Donor Identity - Agitator

Breaking Out of the Status Quo

Don’t Ask if You Don’t Care About the Answers

Zero party data is the data that voluntarily comes from your donors. It’s their voice. You might say we built a company around the value of it. This data is proprietary, you don’t sell or trade it in the co-op mills taking in others’ mailing list laundry. You keep it to yourself and you use […]

Learn More March 16, 2022

Model-T Fundraising: Pros and Cons

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.” –Henry Ford The Model T Ford, America’s first mass production auto, only came in black because the production line required compromise so that efficiency and improved quality could be achieved. The service is provided by a score […]

Learn More February 28, 2022

Facebook Cancels Jesus, Judaism, Tucker Carlson, Rachael Maddow and God

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Facebook is the worst social media platform for marketing and fundraising except for all the others.” Make no mistake. Facebook is the world’s biggest fishing pond for fundraisers and marketers. Ignore it at your peril. Use it at your peril. Anyone reading this who has ever done any fundraising or marketing […]

Learn More February 16, 2022

The “Give” Decision is Different Than The “How Much” One

We are nothing if not laser focused on the “why” of giving. So much so that we know there are really two giving decisions, not one. No donor would ever report this in a focus group or a survey. These separate mental decisions are occuring subconsciously. Testing allows us to prove what’s going on and […]

Learn More February 14, 2022

Is Mass Fundraising Extinct?

For the past 10 years The Agitator has sought to put meat on the jargon-ridden bones of the Donor-Centric skeleton. That’s why we dwell so much on essential vertebrae of donor-centricity such as Donor Identity, Donor Psychology and Personality to name a few. Although this detail is essential in becoming truly donor-centric, it’s important to […]

Learn More February 7, 2022

Are You Fundraising At or To Your Supporters?

This question of ‘at’ or ‘to’ struck me when reading a report from a UK agency that ran ads for a US animal rights advocacy charity. I found the thinking behind the ads and the testing to be wildly superficial and uninteresting and almost certainly leaving lots of money on the table. But, I realize […]

Learn More January 12, 2022

Spoiler Alert: People Are Different

So why do so many fundraisers ignore this reality and treat donors and prospects with the same one-size-fits-all approach? One reason is that far too many fundraisers know very little about their donors and refuse to invest the time and money in finding out more. Consequently, stuck in the belief that determining who the […]

Learn More December 29, 2021

Are You Doing “segmentation” or Segmentation?

For purposes of this post all versions of “segmentation” that include air quotes” ” and a lower case ‘s’ are not segmentation at all. Sadly, most versions of claimed Segmentation are really little more than the impersonating cousin named “segmentation”. None of the following is real Segmentation; Mailing the same thing to different audiences. An […]

Learn More December 22, 2021

Lazy Labels

We write about Identity but how do we best write to an Identity? Does invoking the label help show we know who they are? For example, “as a dog lover…” What about those health charities out there whose entire approach to ‘tailoring’ of appeals to supporters they know have the disease is tweaking the lead-in […]

Learn More November 17, 2021

Youngkin Dialed up Social Norms

There are a lot of political campaigns every year. And there are a lot of political scientists working in academia desperate for real-world experiments to publish results so they can stay in academia. These two facts result in an enormous amount of theory-led, testing and experimenting in politics. I’ve often wondered how much of this […]

Learn More November 8, 2021

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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Breaking Out of the Status Quo

Don’t Ask if You Don’t Care About the Answers

Model-T Fundraising: Pros and Cons

Facebook Cancels Jesus, Judaism, Tucker Carlson, Rachael Maddow and God

The “Give” Decision is Different Than The “How Much” One

Is Mass Fundraising Extinct?

Are You Fundraising At or To Your Supporters?

Spoiler Alert: People Are Different

Are You Doing “segmentation” or Segmentation?

Lazy Labels

Youngkin Dialed up Social Norms

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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