Blog Post

Operation Smile reverses industry trend, actually increases retention rates

Listen to Associate Vice President, Jann Schultz (formerly) of Operation Smile explain how Donor Voice transformed their fundraising by giving her a donors view of her organization.

Learn More January 28, 2014

Donor Surveys are Crap. Or Are They?

We here it all the time from people with, as best we can tell, absolutely no background in survey research or quantitative analysis whatsoever. Many of these people mask this lack of knowledge with an often wrong, never in doubt tonality. On the flipside, and in their defense, they have likely come across some really […]

Learn More November 4, 2013

A Dangerous Myth – Over-solicitation causes poor retention.

We don’t typically name names in these posts. However, on occasion, it is required. Penelope Burk, of Cygnus Research makes this claim, “Over-soliciting and insisting on unrestricted gifts are largely why 65% of donors who make a first gift never make a second and why 90% or more donors who start giving are gone within […]

Learn More September 30, 2013

Stop trying to beat the control. Just build a better one to start with.

Snickers. Tide Detergent. Cheerios. What images do these branded products conjure up? A candy bar, sure. How about the color of the packaging? Brown for Snickers, red for Tide, yellow for Cheerios. You may not even be a candy bar consumer and yet it’s likely you have a reasonably good recall of what the Snickers […]

Learn More July 11, 2013

Non Profit Premiums Are Literally Crack Cocaine – the Why and How of Stopping the “Drug Trade”

The Economist publication was first published in 1843 with the stated mission of “taking part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress”. Harsh? Maybe. Accurate? Absolutely. A similar contest exists between academia and the real world, with the former having answers too many of the […]

Learn More February 6, 2013

The Non Profit Sector Needs More Debt…Seriously.

The post title is a blatant attempt to generate interest. That said, it is a true (if incomplete) statement. What the sector is in desperate need of are markets; debt, equity, M&A markets. In short, it needs buyers and sellers, creditors and equity holders. In the commercial sector these are necessary financial tools for […]

Learn More January 11, 2013

Could the Commercial Sector Really Be THIS Wrong?

Fact: when it comes to measuring marketing performance, the nonprofit and commercial sectors are much more similar than they are different. Yes, bottom line revenue goes to different places but the way in which nonprofits and commercial counterparts evaluate effectiveness is through similar metrics; acquisition of new donors/customers, retention of donors/customers, lifetime value, etc. Given […]

Learn More December 13, 2012

Top 12 Reasons Why Fundraising Best Practices Suck

1) Best Practices lead to copying 2) Copying is a race to look the same 3) When everything looks the same it is a commoditized market 4) A commoditized market is very price sensitive 5) A price sensitive offering can only improve margin through cost management 6) By only focusing on cost management the innovation […]

Learn More November 30, 2012

What are those Facebook likes and Twitter followers worth?

Social media channels have not historically been the place where money changes hands. In other words, Facebook is less the open air marketplace (think eBay) and more the Tuesday night book club and Saturday morning soccer gathering. For proof, look no further than Facebook desperately, and unsuccessfully at the moment, trying to monetize 1 billion […]

Learn More October 29, 2012

How to (and not to) define a loyal donor

In the nonprofit sector this is most often defined by transactional variables, namely some combination of R (recency of last gift), F (frequency of giving) and M (monetary amount). The major problem is the almost tautological nature of the equation. These are outcome measures on both sides of the equal sign. This formula presumes (though […]

Learn More August 29, 2012

Ask A Behavioral Scientist

Behavioral Science Q & A

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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Q: I find it irritating when some nonprofits accept my “gift” and then ask me to cover their credit card fees separately. It feels like a practice that does nothing to help win donors and runs the risk of turning others off. Is there any data on this either way?

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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Q: What are the three most important things to consider when designing a brilliant supporter journey?

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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Q: Is there any evidence that changes to the tax laws in the USA changed end of year giving behaviors? Previously, ~30% of US taxpayers filed itemized tax returns allowing them to receive a deduction for charitable giving. Tax law changed in 2017 so that now only ~10% itemize. This should mean tax year-end giving should not matter to millions of people for whom it used to matter. Is there any data evidence to support this?

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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The Agitator Tool Box

Ideas, applications, tools, processes, and case studies of break-through solutions in fundraising, including: