Running head: RISING STAR OUTREACH BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Rising Star Outreach Background Research

Alexis Johnson
Matthew McKinlay
Mia Do
Geoffrey Taylor

RISING STAR OUTREACH BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Rising Star Outreach Background Research

Rising Star Outreach is an organization dedicated to fighting against leprosy in India.
The organizations mission is to help the leprosy colonies become thriving, self-sufficient
communities (Rising Star Outreach, n.d.).
Rising Star Outreach has been established in India as an NGO for 10 years. During its
time there, the organization has established mobile medical clinics that service 14 colonies. It
has built a school that educates 233 students and has hired 71 employees in India. The
organizations most valuable resources are its 200 volunteers and over 850 sponsors. The
volunteers contribute 60% to Rising Star Outreachs yearly funds, while the remaining 40%
comes from private donors and the board of directors.
Rising Star Outreach is effectively combating leprosy in India with its three pillar
approach: economic rehabilitation, medical care, and educating children. The organization has
been successful in all three areas, but in order to sustain operations it is in need of continued
support from volunteers and donors. The two main issues associated with acquiring the
continued support of volunteers and donors is the stigma associated with leprosy and having the
necessary resources to expand.
Rising Star Outreach has been fairly effective in recruiting volunteers and donors. It has
employed a number of techniques to attract new volunteers and donors, and to retain the old
ones.
Resources to Consider
Rising Star Outreach has established itself in the Kancheepuram Districtof India,
flourishing in its almost 12 years as a nonprofit organization. In that amount of time, it has
operated a mobile medical clinic, built a boarding school and provided micro loans to those in
poverty suffering from leprosy. Currently, 233 kids, ranging in grades from Kindergarten to tenth

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grade, attend three different schools that Rising Star constructed in 2010 on their real estate in
India. The first graduating class will be in 2014. From the Rising Star school, the students will
transition from the successfully completed tenth grade into Indian public schools where they will
receive their last two years of education. These boarding schools have proven to be very
resourceful for the nonprofit. Students from leper families, living in leper colonies, are now able
to leave the colony and stay at the boarding school while they study. The schools have become
the envy of the community because of their American resources in technology and English
teaching. Consequently, lepers who were typically shunned as the lowest in the Indian caste
system are now allowed to study and play with children from other castes, breaking down
cultural barriers while integrating the local community with the leper colony. Currently, the
student population consists of 80% from leper colonies and 20% from local villages.
Celebrity Advocates
In its arsenal of resources, Rising Star has come to rely on advocacy from celebrity
endorsements. Former NBA star Shawn Bradley and pop singer David Archuleta have both
publicly supported Rising Star and its cause. But by far the greatest celebrity endorsement has
come from Padma Venkataraman. The daughter of former Indian President Ramaswamy
Venkataraman, Padma has proved invaluable as a social advocate in India. She is vice president
of the Womens India Association and patron of the Gandhi Peace Foundation. She also serves
Rising Star Outreach of India as a member of the Board of Directors.
To grow its donor and volunteer base and expand its reputation, Rising Star needs to attract more
high-quality celebrity partnerships such as these. In a study evaluating the public perception of
celebrity endorsements, Spry, Pappu & Cornwell (2011) examined the impact of a celebritys
credibility on an endorsed brand. They found that most celebrities add credibility to a brand,

RISING STAR OUTREACH BACKGROUND RESEARCH

even when they are not considered generally credible themselves. But the better the reputation
of the celebrity, the better they were able to build the brand. Spry and colleagues (2011)
concluded that when choosing an endorser, brands should look for celebrities who are perceived
as being credible based on their attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness.
Organizations Website
Another resource at Rising Stars disposal is its website. The website offers a strong
graphic presence with photos of volunteers serving Indians who suffer from leprosy. There are
drop-down menus that let the user navigate such topics as, Our Program, About Us,
Contact Us and Menu. Despite such options, users may find it difficult to navigate around
the website, not knowing where to click to reach their desired information. In a study titled,
Interactive Communication Features on Nonprofit Organizations' Webpages for the Practice of
Excellence in Public Relations, Yeon, Choi and Kiousis (2005) examined the websites of the top
100 non-profits in the U.S. to see how they were being used as a public relations tool, especially
in media, donor and volunteer relations. The results they found were surprising. According to
their study, the usage of the sites for key publics had no significant relationship to increased
revenue for the non-profits. Also key to note is that most non-profits did not provide journalists
with easy-to-access press content. Compared with journalists and volunteers, donors were often
given prominence in content and website features (Yeon et al., 2005).

Recruiting Volunteers and Donors

There are many external factors that could either promote or impede success for
Rising Star Outreach. The positive perceptions toward donating time and money often induce

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people to donate. The impeding factors include anything that competes for that time and money
and negative perceptions toward leprosy.
Volunteers
Volunteers are the fuel that drives Rising Star Outreachs three pillar approach to
combating leprosy. Without volunteers, the organization would not be able to operate nearly as
effectively. It is crucial to understand what motivates people to volunteer and which groups
would be more likely to volunteer than others.
The most successful form of marketing has been through word of mouth from past
volunteers. Because of hands on experience, past volunteers have become Rising Star Outreachs
greatest marketing assets. Those that spend time in India have a greater likelihood of becoming
donors. They are also effective in convincing their family and friends to donate or volunteer.
Why people volunteer. Although some altruistic reasons for volunteering exist, these
are rarely the main reasons people do so. According to a study conducted by Murnighan and
colleagues (1993) the top four reasons people give for volunteering are (1) improve their skills
and to make themselves more employable, (2) stimulate social interactions that may develop into
friendships, (3) put themselves in position for employment when it becomes available or (4)
obtain other self-oriented benefits (Murnighan, Kim, & Metzger, 1993, p. 518). The study also
indicated that in order for most people to be convinced to volunteer, they need to be able to
justify to themselves that the personal benefits outweigh the costs of volunteering.
Research suggested that the way organizations solicit donations affects how people
donate and how much people donate. Special events are the most commonly reported driver for
fundraising amongst Rising Stars NPO. This method was rated as the second most effective
fundraising strategy. The most effective method was peer-to-peer fundraising (Blackbaud,

RISING STAR OUTREACH BACKGROUND RESEARCH

2013). These traditional methods are slowly becoming less effective as the new generation of
donors, along with their new channels of communication, enter the donation pool. There are
three methods of fundraising that are rapidly on the rise within the industry and competition:
Peer-to-peer fundraising, scheduled Donor Meetings, and social networking and other online
donations. The latter only contributes a small portion currently, but this channel has been seeing
a rapid increase.
Another study by Clary and Snyder (1999) went into greater detail in examining the
reasons why people donate or volunteer. The study identified six functions that volunteering
servers for an individual. These functions include values, understanding, enhancement, career,
social and protective (Clary & Snyder, 1999). Table 1 displays a comprehensive definition of
each of those functions.

Table 1
Functions served by volunteering and their assessment on the Volunteer Functions
Inventory (VFI)
Function
Conceptual Definition
Sample VFI Item
The individual volunteers in order to express
I feel it is important to help
Values
or act on important values like
others.
humanitarianism.
The volunteer is seeking to learn more about Volunteering lets me learn
Understanding the world or exercise skills that are often
through direct, hands-on
unused.
experience.
Enhancement

One can grow or develop psychologically

through volunteer activities

Career

The volunteer has the goal of gaining careerrelated experience through volunteering.

Social

Volunteering allows an individual to

strengthen his or her social relationships.

Protective

The volunteer uses volunteering to reduce

Volunteering makes me feel

better about myself.
Volunteering can help me get
my foot in the door at a place
where I would like to work.
People I know share an
interest in community
service.
Volunteering is a good

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negative feelings, such as guilt, or to address escape from my own

personal problems.
troubles.
Source: Clary, E. G. & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer: theoretical and practical
considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(5), 157.
Trends in volunteering, just like trends in every other realm, have changed over time. A
recent study was done by Young and McChesney (2013) to analyze the new trends that are
developing in volunteering. The study found that today, more than ever, volunteers are looking
for something that can make a large impact so that they feel that they are accomplishing
something of worth (Young & McChesney, 2013). Experiences in which volunteers feel as if
they are making the proverbial difference are central to attracting and rewarding today's
volunteers and, if well organized and marketed to potential volunteers, they can have unlimited
potential and benefits (Young & McChesney, 2013, p. 26). This is useful to Rising Star
Outreach because the volunteer program at this organization can provide volunteers with exactly
this kind of experience.
A study conducted by the United Health Group found that volunteering can have a
number of positive effects on the individual volunteering (Doing good is good for you, 2013).
The study surveyed people who had done volunteer service within the past year of their lives.
Findings indicated that 76% of respondents said volunteering made them feel healthier, 94%
reported that volunteering had improved their emotional well-being and 78% said that
volunteering helped them to reduce stress (Doing good is good for you, 2013). These positive
effects can be useful in recruiting more volunteers who are seeking to better these aspects of their
lives.
There are also benefits to be had in volunteering through the workplace. The study went
on to say that 81% of employees who volunteered through workplace opportunities reported
stronger relationships with their coworkers (Doing good is good for you, 2013). If Rising Star

