Communications

On Giving Thanks

In the aftermath of Paris, Beirut and Bamako and with far too many politicians and demagogues working overtime to seize on the public’s anxieties, prejudices and deepest fears, The Agitator is pausing publication for the next two days to give thanks. Tomorrow is official Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. Many of our readers will be ‘enjoying’ […]

Learn More November 25, 2015

It’s Your Choice

As you crank up for the year-end email blitz (not to mention whatever you’re doing for #GivingTuesday) you might want to bear this in mind: You have less than 3 seconds to capture a reader’s attention; Those 3 seconds translate into just 12 words to motivate the consumer to read more before the message is deleted. […]

Learn More November 23, 2015

Kiss 8 Of 10 Good-Bye

Looking at 2014 data from over 8,000 respondent groups, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project reports that on average nonprofits retain only two out of ten first time donors. That’s not a misprint: the retention rate for first time donors is a scant 19%. Below you’ll find an infographic from Bloomerang illustrating this and related retention stats. […]

Learn More November 18, 2015

The Old And The New

Two stats in a recent newsletter I received were reminders that the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ can co-exist quite nicely, thank you. On the one hand, this DM News article reports that the US Postal Service expects to deliver 15 billion pieces of holiday mail this Christmas season (including 600 million packages), a 10.5% increase […]

Learn More November 11, 2015

Are Your Donors Losing Interest?

Most of the discussion that occurs around the sorry state of donor retention deals with failure on the part of nonprofits to even take notice of their situation. In some cases to even know what to measure, let alone understand how to respond in terms of organization-wide attitude and communication tactics. The underlying assumption is […]

Learn More November 9, 2015

Neurofundraising

Hey, you laugh. But it won’t be long before a fundraising consultant, probably from Mexico or Poland, comes along who claims they can use neuroscience techniques to fine-tune your fundraising messages to exquisite donor-by-donor perfection. They’re already making this claim in the political arena, according to this fascinating rundown in the NY Times on political campaigns […]

Learn More November 5, 2015

9 Great Tips for #GivingTuesday

December 1st 2015 marks the fourth annual #GivingTuesday. In anticipation of the event this post is divided into: 1) stats on #Giving Tuesday, and 2) some quick and easy tips to prepare for #GivingTuesday. Background and Stats #GivingTuesday is that artificially inseminated day of philanthropy aimed at capturing some of the torrent of consumer spending […]

Learn More November 4, 2015

Communicate In The Purple Zone

Yesterday, in The Most Sinister Word In Fundraising, Roger wrote about effective fundraising copywriting and — citing our esteemed colleague, Jeff Brooks — the pernicious ‘I’ word. As he wrote: “This evil word has the negative power to transform your message into one that should be about the donor to one about you and your organization.” Much is written […]

Learn More November 3, 2015

The Most Sinister Word in Fundraising

It’s difficult to realistically imagine many copywriters — or fundraisers who have to double as copywriters — escaping the scourge of the year-end copy review. I’m sure for many the assaults have already begun. But, hopefully, before any fatal damage is done in the review process, you’ll heed this advice from Jeff Brooks. In his […]

Learn More November 2, 2015

Fundraising Bravery

Sometimes Professor Adrian Sargeant can be a real pain in the ass. We should all be grateful. This week the mild mannered, empirical-evidence-please scholar and the author of the classic Building Donor Loyalty shed his Clark Kent persona and came out swinging against proposed regulatory efforts by the UK government to gag charities. Regulatory efforts aimed […]

Learn More October 28, 2015

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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Communications

On Giving Thanks

It’s Your Choice

Kiss 8 Of 10 Good-Bye

The Old And The New

Are Your Donors Losing Interest?

Neurofundraising

9 Great Tips for #GivingTuesday

Communicate In The Purple Zone

The Most Sinister Word in Fundraising

Fundraising Bravery

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

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