Communications

Telefundraising Works

A few days ago we posted on telephone solicitation, the neglected stepchild of fundraising. The post generated some comments like I’d like to give more exposure to. First, from Adrian Salmon, writing about the experience of Save the Children UK: They printed full-page colour advertisements in newspapers asking readers to text in the word ‘ceasefire’ […]

Learn More July 21, 2010

Cell Phones & Fundraising

Pew Internet Research has released survey results indicating that 40% of adult American cell phone owners now use their cell phones to access the internet, email, or instant messaging. 34% (up from 25% in 2009) use their cellphones to access email. With outbound email appeals still the workhorse of online fundraising, I’m wondering what challenges […]

Learn More July 14, 2010

Spectators Or Fans?

I’m seeing more and more marketing articles these days that emphasize relationship building and seriously engaging “best” customers. Here’s an example from Seth Godin, where he discusses Fans, participants and spectators: “Likes, friendlies and hits are all fast-growing numbers that require little commitment. And commitment is the essence of conversion. The problem with commitment is […]

Learn More July 12, 2010

Getting Noticed

Yesterday I reminisced about the “old days” when a small handful of “big brand” media delivered the news that fueled the fire in the belly of donors to many causes. Through their coverage, those same media — NY Times, PBS, CNN, NPR — also provided the credibility that helped build many of the biggest “cause” […]

Learn More July 9, 2010

Fundraisers Once Followed The News

My nonprofit fundraising and communications experience has been grounded primarily in the world of advocacy organizations, as opposed to mainstream charities focused on health research, education and the like. And more narrowly still, advocacy of the center-liberal persuasion. For groups like that, prospecting for donors historically meant tracking the news coverage (for controversy) and targeting […]

Learn More July 8, 2010

Kvetching Online

The Harris Poll released some data recently on use of social media to criticize or compliment brands. They found that one-third of US adults use social media to air their feelings, positive or negative, about a company, brand or product. Within that group the percentage of complainers and complimenters are roughly equal … a bit […]

Learn More July 6, 2010

Enter Nancy’s Tagline Competition

Every year we give a plug to Nancy Schwartz’ nonprofit tagline competition. Gets hundreds of entries … might top 1,000 this year. Sometimes The Agitator even agrees on the winners! Here’s the place to enter this year. And there are more categories, so you can enter taglines for a specific campaign, program or event, as […]

Learn More June 30, 2010

Tweet For Life

Last week was long and surreal. Deep Horizon vomiting even more into The Gulf of Mexico…the U.S. and U.K. World Cup teams seemingly cheated out of goals…a three-day-long tennis match at the very proper strawberries-and-cream Wimbledon. Enough! So, on this Monday morning it’s time to kick it up a notch. You know, get the juices […]

Learn More June 28, 2010

Insights Into Word Of Mouth

We’ve talked about word-of-mouth (WOM) as the top driver of today’s consumer decisions. Here’s a report from Online Media Daily on an interesting Yahoo study that has attempted to drill into WOM behavior. It notes that 76% of all WOM still occurs face-to-face … however, increasingly it just might be that two individuals are sitting […]

Learn More June 23, 2010

The Magic Moment In Fundraising

We often write about the importance of storytelling as the path into donors’ heads and hearts. Here, courtesy of fundraiser Fraser Green, is one more exclamation mark on the point! Says Fraser: “The ‘magic moment,‘ as I call it, is when the audience stops being an audience – and becomes a part of the story. […]

Learn More June 22, 2010

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: