The Starlight Children's Foundation Australia

This report demonstrates how household decisions to donate to a charity are influenced by their stage in the household lifecycle.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia has been chosen to explain how the charity’s positioning and marketing mix would need to differ for the selected household lifecycles of Younger Couples without Children and Older Couples with Children.

The Starlight Children's Foundation Australia’s mission is "to brighten the lives of seriously ill children and their families". Starlight services are referred to as ‘In Hospital’ and ‘Out of Hospital’ programs. For the purpose of this report the 'In hospital' program of the Starlight Express Rooms has been selected.

Charities like Starlight are Not-for-profit organisations

Starlight's mission is "to brighten the lives of seriously ill children and their families" (Starlight Children's Foundation Australia, 2015). This is accomplished by helping the children and their families cope with their pain, stress and isolation through high quality entertainment and interactive programs (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, 2015). Also to make sure there is always the opportunity for children and their families to access and benefit from their extensive and innovative programs throughout the child’s

That is, as economic conditions fluctuate so will consumer confidence and disposable income. Which inturn affect consumer decisions and donations behaviours. Charities may also receive revenue from sales of goods and services such as branded merchandise. However, the will to donate may be controlled by people's varying philanthropic disposition, which is either intrinsic or developed (Treiblmaier & Pollach , 2008). This means that charities face further challenges to create advocates, as many of them may have never considered donating because they had not felt the need to do so. Thus, it is the marketing department’s mission to develop strategies that create these needs and provide the solution with their services.

The charity sector is constantly growing and changing. While 70% of charities have been active for over 10 years, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) registered over 1,600 new charities in its first year (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, 2015). Nearly half (43%) of registered charities have social and community welfare as their main purpose. These statistics foresee challenge for established charities to remain competitive and continue to receive