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Blog Post

Do we retain donors or burn donors?

Hello, world. I’m Nick Ellinger, the newest addition to the DonorVoice team. I’m excited to join an organization dedicated to improving donor experiences, increasing donor retention, and doing both with science-proven strategies. One of my pet questions is why retention is not taken more serious in the nonprofit world. Yes, we track it (sometimes), but […]

Learn More August 11, 2016

Demographics are Garbage

This is absolutely the type of headline we would write in order to be contrarian and provocative (not to mention, accurate).  Alas, we can’t take credit.  This is the headline from a recent article about Netflix whose headline reads, in full, “Netflix says geography, age and gender are garbage for predicting taste.”  Blame Netflix for […]

Learn More July 20, 2016

Is Donor-Centric Real or Unicorn?

In our prior post we stipulated that donors want to donate. They don’t want massive frustration and irritation in doing so, which is precisely what all the asks (i.e. volume) causes.  There is a study here proving that point.  And it doesn’t irritate some tiny, minority of folks who really aren’t “good” donors anyway, it irritates the […]

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Want a good donor experience and better retention? Start with understanding donor identity.

Why do donors give?  Seems like a question worth knowing the answer to if you are in the business of trying to affect that giving behavior. One of the main reasons they give has nothing to do with your specific charitable brand but rather, their using your charitable brand to deliver on or otherwise reinforce […]

Learn More December 9, 2015

The Charity “Membership” Ruse

Imagine you signed up for an annual gym membership in January and paid with a check (or cash for the Mafioso readers).  Now further imagine that you also signed up for the gym’s “healthy eating” monthly email. What does the term annual connote to you?  What about membership?  Would you expect to have the gym […]

Learn More December 4, 2015

Is your nonprofit a “watch, observe and guess” organization or a “listen and act” one?

Donor transactional data tells you zero about “Why” something happened.  Maybe the sector doesn’t care… All the quantitative data from your website, email marketing tools, direct mail response data….opens, clicks, visits, time on site, response rate, conversion rate, social media shares and on and on and on. Al those reports slicing and dicing and creating […]

Learn More October 7, 2014

Stop the Direct Mail Testing

Is your direct mail testing on auto-pilot?  Are you testing out of habit?  We hear a lot of very smart, sophisticated direct marketers working for big non-profit brands tell us this. If you are one of them it is time to get off the merry-go-round and stop testing (with the current approach). These same marketers […]

Learn More September 25, 2014

The average UK charity is losing out on a 105% increase in lifetime value

Every year you spend time, money and resource trying to engage your donors in the hope that they’ll give more and stay longer. Yet frustratingly little ever changes for the better (though frequently for the worse!) Why’s nothing changing? Because our journeys are starting in the wrong place. Take your current ‘supporter journey’. What was […]

Learn More March 14, 2014

Why Your Analytics Is Costing You Time and Money

Modeling (or analytics) for selection is way overrated and much of the time it doesn’t beat a simple RFM bucketing in Excel.  What the sector really needs is a model for understanding but more on that in minute. The modeling (or analytics) for selection is about using transactional – and perhaps demographic or lifestyle data […]

Learn More February 3, 2014

Strategy Starts Where Your Comfort Level Ends

But, alas this is not how strategy is typically done. To start, we turn “strategy” the noun into an adjective (strategic) modifying “plan” or “planning”. This fateful, unintentional decision likely dooms any real strategy emerging. Instead, we end with a long, tedious document and an Excel file. The Excel document is some form of a […]

Learn More January 29, 2014

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Ask A Behavioral Scientist

    Behavioral Science Q & A

    Q: As a designer who works with non-profits on fundraising strategy, I see the language like the following: “Our supporters help empower every girl, ensuring she has the resources she needs.” I do not think the word “help” is useful–I think “Our supporters empower every girl, ensuring she has the resources she needs. ” is much more engaging. Thoughts?

    Whether “help” is more engaging or not really depends on the framing and context. The word help can sometimes weaken the perceived agency of the supporter, making their role feel secondary rather than central (your point). On the other hand, help can also signal collaboration rather than implying full ownership of the outcome, which might […]

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    Q: We started offering a donor cover option last april 1. The data to date suggests this may be dampening giving.eg. those who say yes to donor cover have a lower average gift (based on analysis of 6000+ gifts). I’m wondering if those who give lower gifts feel more guilt and therefore say yes to donor cover or if the presence of donor cover is making people adjust (lower) their gift size to accommodate the extra 3%. Would love any insights you have.

    Great question! Here’s how behavioral science can help unpack what might be happening: Pain of Paying: Even a small extra charge can make giving feel more transactional than emotional, potentially reducing generosity. Fairness Concerns: Some donors might perceive donor cover as a surcharge rather than a contribution to the cause. If they feel the charity […]

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    Q: When writing an appeal, I waffle back and forth between writing “Your gift CAN…” or “Your gift WILL…” Any studies of which of these two words is best for an appeal?

    The choice between “Your gift CAN…” and “Your gift WILL…” taps into the psychological framing of certainty vs. possibility. Currently, there is no academic research directly comparing these two framings in charitable appeals. However, I suspect no framing is universally better—the outcome likely depends on your target audience and the campaign’s goal. Here are some thoughts: Certainty Framing – […]

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    Q: Do you have any insight on whether integrating an individual giving appeal with other comms from the charity in both appearance and messaging can uplift results? Or does the actual appeal become ‘lost’ for lack of stand-out?

    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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    Q: Is there any research on response rate impact in direct mail when referring to a sustainer gift as ongoing or recurring (catching all frequencies) v. monthly or annual?

    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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    Q: A major conservation nonprofit sends me lots of mail, many of which have on the envelope “time to renew” or “2nd notice.” I find this practice deceptive, especially as I haven’t given to said organization since 1997. It must be effective or they wouldn’t do it. But is it ethical?

    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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