Direct mail - Agitator

Communications

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

“Must Read” Book For Fundraisers

We were going to write a shameless plug for direct fundraising maven Mal Warwick’s new book, but then we got this promotional message from Mal himself. He does a better job than we could. Just click here for his nifty presentation. Oh, the book. It’s called Fundraising When Money Is Tight. Timely as that sounds, […]

Learn More March 26, 2009

Too Important For Techies – II

Yesterday I wrote a post, Too Important for Techies, saying that online fundraising was in the wrong hands … techies. It stirred up quite a commotion, as you can see by reading the comments following the post. Including my DonorTrends colleague, Ryann Miller, who offers these thoughts. Sort of a plea for us to respect […]

Learn More March 25, 2009

Too Important For Techies

A recent study by Blackbaud’s Target Marketing on online fundraising (Roger commented here) noted that many donors who make their first gift online wind up making their subsequent gifts, if any, via direct mail. Agitator reader Dave Raley has a theory about this. I reproduce his comment below. My own — perhaps too blunt — […]

Learn More March 24, 2009

Truths & Myths About Online Donors

Last Wednesday the headline in a New York Times story proclaimed “Study Shows First-Time Online Donors Do Not Return.” Sort of a ‘dog bites man” headline since, truth be told, neither do first-time direct mail donors. That aside, Stephanie Strom’s NYT piece is worth a read by all fundraisers. And worth far more than a […]

Learn More March 23, 2009

Donor Involvement Yields Fundraising Dividends

The morning’s mail brought this from a loyal Agitator subscriber: “Team Agitator – I am doing some research for a client about how response rates on acquisition are impacted by packages that ask prospects to take an action in addition to giving a gift. E.g. signing or mailing a postcard to an elected official, making […]

Learn More March 20, 2009

A Direct Mail “First”

For the first time since records began in 1945, spending on commercial direct mail has declined. So says a white paper from the Winterberry Group, a strategic consulting firm to direct marketers, as reported here by the Center for Media Research. The report says spending on direct mail fell 3% in 2008, with a further […]

Learn More March 18, 2009

2008 Year-end Fundraising Results For Benchmarking

In the current edition of Mal Warwick Associates’ latest e-newsletter, Peter Schoewe kindly shares this analysis of year-end direct mail returns from the firm’s (and some other) clients. The results analyzed are from 1 October 2008 through 31 January 2009, compared to the same period a year earlier. And note: only direct mail returns are […]

Learn More March 6, 2009

How Do Fundraisers Do This?

Recently I read two articles from the commercial marketing world that — for me — raised the question: "How do fundraisers do this?" The articles deal with the importance of the non-cerebral side of, first, making a sale, and then, winning loyalty. In this report from Science Daily, we read that if the customer touches […]

Learn More March 2, 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: