• Cause-related marketing (CRM) partnerships between luxury firms and charitable organizations have grown in popularity, yet no study has examined such luxury CRM campaigns thus far. Using a fictitious campaign by the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin and the Plan International Germany charity, the authors conducted an experimental CRM study among 281 actual luxury consumers. Realizing CRM campaigns in the luxury segment can be promising for luxury firms and charities. In particular, a CRM campaign works best when the donation magnitude is high (25% vs. 1%) and the price of the luxury service offering is moderate (€180 vs. €450). Furthermore, luxury campaigns enhance the attitudes of luxury customers toward charitable organizations, especially if they are unknown brands. Yet this study also offers a warning that luxury campaigns can be risky if consumers who have previously supported the charitable organization perceive the campaign as too high profile. Ultimately, this study reveals that CRM luxury campaigns play a major role for fundraising success.

Luxury brands and nonprofit organizations (NPOs) increasingly engage in cause-related marketing (CRM) relationships. However, most previous studies analyzed CRM effects from a corporate, rather than a nonprofit, perspective. This study reverses the viewpoint to determine if luxury brand partners are beneficial for NPOs. Using a fictitious CRM cooperation between Plan International Germany and the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin, two experimental studies obtained responses from 791 customers and 259 nonprofit employees/volunteers. The results show that partnering with a luxury brand can be beneficial because it enables the NPO to raise additional donations, enhances attitudes toward the nonprofit brand, and increases the chances of acquiring wealthy customers as future donors. Yet negative effects also arise, such as identification conflicts, especially among nonprofit employees and volunteers. Overall, this study reveals that nonprofit managers can pursue cooperation strategies with luxury brands—as long as they consider some important precautions.

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