RISING STAR OUTREACH BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Outreach is able to work with businesses to provide volunteer opportunities to employees, the
organization is likely to have more success in recruiting and maintaining volunteers. Of course it
would not be very easy or practical for businesses to arrange for trips to India, but perhaps they
could encourage employees to donate money or participate in fundraising activities for Rising
Star Outreach.
Volunteer demographics and psychographics. According to the Corporation for
National and Community Service (Fact sheet, 2010), young people are usually excited to get
involved and volunteer as teenagers. There are a lot of volunteers in the 16-19 age group but as
people age, approaching the 20-24 mark, volunteer rates go down. As Figure 1 shows, however,
volunteering peaks in the 35-44 age group before declining again.

Figure 1

Source: Fact sheet. (2010). Corporation for National & Community Service. Retrieved
from http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/gpo29428/2010factsheet/10_0614_via_2010_fact_sheet_6_10_10.pdf

RISING STAR OUTREACH BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Oesterle and colleagues (2004) found that one possible reason for that dip in volunteers
for the 20-24 age group is children (Oesterle, Johnson, & Mortimer, 2004). Due to the amount of
time and money required for raising children, young married respondents and young parents
were involved in fewer organizations than young single respondents without children (Oesterle,
Johnson, & Mortimer, 2004, p. 1127). The study also mentioned that the role of parenthood
could be more difficult for younger parents than older parents. Thus, being a parent at later
ages during young adulthood should be less limiting than at earlier ages (Oesterle, Johnson, &
Mortimer, 2004, p. 1127). These findings indicate that volunteers are most likely to come in the
form of single young adults or older, more established adults who have already made it through
the difficult stage of having young children. Also, because family roles often involve women
taking care of the children, men are more likely to have time for volunteering while children are
living at home (Oesterle, Johnson, & Mortimer, 2004).
A study by the Corporation for National and Community Service examined how
volunteer rates in the Salt Lake City metro area compares to top 50 metro areas in the United
Sates and to the national average (City trends and rankings, 2007). As Figure 2 shows, the
volunteer rate in the Salt Lake City metro has been consistently higher than the top 50 metro
areas by about 11.7% and has been higher than the national average by about 10.3%. This is
good for Rising Star Outreach because it shows that the organization is based in a location that
has a high historical rate of volunteering.
Within the Salt Lake metro area, people in suburban locations volunteer more than those
in urban areas, women generally volunteer more than men and the 65-74 age group volunteers
more time than any other group (City trends and rankings, 2007). More information

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comparing volunteer rates of Salt Lake City to the national average in terms of location, gender,
and age can be seen in Table 2.
The study also found that Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, and Austin have the highest rate
of volunteering, while New York, Miami, and Las Vegas have the lowest rate (City trends and
rankings, 2007). Table 3 provides a full list of volunteering rates in each state.

Figure 2

Source: City trends and rankings. (2007). Corporation for National & Community
Service. Retrieved from http://permanent.access.gpo.gov.erl.lib.byu.edu/gpo29428/2007cities/VIA_cities_fullreport.pdf
Table 2

RISING STAR OUTREACH BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Source: City trends and rankings.

(2007). Corporation for
National & Community
Service. Retrieved from

http://permanent.access.gpo.gov.erl.lib.
byu.edu/gpo29428/2007-cities/VIA cities fullreport.pdf
Table 3
Volunteer Rates by Metropolitan Areas

11

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12

Source: City trends and rankings. (2007). Corporation for National & Community Service.
Retrieved from http://permanent.access.gpo.gov.erl.lib.byu.edu/gpo29428/2007cities/VIA_cities_fullreport.pdf
Donors
Just as important as the volunteers are the donors. Without the proper amount of funds,
Rising Star Outreach would not be able to continue with the aid and services it provides.
Understanding the reasons for donating as well as the demographics and psychographics are just
as critical for donors as they are for volunteers.
Why people donate. A 2012 study conducted on motivations for donating found that
21% of donors surveyed donated to an organization that supported a cause that influenced them
or someone they loved while 16% donated to sponsor a friend that was taking part in a charity
(Donor perspectives, 2012). Rising Star Outreach has been effectively used personal

