findings of a study that compared the brand position of a Catholic shrine in Portugal, i.e. the sanctuary of Fátima, with the image of the shrine as perceived by its pilgrims. The paper also attempts to offer a definition of religious marketing and explores some possible antecedents of effective brand positioning within this particular field. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The topic of donations is one of high relevance and has been widely covered in contemporary marketing literature. It is a topic of interest to both theoreticians and practitioners alike, particularly due to its implicit links to fundraising activities and research. The reality of what makes an individual donor ultimately part with his money and give it away to a nonprofit organization is a hot contemporary topic. This study looks into the role of religiosity as a predictor of donations practices. Also volunteerism and compassion, two acts of pro-social behaviour are analysed as predictors of donations practices. Using data collected from a survey of 612 charity donors in Portugal, the results show unequivocally that religiosity does influence donations practices, and so being a predictor of donations practices. Moreover, pro-social behaviour is a predictor of donations practices when in the case of volunteerism, but not in the form of compassion.• The findings are particularly useful for nonprofit organizations that want to attract and retain individual charitable donors and may also help to increase donation regularity, to obtain higher amounts, and donations both to religious and to secular organizations. Finally, it can be stated that the understanding of religiosity sheds light on knowledge about donations practices, and that this study also makes an important contribution to academia, as it is the first study conducted in Portugal that assesses the drivers of donations practices.

The present research deals with donations practices and the extent to which drivers of donations practices contribute to volunteering behavior. The paper aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between volunteerism and key drivers in donating behavior and donations practices, thus allowing charities to pursue more efficient ways in which to elicit volunteer work as well as better manage fundraising practices. It is argued that gender, age, religious affiliation, compassion, altruism, egoism, and religiosity impact on the level of volunteerism of the donor.A sample of 612 Portuguese donors was selected from within a population of donors that donate regularly to charitable institutions. The key findings of the current study are grounded on the idea of interaction between the volunteering behavior of a donor and both his level of religiosity and his religious affiliation. With regard to other drivers of donations practices, it was found that both altruism and compassion are positively correlated with donor volunteerism.

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