Fundraising philosophy/profession

Innovation Series #4: Failure to Innovate

What’s stopping you from innovation. Nothing we can think of except the usual sloth, fear and idiotic board or CEO. Perhaps you can enlighten us. What reasons do you give for failure to innovate? Here’s Tom’s take in his 2012 post Nonprofit Failure is Too Rare. The Editors By Tom Belford | December 6, […]

Learn More August 6, 2015

The Single Most Important “Fix” for Fundraising

Back in May Ken Burnett served up a thought-provoking finale to his 5-part Future of Fundraising series: Fundraising and the rule of law. For those who missed this series we especially want to repeat and focus on a key reform we all need to work on –fixing the donor’s experience. You’ll find Ken’s recommendations set forth […]

Learn More July 30, 2015

Wanted: “Retentioneer”

Seems like the hot new job title in Silicon Valley is “Retentioneer.” The term is a combination of “Retention” + “Engineer” = Retentionner.” Tech companies are finally realizing the futility of focusing on growth without fixing the leaky bucket of attrition. In short, they need to fix retention to have any chance of real growth. Sound […]

Learn More July 29, 2015

Fundraising Hypocrisy

If you’re one of our 872 UK Agitator readers this is for you. And also for the other 7,247 Agitators around the globe. Most likely the shoe also fits. Here’s the deal. Over the last few months the UK tabloids busted the fundraising British sector for its overly aggressive tactics in telemarketing and Face –To-Face techniques. […]

Learn More July 28, 2015

Wallowing In Fundraising Delusions

Awhile back, Jeff Brooks cited a number of ‘fundraising delusions’ he read about on Social Velocity. The Social Velocity article opened as follows: “Fundraising is, for the most part, a fundamentally misunderstood activity. There are a lot of misconceptions, among nonprofit leaders, board members — even donors — about effective ways to bring money in […]

Learn More July 23, 2015

The 20:2 Principle

We’ve all heard of the Pareto Principle — the 80:20 rule — in one form or another. In its basic formulation, something like 20% of your customers — or donors, or stores, or products — generate 80% of your income. [I’ve often daydreamed: does 20% of my time generate 80% of my income? Sadly, I’ve […]

Learn More July 22, 2015

Broken! Dangerous Fundraising Machinery

I wonder how many donors give in spite of the fundraising machine, not because of it?! As I read and wrote about the press and public’s outrage over Face-2-Face and telemarketing techniques that’s spilled forth in the UK, I kept asking: “Why or how in the world could a sector this sophisticated have allowed this […]

Learn More July 16, 2015

The High Price Of Failure To Listen

“Roger, please don’t talk to me when I’m not listening.” That was the standard response from a client who expressed surprise each time something blew up and I reminded him that we had discussed the very issue months before. “Don’t talk to me when I’m not listening.” Those words came flooding back as I wrote […]

Learn More July 15, 2015

Playing The Fundraising Blame Game In The U.K.

A fundraising firing squad is now being formed in the UK. Unfortunately, it seems to be forming in a circle. If ever there were a time for calm, cool, thoughtful and different fact-finding and exploration, it’s now. I’m afraid that in the name of ‘protecting’ the donor, the true reform desperately needed by our sector […]

Learn More July 13, 2015

The Donor Is Not The Enemy

Of course we all know the donor is not the enemy. Don’t we? Maybe not. Given the language so much of the sector uses, I wonder. If we’re truly about the business of building committed and lasting relationships, why do we use language that is better suited for an Army field manual? As in, ‘target’ […]

Learn More July 8, 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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