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

that respond differently to changes in economic conditions as most of their income is from sources such as handovers from the government and donations. When economic conditions fluctuate so will consumer confidence and disposable income. Which in turn affect household decisions and donating behaviours.
The household is described as “the basic consumption unit for most consumer goods” because it consists of individuals who live under the same roof. They influence each other’s purchasing decisions and consumption behaviours that impact individuals within the group or as whole.
In Australia, younger couples without children account for 7.2% of total households in 2011. Many couples are choosing to have children at a later stage or none at all. Double incomes make this group more affluent compared to other households.
Households of older couples with young children, aged less than 15 years old account for 16.7% of total households in 2011. Because these parents are older they tend to have higher incomes as they have been in the workforce longer, acquired capital and possessions.
The construction of the new Northern Beaches Hospital in Frenchs Forest has opened the opportunity for the construction of a new Starlight Express Room. To increase donations a multiple-segmentation strategy will be used within a main campaign and the marketing mix will be adjusted to target each household lifecycle.
Through the use of online adverting and social media both household lifecycles would be targeted. However, the product positioning, promotional and pricing strategies will vary to suit their needs. Younger couples without children would be targeted through social attributes of the campaign and older parents with children through convenience attributes of each marketing mix.
In conclusion the household lifecycle is a useful tool to segment the market as it provides marketers similar segments that share similar needs in relation to household-related problems and purchases. In order for charities such as the Starlight Children’s Foundation to increase donations they require a clear strategic campaign that segments target markets and tailors communications to suit their behaviours.

It is recommended:
That the marketing department review and assess current Starlight campaigns performance.
That market research is conducted to discover more about the consumer behaviours of household cycles in the area as there may be a better stage to target which may donate more.
That evaluations of the internal and external environments are conducted to assess whether the implementation of the suggested strategy is feasible.

1 Background - Starlight Children's Foundation Australia
The Starlight Children's Foundation Australia, henceforth to be referred to as ‘Starlight’, was established in 1988 and operates in all states within Australia (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, 2015).

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

illness.
1.1 Starlight Programs
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. The Starlight Express Rooms are medical free zones where kids and their families can have fun and a break from medical treatments. This helps the children develop resilience, wellbeing and a sense of normality (Starlight Children's Foundation Australia, 2015). The Captain Starlights program along with volunteers, help run the Express Rooms by creating joy and laughter through dance, music, art or performance to help sick kids through their most challenging moments (Starlight Children's Foundation Australia, 2015). The Express Rooms also function as teenage only zones at night as part of the Livewire program specifically designed for teens and young people aged 10-20 years old to combat loneliness and isolation (Starlight Children's Foundation Australia, 2015).
1.2 Not-for-profit charity sector
It is important to note that charities like Starlight are Not-for-profit organisations that respond differently to changes in economic conditions as most of their income is from sources such as handovers from the government and donations (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009).

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

donations. Refer to Appendix A to assess possible competition.
2 The Household Life Lifecycle And Segmentation
The household is described as “the basic consumption unit for most consumer goods” (Quester, Pettigrew, Kopanidis, Rao Hill, & Hawkins, 2014, p. 424) because it consists of individuals who live under the same roof. They influence each other’s purchasing decisions and consumption behaviours that impact individuals within the group or as whole. There are different types of households such as the family household, which consists of two or more related people who live and eat together and the non-family households, which consist of individuals who live alone or with others whom they are not related to (Quester et al., 2014, p. 425). Culture, social class beliefs and behaviour patterns are passed down to the younger generations through the household’s daily consumptions of brands and products. These behaviours become part of their family life and affect future household choices. For example, in some cases when a child moves out of home they are most likely to purchase brands they have grown up with, as that is all they know at that stage of their household lifecycle.
The household life cycle is the concept that each household passes through similar stages with its own characteristics, financial situation and purchasing patterns based on demographic variables (Quester et al., 2014, p. 428). That is, each cycle has new purchasing decisions to make based on problems that they need to solve. For example, a single man living in a studio will have different needs and income, compared to a family household when it comes to purchasing a new car.
Therefore, the household life cycle is a useful tool to segment the market as it provides marketers similar segments that share similar needs in relation to household-related problems and purchases. Marketers need to be aware of these differences so that they can focus their activities on the correct target market and not waste resources on those who may not have an interest or need for their service or product.