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relationships to entice friends of current donors or volunteers to donate, and the organization
should continue to do so.
The study also looked into motivations for people to become regular donors such as the
sponsors of children with leprosy. The top three reasons people decided to become regular
donors included the following: (1) they could see an improvement in their personal financial
situation, (2) they were interested in the cause of an organization and wanted to support the
cause and (3) they were provided enough information to see how their donations made a
difference (Donor perspectives, 2013, p. 7). If Rising Star Outreach focuses on these three
self-interests of regular donors, the organization will be more effective at finding sponsors for
children in the leprosy colonies.
The study also assessed reasons why regular donors decided to stop making their regular
donations. The top reason for deciding to stop donating is that personal finance situations
worsen, forcing donors to stop donating (Donor perspectives, 2013). The second highest
reason was that donors perceived the organization as not using the donated funds as efficiently as
they should. Although Rising Star Outreach has no control over the personal financial situations
of its donors, the organization can use funds efficiently and communicate use of funds to donors.
Doing so will likely increase donor retention.
Donor demographics and psychographics. A study on donor perspectives investigated
the amount of donations different age groups contributed in the course of a year. As Figure 3
shows, people 65 and older donate the most amount of money to charities while people 18-24
contribute the least. This is important information for Rising Star Outreach in determining which
age groups to target for donations.
Figure 3

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14

Average Total Donations in United States, Great Britain, and

Australia by Age Group

Age
Source: Donor perspectives: an investigation into what drives your donors to give. (2012).
Blackbaud. Retrieved from
https://www.blackbaud.com/files/resources/downloads/10.12_DonorProfile_whitepaper_
FINAL2.pdf
To understand why people give one must break the people into specific groups.
Individuals dont always act or give in the same way. For example, a Millennial (ages 18-32) will
not give as much as Baby Boomers (ages 49-67) whom are at the end of their careers and
retiring. It is very important to address the groups accordingly to maximize their donation
potential. The following statistics were taken from www.blackbaud.com, a website that provides
information on non-profits studies for the year 2012.
Millennial (18-32): Also known as Gen Y, This group of individuals constitutes 11% of total
giving back in 2012. 38% of this generation prefers to give to Childrens charities and 33% to
health charities. The majority (57%) want to see the impact of their donation. Their internet
usage varies between shopping (61%), email (86%), banking (80%), music (62%) and video
(54%). The social media sites they use most are 90% Facebook, 97% YouTube, 55% twitter, and

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55% LinkedIn. Important to note is that 50% of Millennials share info about the charities they
support on Facebook and 56% of this group view online videos about charities they support.
Generation X (33-48): This group of people contributes a surprisingly small 20% of overall
giving. Of this group 39% gave to health charities, 40% gave to places of worship, 37% Gave to
local social service and 56% Donate goods to charity. 49% of this group wants to see the impact
of their donation. Their internet usage is split between shopping (61%), email (86%), banking
(78%) and music (49%). Social media usage is between YouTube (92%), Facebook (77%) and
linked-in at 57% where 38% share information about charities they support on Facebook and
46% view online videos about the charities they support.
Baby Boomers (49-67): Of the giving percentage this group represents the largest with 43% of
total giving. Their preferences are: 46% gave to places of worship, 52% gave to local social
service, and an overwhelmingly 63% donate goods to charity. Their internet usage is primarily
used for email 87% and banking 72%. Their social media use is Facebook 71%, YouTube 81%
and LinkedIn 46%.
Matures (68+): This group takes the remaining 26% of the total giving. Their preferences of
giving are 50% to places of worship, 55% to local social service, 72% goods to charity, and 42%
volunteer. 52% gave in in response to direct mail solicitation and 34% gave in honor or as a
tribute.
Gipple and Gose (2012) looked more closely at how geographical location and income
level effect donations. The study found that the average charitable giving rate for the U.S. is
4.7%. People living in Utah usually donate 10.6% of their income to charity (Gipple and Gose.
2012). This is 5.9 points higher than the national average. In addition, residents of Provo donate
an average of 13.9% of their income. This is good for Rising Star Outreach because they are

