Fundraising philosophy/profession - Agitator

Communications

Crowdfunding And The Rampage In Charlottesville

Within hours of the sickening and sordid rampage in Charlottesville last Saturday my Facebook account, emails and podcasts were filled with links to crowdfunding appeals for those injured. Tom and I don’t do much on crowdfunding so I thought I’d share some notes from observing how it was employed following this tragic and horrific event. […]

Learn More August 18, 2017

Are You Quarantining Your Major Donors?

“You’ll never get milk from a cow by sending it a letter.” That’s what my fundraising buddies told me 47 years ago when I left university major gift fundraising to help launch a new, direct mail-driven nonprofit called Common Cause. Sadly, too many development directors, major gift officers and CEOs still feel the same way. It’s […]

Learn More August 9, 2017

Getting Sound Fundraising Advice

I been thinking about the Comments on my post last week, Who’s A Poor Fundraiser To Believe? In it’s most simple reading, the post was taken as reducing sound fundraising to choosing one side or the other of the ‘mail more, mail less’ conundrum. And looked at this way, the appropriate response was, in effect: This […]

Learn More August 8, 2017

Farewell To A Progressive Fundraising Hero

Bill Dodd, a direct response pioneer who helped build some of the great names in progressive advocacy and mentored a generation of fundraisers, died on July 17th. He was 68. Bill will be remembered in our trade for the causes he embraced with his skill, talent and big heart to help them grow. The magazine […]

Learn More August 7, 2017

Are You Making A Difference?

For many people, the value they find in what they do (after the pay raise and reputation gain) is whether they are actually making a difference. Are they improving something — their product, service, work culture, community, the world? It seems like there are two points on the calendar when we tend to reassess such […]

Learn More August 4, 2017

Think AND Simplify?

In another incarnation, I spend a lot of time trying to get farmers to adopt ‘best practises’ that would improve their productivity and profitability while at the same time lessening their environmental footprint. What one sees is that there are basically three groups of farmers and growers out there: The top 20% ‘super farmers’ who […]

Learn More August 3, 2017

Fundraising In Alice’s Restaurant

OK Kids — especially the young (under 50) and those blessedly old — I’m gonna take you on a trip down Memory Lane in hopes of dealing with Tom’s question Who’s a Poor Fundraiser to Believe? If you have the usual internet-gnat attention span, please move on now. This is gonna take a few minutes. […]

Learn More August 2, 2017

Eminence vs Evidence In Fundraising – Part 3: ‘How’ And ‘Where’?

I noted in Part 1 of this series that “our trade won’t transform from its current eminence-based state to one more evidence-based overnight. In fact, the path to empiricism and scientific proof will be long and rocky. And plenty of disagreement, tension, name-calling, or worse will mark the journey.” Beyond the usual battles involving egos there […]

Learn More July 31, 2017

Eminence vs Evidence In Fundraising – Part 2: What is “Proper” Research

Judging from readers’ Comments to Part 1 of this series there’s a truly felt need and desire for collecting — and sharing — proper fundraising research and findings. Two questions arise. Just what is ‘proper’ research? And, ‘how’ can this information best be shared? What Is ‘Proper’ Research? The definition of what constitutes ‘proper’ research […]

Learn More July 27, 2017

Eminence vs. Evidence In Fundraising–Part 1: Emerging from the Dark Ages

Slowly, ever so slowly, fundraising is emerging from its Dark Ages of reliance on myth, tribal wisdom, and so-called ‘best practices’. For generations, fundraising ‘know how’ has been driven by anecdotes and passed-along rules of thumb largely free of any empirical or scientific validation. Examples of our trade’s reliance on received wisdom abound. “Mail more, […]

Learn More July 26, 2017

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

Crowdfunding And The Rampage In Charlottesville

Are You Quarantining Your Major Donors?

Getting Sound Fundraising Advice

Farewell To A Progressive Fundraising Hero

Are You Making A Difference?

Think AND Simplify?

Fundraising In Alice’s Restaurant

Eminence vs Evidence In Fundraising – Part 3: ‘How’ And ‘Where’?

Eminence vs Evidence In Fundraising – Part 2: What is “Proper” Research

Eminence vs. Evidence In Fundraising–Part 1: Emerging from the Dark Ages

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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