Donor retention / loyalty / commitment - Agitator

Communications

Unsung Fundraising Heroes

I’m looking forward to speaking next week at the annual meeting of the Association of Advancement Services Professionals because I want to personally thank these unsung heroes. These are the pros who gather, organize, manage and disseminate the information that is the backbone of solid and effective fundraising. Key activities too often ignored or paid short […]

Learn More October 20, 2015

Monitoring Metrics For Your Nonprofit

When I received this alert — Monitoring Metrics for Your Nonprofit? Look at These 3 First — from Joanne Fritz, nonprofit orgs expert at About Money, I was keen to see which three she had flagged. Joanne is a savvy, reliable source of good advice and useful resources. But this time I was teased and […]

Learn More October 16, 2015

Love Those Donor Complaints

Yesterday Roger hamstered hammered away at retention, drawing upon Mark Phillips’ (Bluefrog) wonderful warm and fuzzy hamster parable. In support of Roger’s and Mark’s messages, here’s something more prosaic regarding just one aspect of hanging on to donors … dealing with complaints. In fact, treasuring them. Take this advice from the ‘customer’ world, offered in Four […]

Learn More October 14, 2015

Hamsters And Fundraising

When it comes to holding on to donors most fundraisers, like fur-less hamsters, seem to treading their way to nowhere. As the Agitator noted last week in our post on the 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report, just as in past years the number of new donors gained is surpassed by the number of existing donors lost (100 too […]

Learn More October 13, 2015

Loyalty To AARP

The Agitator has reported before on AARP (American Assn of Retired Persons) and its various marketing endeavours, simply because AARP, with more than 37 million members, is one of the 800 pound gorillas in the nonprofit advocacy and service sector. AARP has the resources to experiment and innovate … and hopefully get things right. And […]

Learn More October 12, 2015

And The Band Played On

As Roger wrote last Friday, commenting on the latest Fundraising Effectiveness Report, the nonprofit sector is losing donors faster than it’s gaining them. I’d put it more bluntly … we’re on a sinking ship. Hey, but it’s only a slow leak. At an annual net loss of ‘only’ 3%, it will take us nearly 35 […]

Learn More October 6, 2015

Fundraising Common Sense

Tom and I are always grateful for Comments by fellow Agitators and we weren’t disappointed to the remarks triggered by the post on the 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report. All the insights were terrific, but I was particularly struck by Michael Rosen’s comment on how quickly some folks seem to dismiss the importance and skill required […]

Learn More October 5, 2015

2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Report: Read It and Weep

The AFP/Urban Institute’s 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report (FEP) is now out. The results are nothing short of depressing. Bottom-line results in terms of donors and dollars for 2014, the period covered by the Report: Every 100 donors gained in 2014 was offset by 103 in lost donors through attrition. A net loss in donors of […]

Learn More October 2, 2015

The U.K.’s New Fundraising Sheriff

Self-regulation of fundraising went down the tubes this week in the U.K., and the nonprofit sector has no one to blame but itself. A review commissioned by the government following a media exposé of pressurized fundraising tactics used by some charities (see Agitator here, and here) concluded that the self-regulatory Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) had been […]

Learn More September 24, 2015

Afraid Of Urgent? Try Authentic.

Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now wrote an interesting post last week about second-guessing donors. He was warning fundraisers not to make up stories about donors … what he referred to as “wild guesses about their behaviors that wander far away from what donors really do”. And he gave the example of worrying about how […]

Learn More September 21, 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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The Agitator Tool Box

Ideas, applications, tools, processes, and case studies of break-through solutions in fundraising, including: