Are You Relevant?
Here’s an important exercise every nonprofit should go through periodically.
Some fundraisers are content to play with the hand they are dealt. If that’s working, count your blessings.
Others, upon finding the ‘same old’ has lost its relevance, push to re-shuffle the deck. Remember, marketing your nonprofit is not merely about the packaging and the pitch and the sales tactics, it starts with the product.
Tom
P.S. I can think of only one word with as much importance to fundraisers as ‘relevance’, and that’s ‘results’ … as in, what has your organization accomplished lately?
3 responses to “Are You Relevant?”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Thanks so much for raising this. Yes, capturing donor information can be helpful for stewardship like newsletters, thank-you letters, impact updates. But how you ask matters. Forcing full data capture introduces friction that can significantly depress conversion, many donors may simply abandon the process. Beyond the friction itself, required fields also shift the emotional experience […]
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Unlike holidays that everyone already knows, Giving Tuesday is a created event. Many donors recognize the name but not the exact timing, so referencing it becomes a helpful cue. It serves as a reminder and taps into social norm activation (“everyone’s giving today”), which boosts response. However, we still want it paired with the mission, […]
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When a subject line leads with the match (“Your gift matched!”), it risks triggering market-norm thinking: the sense that giving is a financial transaction rather than an act rooted in values, identity, and care. This shift reduces intrinsic motivation and, over time, can weaken donor satisfaction and long-term engagement. It also makes the email indistinguishable […]
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There’s no evidence that QR codes suppress mid-value giving; all available research suggests they either help or have no negative effect. In fact, behavioral and usability research consistently shows the opposite: reducing friction at any point in the donation process increases completion rates and total response. And that has nothing to do with capacity and […]
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What you’re experiencing is very common. Resistance often isn’t about capability, but about motivation quality. If board members feel pushed into fundraising, that triggers controlled motivation (low quality motivation) i.e. obligation, guilt, or fear of judgment, which often results in avoidance. Instead, we need to create conditions for volitional motivation (high quality motivation) by satisfying […]
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That’s a really thoughtful question, and you’re not the first to raise it. Many of our clients have been cautious about placing the ask at the very end. To address their concern, we’ve tested both approaches, and the results are clear: when the ask comes last, even if that means it appears on the second […]
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Hi Tom,
You’re right, but I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. Measuring and demonstrating results is really tough in the medical health issues we deal with. Yes, we can say we helped x number of people, have y number of nurses out in the community (or whatever). We can tell the stories (though that’s not always easy when dealing with vulnerable adults) but actually measuring the difference we have made in individual lives (eg growth in confidence) is really challenging.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t make a start – we should, and any attempt to do the measuring is better than none. So maybe we could do with some feedback from organisations that are managing to measure qualitative results and learn from them to speed the process up.
Thanks, Penelope
Tom, I agree with you. I coach conservation nonprofits that are interested in becoming more relevant to their communities. When they reflect upon what is important more people, especially those who less advantaged and kids, the community responds. So far, when combined with revamping their language and outreach to be more conversational and accessible, membership support has increased over 30% to a high of 43% over three years.
I say: You have to do something I care about for me to support you. Don’t treat me as a bank, treat me as a partner. Thinking strategically means thinking for at least a generation, not 3-5 years.
That’s very true. However, it’s the rare nonprofit that will allow their fundraiser to ask these questions. I’d be curious about the characteristics of organizations or leadership where this is encouraged and/or successful.