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based in a location that contributes much more than the national average. However, more
research needs to be done specifically in Utah to find out whether a large population of LDS
members paying tithing contributes to a high rate of charitable giving.
Gipple and Gose (2012) also found Salt Lake City, Memphis, and Birmingham, Ala.,
have the highest rate of charitable giving, while those in Boston and Providence typically give
less than 3%. Gipple and Gose (2012) also found a higher income does not always mean more
donations. People who earn more than $100,000 per year give an average of 4.2% of their
income while people with income from $50,000 to $70,000 give 7.6% (Gipple & Gose, 2012).
This shows that Rising Star Outreach would have better success targeting middle-class residents
as opposed to the upper-class. Of note, researchers also found that wealthy people who live in a
more economically diverse neighborhood tend to give more than wealthy people who live in
areas with other rich people (Gipple & Gose, 2012).
Challenges
Rising Star Outreach faces a number of challenges in trying to recruit and retain
volunteers and donors. The three main challenges come in the form of competition, time
restraints, and stigma toward leprosy.
Competition. Another NGO need not provide the same service as Rising Star Outreach to create
competition for funds. There are many other worthy causes to which people could donate their
time and money. There are more than 200 charities in Utah County alone (NCSS, n.d.). Rising
Star Outreach needs to set itself apart from each one of those other charities in order to gain
additional support and funds from those in the area. Please consider Christopher J. Doyles
actions towards the American Leprosy Missions. The American Leprosy Missions (n.d.) hired
Doyle in 1995 to help the failing organization. The groups overall donations had decreased by

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61% over a 10-year period. Research found that leprosy was losing the donation game against
AIDS and cancer. Doyle, the organizations CEO, tried many ideas to improve the receipt of
donations. Doyle was eventually able to find the root-cause of the problem by tracing events that
occurred within the organization during the ailing time period. He found that the nonprofits goal
had become ambiguous. In turn, the donors had become confused. Many stopped donating to the
organization. By reemphasizing the groups overall goal, Doyle was able to focus on donations.
He dropped all activities that yielded little results and put leprosy back into the spotlight. The
American Leprosy Missions also began to foster better relationships with its past and present
donors. In doing so, Doyle was able to resurrect the ailing organization. (Lewis, 2001) According
to its website, the American Leprosy Missions operates in 10 countries and has been serving the
leprosy community for 100 years. No means of receiving financial backing has been as pivotal
and essential as private donations. Nurturing relationships and publicizing the disease saved the
organizations operations.
Along with competing with other charities for funds, Rising Star Outreach also competes
with any other consumer product or service that donors may be interested in. When people make
less money, charitable donations are usually one of their first expenses to be cut. McLean and
Brouwer (2009) conducted a study on the effect of economic downturn on the non-profit sector
in 2009 and found that 52% of non-profit organizations experienced a decrease in contributions
during this time. McLean and Brouwer (2009) found that even with the decrease in funding,
only 35% of non-profit organizations cut their budgets and 59% experienced an increase in
demand for their services during the downturn. This shows that a hurting economy can make
things extremely difficult for non-profit organizations. This effect is mostly due to the fact that
donating money is lower on the list of priorities for the average person.

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Time. One of the biggest resources that Rising Star Outreach is competing for is time.
Volunteers can choose to volunteer in India from a minimum of one week to a maximum of three
weeks. Combined with the time it takes to travel to India, volunteers are expected to spend from
ten to 32 days to volunteer for Rising Star Outreach. In the amount of time that it takes for an
individual to volunteer at Rising Star Outreach, there are a number of other activities that
individuals could be engaged in instead. These include volunteering for other causes, being
enrolled in school, working at a job or internship, or entertaining other personal hobbies or
interests.
People want to donate in a way that will not take up a large part of their time (Young &
McChesney, 2013). The most commonly discussed reason why people cannot (or will not)
volunteer is that they are too busy. An easy way to overcome this barrier to volunteering is with
micro-volunteering, a quick burst of helping that may require only minutes to complete (Young
& McChesney, 2013, p. 27).
Most of what volunteering for Rising Star Outreach entails is very time consuming.
Although the time factor could be offset by the strong impact serving has on the volunteer, there
is still a large number of people that would feel too busy to commit to go to India. Sponsoring a
child for education is much less time consuming but still requires a time commitment to get the
child through a year or more of school. If Rising Star Outreach could come up with some way to
make donating and volunteering quick and easy, the organization could expect to see an increase
in volunteers and donations.

Travel in India and Government Restrictions

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Travel in India is relatively easy, considering the government doesnt enforce strict visa
regulations. According to the United Kingdom government website, The Indian government has
relaxed the rules on re-entering the country while on a tourist visa (Foreign travel, n.d.). This
is good news for volunteers seeking to travel to India to serve and help improve lives.
Although there are no big hurdles to jump through with governmental regulations,
research has shown that there are still fears with those traveling to India. A report given by Bly
(2013) said, the number of inbound tourists [to India] has dropped 25% since December. The
influx of female travelers is down 35%, particularly from the USA, Canada, Australia and
Britain. This drop is due to fears of recent rapes that have occurred in India. Despite these
incidents, India still reported an average of 6.5 million foreign visitors last year (Bly, 2013).
While there are some dangers present in traveling to India, studies done by the global risk
consultancy firm Control Risks reported that, "although the incident is serious, violent crime
against foreigners remains relatively rare in India" (Stancati, 2013).

