Major donors - Agitator

Communications

Shut Up And Listen

As reported in this NonProfit Times article, consultant Richard Brown offered this simple advice at a recent fundraising conference, in the context of major gift fundraising: “Just keep your mouth shut and your ears open.” He was cautioning about the tendency of fundraisers always to be in sales mode, with predictable talking points: You’ll be making […]

Learn More October 19, 2015

Insight Into Donor-Advised Giving

Hats off to Schwab for providing valuable insight into the giving behavior of their donor-advised fund customers. Schwab has released a report providing giving data both since inception of their fund in 1999 and greater detail on fiscal year 2015. Because donor funds are invested by Schwab, it’s nice to see that, since inception, donor funds held in […]

Learn More October 9, 2015

Predictive Signs of Future Giving

A fundamental belief held by most of us is that the more we know about prospects or donors the better we’re able to fashion a strategy for building relationships and hopefully winning or upgrading the size of their commitment. The wealth screening industry is built on that belief. What many folks may not understand as […]

Learn More September 4, 2015

2015 Half-time Fundraising Score

The Atlas of Giving, the resource that combines both past results along with forecasts of charitable giving in the U.S., recently issued its 2015 Mid-Year Report. The news is good. Giving in the first half of 2015 was “exceptionally (and unexpectedly) strong—up a total of 7.6% to $238.88 billion compared to $222.03 billion for the same period […]

Learn More August 11, 2015

Direct Mail Yields Major Gift Donors

On Monday we reported on the American Cancer Society (ACS) and its project over the past year to re-examine the role of direct mail in its fundraising program. ACS is committed to a sophisticated multi-channel marketing approach, in which direct mail remains a key work horse, and in which the full potential value of each […]

Learn More July 17, 2014

Donor Nation USA

I was browsing the latest report from Giving USA on the size of the giving sector in America in 2013. The overall giving total — $335 billion — is big. But just how big is that … what would be a good comparative measure? What about comparative national budgets? If you take ‘just’ individual donations […]

Learn More June 23, 2014

Telemarketing Case Studies #2

Can you, should you telemarket to high dollar donors? Many of you are probably responding … “YECH!” “GROSS!” “My development director would rip my heart out!” But Gabe Raff at Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey thinks differently. And has the data to back up his approach. Here’s a case study from Gabe on a campaign […]

Learn More June 17, 2014

Snickers Bars And Matching Gifts

Which Matching Gift Challenge formula works best? (A) 1:1 matching grant (“An anonymous donor will match your contribution dollar for dollar.”) (B) 2:1 matching grant (“triples your donation”) (C) 3:1 matching grant (“quadruples your donation”) The anecdotal (as opposed to scientific) ‘rule’ in our trade is that higher match levels are better than lower match […]

Learn More November 6, 2013

Want To Acquire Donors?

What’s the best way to get a new donor or member? At first blush, you might think of the answer in terms of which medium to use — direct mail, email, web conversion, face-to-face, social media. But think again in terms of how to capture interest most effectively from ‘birds of a feather’? This time […]

Learn More October 17, 2013

Music To My Ears

Peter Buffett, musician and philanthropist, wrote this piece — The Charitable-Industrial Complex — last week in the NY Times. Much of what he says relates to the programmatic side of what major donors attempt to do and their motivations. For example, he describes “conscience laundering” … “As more lives and communities are destroyed by the […]

Learn More August 1, 2013

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

The Agitator Tool Box

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