In his Agitator debut our new expert on supporter motivation explains why the time has come for nonprofits to more fully access the psychological insights and tools available to them and maximize their fundraising potential.

Traditionally, “motivation” has been seen as an attribute that varied only by amount: folks can be either more or less motivated to do something. It’s not that simple. Turns out there are also different “types” or “qualities” of motivation and it’s important to understand the differences.

The Agitator welcomes Dr. Stefano Di Domenico          

 – Roger

I was recently told that behavioral science is a hot topic in fundraising. Could have fooled me – and I’m a behavioral scientist!

Don’t get me wrong. Over the past decade or so, many charitable organizations—sometimes with the encouragement of the agencies that serve them—have joined the “nudge bandwagon.” Books like Richard Thaler’s Misbehaving and Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow have popularized the idea that people are Predictably Irrational, as Dan Ariely puts it. Terms like status quo bias, social proof, moral licensing, framing effect, and cognitive dissonance are now a regular part of the fundraising discussion.

Putting the issue of new jargon aside, this is a positive development. Having an arsenal of psychological insights and evidence-based tools to help alleviate suffering is, on the whole, something we can be pleased about.

But potential donors are more than the biases they may harbor and behavioral science has more to offer than nudge theory. A lot more!

I hold a PhD in psychology from the University of Toronto and my expertise is personality and motivation. I’m new to the Behavior Science team at DonorVoice and my mission is to help open the bigger world of behavioral science to the fundraising community. As part of that mission, I’ll be delivering my message here on The Agitator.

A Small Introduction to the Bigger World of Behavioral Science

As an introduction to the larger world of behavioral science, please indulge me in the following exercise: Bring to mind the campaign you’re currently working on. Now reflect on the following questions.

1. How are your potential donors similar to one another?
2. How are your potential donors similar to only some others?

If you’re a seasoned fundraiser, you probably answered these questions in the usual way, that is, in terms of donor demographics and history of past giving. Many charities make use of these metrics, or at least they try.

Unfortunately, this information only scratches the surface of donor segmentation because it shines little light on donors’ psychological individuality. The same message won’t resonate with everyone because donors are wired differently.

Donors systematically differ in their interests and concerns. They orient to and engage with different information. They have different personalities. A campaign that’s successful with some, will be less successful or even completely impotent with others. If you want your message to be really effective, you’ll want to present it in a manner that’s salient and personally meaningful to donors. And of the best ways to do this is to tailor your message to donors’ personality traits.

Meet the “Big Five” Personality Traits

One of the most influential and psychometrically robust discoveries over the last 50 years of behavioral science was the identification of the “Big Five” personality traits.

People exhibit systematic and reliable differences in their typical behaviors, thoughts, and feelings and these dispositions can be effectively summarized with five broad trait categories—Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness/Intellect, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness.

Some readers may already be familiar with the Big Five. I’ll be delving into the Big Five in much greater detail in my future posts. The most important points for now are that personality traits exists and that we psychologists are really good at measuring them. In fact, the Big Five traits are among the best, most validly measured attributes in all of psychology.

So, let’s say we’re running a campaign for an animal welfare charity. One way to think about donor segmentation is, say, “dog people” and “cat people.” Dog pictures for the dog people and cat pictures for the cat people—sure, a reasonable start.

BUT… did you know that while dog owners tend to be more socially outgoing, compassionate, and organized, cat owners tend to be more creative, intellectual, and anxious? Of course you did. You’re a sophisticated fundraiser who understands the importance of Zero Party Data so you’ve already measured your donors’ personalities at the point of sign-up.

How will you wield these insights? Will you just run the usual one-size-fits-all mailers or digital messages–,one bunch with dog pictures and another with cat pictures? Nope. You’re going to have your design team craft meaningful, captivating messages that speak to the specific interests of your donors, messages that resonate with them on a visceral level. And your campaign will be more successful because of it.

The time has come for charitable organizations to more fully access the psychological insights and tools available to them and maximize their fundraising potential. The bigger world of behavioral science is calling you!  And I look forward to serving as your guide.

Stay tuned!

Stefano

P.S.  Here’s some recommended reading:

Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48, 26–34.

Gosling, S. D., Sandy, C. J., & Potter, J. (2010). Personalities of Self-Identified “Dog People” and “Cat People.” Anthroös, 23, 213-222.

Hirsh, J. B., Kang, S. K., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2012). Personalized Persuasion: Tailoring Persuasive Appeals