Safety
Security is one of the first considerations that tourists deliberate over when deciding to
travel abroad (Ravinder & Archana 2012). The stakes are high for the worlds travel and tourism
industry because they have the highest market potential for profit and growth. That is why
tourism is vital for any country or economy with natural wonders or travel interest. The public
perception of tourism safety in India is predominately negative and fearful. With recent reports
of attacks on traveling women and families, many foreigners have hired bodyguards and drivers
(Rahman et al, 2013). Those that seek bodyguards when touring India usually come from the

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United States and the United Kingdom. A common perception from many tourists is that young
female travelers are the most at risk for sexual assault and robbery.
While this perception may actually be greatly exaggerated, tourists should be attentive to the
sanitation of tap water, as most water available in Delhi and its surrounding villages is unsafe to
drink. Pick pocketing on public transportation and in large crowds is also common as tourists are
often easy to spot and be targeted. Women are advised not to travel alone and to wear loose and
conservative clothing. Scams involving sadhus or self-proclaimed holy men often lead to
robbery and even greater crimes. Currently there is an on-going campaign called Incredible
India targeted at tourists who are fearful about harassment and robbery while traveling in India.
In all, tourists who avoid flashy apparel and immerse themselves into the culture, abiding by
safety tips given by the government, are usually left unharmed.
The Economy
At the beginning of the 2007 recession, one of the most heavily hit business sectors was
the world tourism industry (Egon, 2010). With less discretionary income, tourists traveled less,
spending their money on budgeted necessary expenses. Foreign travel from Australians,
Canadians, and Japanese declined the most. However, travel to China and India went up 30
percent from 2007, as the need for international business in those two countries increased
(GBTA Study Finds Business Travel Spending to Grow Globally, 2013). Economists now
expect travel for business and pleasure will increase as overseas manufacturing and trade
becomes more prosperous.
Perceptions about leprosy. Another challenge that Rising Star Outreach faces as it tries
to attract new volunteers is the stigma associated with leprosy. Many Americans are not wellinformed about leprosy and have many misconceptions about the disease.

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One of the biggest concerns that potential volunteers have is that they might contract
leprosy if they volunteer to go to leper colonies in India. White (2011) conducted research on
perceptions about leprosy and found that this stigma continues to survive, even in developing
countries. Governments use the stigma to limit immigration. Although fallacies of the stigma of
leprosy are widely published and available to everyone, many people are unaware of them or
simply choose to ignore them (White 2011). Even though the medical evidence shows that this
is not a valid concern, the social stigma is still apparent.
One advantage that Rising Star Outreach has is that the stigma is less apparent in
developed countries like the United States than it is in under-developed countries like Tanzania
(Roosta, Black, & Rea, 2013). These findings may cause difficulty for Rising Star Outreach to
acquire new volunteers because of the misconceptions about leprosy, but may also give some
insight into the areas that the organization could focus on to change public perception of leprosy
in the United States.

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References
Bly, L. (2013, April 2). Is India safe for tourists? USA Today. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/dispatches/2013/03/20/india-tourismsafety-rapes/2002491/
City trends and rankings. (2007). Corporation for National & Community Service. Retrieved
from http://permanent.access.gpo.gov.erl.lib.byu.edu/gpo29428/2007cities/VIA_cities_fullreport.pdf
Clary, E. G. & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer: theoretical and practical
considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(5), 156-159.
Doing good is good for you. (2013). United Health Group. Retrieved from
http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/UHG/PDF/2013/UNH-Health-VolunteeringStudy.ashx
Donor perspectives: an investigation into what drives your donors to give. (2012). Blackbaud.
Retrieved from
https://www.blackbaud.com/files/resources/downloads/10.12_DonorProfile_whitepaper_
FINAL2.pdf
Fact sheet. (2010). Corporation for National & Community Service. Retrieved from
http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/gpo29428/2010factsheet/10_0614_via_2010_fact_sheet_6_10_10.pdf
Foreign travel advice: India. (n.d.). Gov.uk, Retrieved on January 24, 2014, from
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