Behavioral Science Posts

If You Ain’t First You’re Last?

One of the greatest movies of all time for those of us who enjoy parody, slapstick and juvenile humor is Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights. He spends most of his life measuring it against an impossible standard of “if you ain’t first you’re last”, a motto from his father who was high on peyote at the […]

Learn More December 21, 2022

Are Your Donor Conversations Any Good?

Conversation abounds in the world of fundraising whether in-person or over the phone. Everybody makes note that we should be active listeners and strive for making a conversation, well, you know, “conversational”. That feels thin. The social science world has done a lot to get a more robust answer. This has implications for humans talking […]

Learn More December 19, 2022

Supporter Motivation Is Under Your Control

Motivation is arguably the coin of the fundraising realm. If a donor feels motivated to give, they’ll keep doing it. Motivation differs by amount, a lot or little and by type, high or low quality. And most importantly it differs by situation or context. We all experience this; different levels of motivation for different jobs […]

Learn More December 9, 2022

What Should You Know When You “Know” A Donor?

Charities love to segment and design appeals and giving programs to fit a group. These groups are typically created using demographics (age or income) or donors’ giving history – sustainers, lapsed sustainers, one-time donors. Segmentation works, helping create more effective appeals. Giving Tuesday can mean something very different to, say, a long-time monthly donor versus […]

Learn More December 7, 2022

Impulse Giving is Deliberative

That’s the oxymoronic finding from research among donors who selected “it was an impulse decision” from a drop-down menu prompt in a hospice organization’s online checkout process asking why they were donating today. These donors were further qualified as not having been prompted to visit the site from a fundraising prompt and only having made […]

Learn More December 2, 2022

One Panda Or Four?

Researchers asked separate groups of people how much they’d donate to save 2,000, 20,000 or 200,000 migrating birds drowning in an oil pond. The mean responses are stunningly similar, $80, $78 and $88. This underscores what is wonkily called “scope neglect” or the inability or unwillingness to factor in the size of the problem as part […]

Learn More November 30, 2022

Avoid the Snoringly Generic Approach to GivingTuesday

Kevin’s post, The Median Charity Theory , makes clear the behavioral science principle of minimal differentiation applies to most nonprofits. Consequently, most swim happily in the Sea of Sameness bobbing about on the good ships “Same Old, Same Old” and “Ask More, Make More” taking little risk and making little effort to stand out from the crowd. […]

Learn More November 14, 2022

You are Your Email Address?

Imagine getting an email from honey.bunny77@hotmail.de? What would you immediately infer about this person? Ok, spam and X-rated content but after that, what does this vanity email purposefully chosen say about the person? An email address is the tiniest snippet of a window into a person in the digital world. No picture, no interaction, […]

Learn More October 7, 2022

Who Doesn’t Love Control?

Answer: Nobody doesn’t love control. Double negative notwithstanding, we humans love control or the perception of it. Control is one of three key psychological needs, often referred to as a sense of autonomy and choicefulness: aka control. People who feel a sense of autonomy over their giving are more likely to do it again. A […]

Learn More September 30, 2022

What Fundraising Can Learn From Soccer Fans

Soccer (football for our non-US readers) fans are (in) famous for their fandom. During a 2002 Real Madrid vs. Barcelona match a Barcelona fan threw a pig’s head onto the field because he was so angry seeing a former player from his team wearing the white of Real. That fandom is an Identity, one causing […]

Learn More September 23, 2022

Ask A Behavioral Scientist

Behavioral Science Q & A

Q:We are struggling with acquistion. During our biggest community campaign, a colleague is suggesting that we have a QR code directing donors to a donate page that does not capture donor information – just a donation and an email address. We won’t be able to post any of these new doors our lvoely newsletters, or thank you letters. We’ll likely never hear from them again. What’s the best method to get this team to see the importance about a donor vs a donation?

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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Q: Should we include “Giving Tuesday” in the subject lines for the emails that are going out before Giving Tuesday?

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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Q: can we pull the match language into the subject lines? Or this should be an A/B test?

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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Q: Our mid-level donor team removed the QR code from the DM donation form that links to the donation page, but have left the URL for them to type it in manually. Not sure why they are adding a barrier to the donation process for a higher value donor – but I have to ask – is there any proof – either way – if a QR donation code reduces MV online giving, has any effect on their donation amount, has any effect on off line donations? Thank you….

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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Q: How can we effectively use behavioral science to help shift our Board’s mindset. The majority are extremely resistant to asking their networks or sharing their contact lists with us, even after a candid discussion with an external lay leader who has been training boards with her fantastic Fundraising isn’t the F Word! workshop. We have also offered to use our automated email tool to send their appeals from their own email. It is so frustrating. We even have 2 Board members and the chair trying put some accountability on them for our big event but people are not really moving!

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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Q: Copywriters often argue the ask should appear on the first page, but that usually breaks the story in two. With a one-sided letter the ask is always on page one, but with a two-sided letter it may fall on the second page—do results differ? Has your appeal structure been tested on both one-sided and two-sided letters? I just read the article Your Appeal Outline: Thoughtful Strategy or Random Spasm?

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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