Bringing Donors Closer To The Cause
Mal Warwick’s e-newsletter is always full of excellent practical direct marketing advice for fundraisers.
Mal has been running a series featuring online fundraising and engagement "best practices" as seen by Tom Gaffny, EVP at Epsilon.
You should tune into this series, where Tom is walking through his top twelve techniques for bringing donors closer to the cause. We’ll cheat and show you the list here:
- Be relevant—be local
- Highlight the video
- Engage constituents
- Leverage techniques that work in the mail
- Send information in bite-size chunks
- Work at channel integration
- Personalize your organization
- Be visual—be provocative
- Say “thank you” in different ways
- Ask friends to “get the word out”
- Be timely—be there
- Highlight your partners
But if you don’t read the series, you’ll be cheating yourself!
Tom
One response to “Bringing Donors Closer To The Cause”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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Great information – I just heard Tom Gaffny speak at Fund Raising Day New York. I think he actually just left Epsilon and setup his own shop called Tom Gaffny Consulting.