Welcome to this Special Issue, which contains six articles specifically selected for their exceptional contribution to the advancement of knowledge and the stimulation of further research in the nonprofit marketing field. Early versions of five of the six papers included in the Special Issue were originally presented either at the Fourth International Colloquium on Nonprofit, Social and Arts Marketing held in London in 2004 or at the Inaugural Australasian Nonprofit and Social Marketing Conference hosted in 2004 by the Australian National University in Canberra. A second Australasian Nonprofit and Social Marketing Conference took place in Melbourne in 2005; a third is scheduled to occur at the University of Newcastle in Australia in 2006. This (now annual) Conference is clearly set to become a primary vehicle for the dissemination of nonprofit research findings arising in the Australasian region. The current Special Issue is nevertheless truly international in scope and has papers from authors based in the United States, Portugal, Belgium, Australia and Great Britain, underscoring the fact that serious research in nonprofit marketing is now being conducted throughout the world. A wide variety of topics are covered by the articles appearing in this Special Issue, in line with the broadening diversity of contemporary research in the nonprofit marketing domain.
The first paper is by Sandra Jones and Neville Owen of the Centre for Health Behaviour and Communication Research at the University of Wollongong in Australia and concerns the efficacy of using fear appeals to encourage women to attend breast cancer screening sessions. Unintended consequences of high-threat communications in this regard, Jones and Owen note, include the inculcation of excessively negative emotional reactions and unwarranted greater perceived susceptibility among young women outside the target audience. In Australia (and most other countries) mammographic screening is only recommended for women aged 50 or above. This paper is followed by a fascinating article by Fred Jacobs and Nicholas Marudas that examines the question of whether a one per cent increase in a charity's fundraising expenditure is likely to lead to a more than one per cent rise in net donations. One hundred United States nonprofit organisations were investigated, of which 24 seemingly spent 'excessive' amounts on fundraising (in the sense