Communications

Hola! Am I Beating A Dead Horse?

Periodically, I pass along articles talking about marketing to Hispanics. Here are a few more … from Business Week re TV advertising, Online Media Daily re online behavior, and from Engage:Hispanics re brand perceptions. All good background reading. But am I beating a dead horse here? Everytime I do this, I ask Agitators readers for […]

Learn More April 15, 2009

Email Compliments For Nonprofits

It’s not often I see marketers from the commercial world praise nonprofit marketing. Here’s a rare example. Cynthia Edwards of Razorfish, an email solutions provider, cites impressive online practices of World Wildlife Fund, ASPCA, Worldvision and The Humane Society of the US. She also cites the American Red Cross disapprovingly. Worth a read. Tom

Learn More April 14, 2009

Will Email Fundraising Die?

It’s bad enough that pundits tell us direct mail is dead, or at least dying. Now we’re being told that email is dying too … or at least becoming marginalized. And since email is the online fundraising weapon of choice, won’t that mean that online fundraising will wither as well?! Here’s one of the better, […]

Learn More April 9, 2009

In Defense Of Creative

Yesterday, Roger and Guest Ranter & copywriter Bob Levy teamed up to argue in The Agitator that sound strategy was more important to fundraising success than the "silver bullet" package. Tough to disagree with that. This — mind you — coming from two creative whizzes who have written more than their fair share of long-lived […]

Learn More April 8, 2009

Failed Marriages And Great Packages

The late David Ogilvy was among the greatest advertising geniuses who ever lived. He built a truly remarkable global agency and contributed more than his fair share to both the creative and management sides of the business. Among Ogilvy’s more unconventional beliefs was that truly great agencies are built as a result of “high mortgages […]

Learn More April 7, 2009

Succeeding In Your Fundraising

Here are four bedrock suggestions for succeeding in your marketing (i.e., fundraising) in the coming year. Writing in eMarketing & Commerce, Lisa Wehr of Oneupweb, a digital marketing agency, offered these recommendations in a commercial marketing context. I’ve reproduced the essence of her recs, followed by my fundraising "spin" on each. 1. Plan early and […]

Learn More April 3, 2009

Pew Quiz: I’m A “Digital Collaborator”

The Pew Internet Project has come up with a new typology for users of information and communications technology (ICT). Pew sorts folks into ten groups, distributed within two main buckets. The chief determinant of which bucket you fall in is your attitude toward and usage of mobile ICT. Here’s how Pew sorts us. And here’s […]

Learn More April 2, 2009

Facebook’s Getting Wrinkles

I’ve been pre-occupied with Facebook lately, in part because its demographics are changing so rapidly. Here’s the current profile, as reported by MediaPost.com: "Facebook is aging fast. The number of U.S. users over 35 has doubled in just the last 60 days, according to new data from Inside Facebook. The burgeoning crowd of older users […]

Learn More March 31, 2009

Listen To Your Donors? Sometimes.

Last week, talking about FaceBook’s cave-in (as some pundits see it) to two million of its users, I raised the issue of when should nonprofits listen to their donors. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but Jeff Brooks over at donor-centric Donor Power Blog would probably say "Always!" Personally, I’m all for […]

Learn More March 30, 2009

Listen To Your Donor? No! Maybe?

So, you go do this fancy survey of your donors and they say: 1) Scrap the newsletter, and 2) by the way, we don’t understand why you’re spending 80% of "our" money on program X … cut it in half. Do you listen to your donors (i.e., customers) and do what they say? If not, […]

Learn More March 27, 2009

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: