Nonprofit management - Agitator

Major donors

Just Write The Check, Please!

There … we've said it. We're reacting to a bunch of things … A recent article in the New York Times, “Write a Check? The New Philanthropist Goes Further,” which opens: Many wealthy Americans are no longer content to bequeath their money to favorite causes in their wills. Instead, they are creating a strategic plan […]

Learn More March 23, 2007

Privacy Matters

Abny Santicola at Fundraising Success Advisor has put together a great package of articles on privacy policies for nonprofits, including a checklist for formulating your own organization's policy. We think you'll find these articles very useful, together with the further sources Abny cites. Especially given the complexities posed by online data collection and distribution. The […]

Learn More March 16, 2007

Top 10 Reasons To Start A New Nonprofit

Even though I've been involved with a lot of start-up cause groups over the years, and thrown my share of grenades over the wall, this post will indelibly mark me as an old fart. But here goes … One of my favorite bloggers, The Nonprofiteer, reacting to a Time mag article titled Rethinking Nonprofits, raises […]

Learn More March 7, 2007

Will Your Webmaster Save Your Butt?

The New York Times just ran an interesting article titled, Social Networking's Next Phase. The piece offers a clue as to why the ability and imagination — the marketing smarts — of the web team at your nonprofit is so critical. Nonprofit websites have evolved from simple brochureware, to cluttered electronic libraries, to full-time fundraising […]

Learn More March 6, 2007

Is The Donor Always Right?

No! Donors can be wrong, abusive, over-demanding, distracting. Sean Stannard-Stockton at Tactical Philanthropy has been presiding for a few weeks now over an important, well-articulated and stimulating “debate” amongst fellow bloggers on the issue of donor accountability … in this case, meaning accountability to donors. I commend him for persisting on the theme. In a […]

Learn More February 28, 2007

Crisis Strikes

Hopefully most nonprofits will never face the sort of devastating public confidence breakdown that JetBlue has recently suffered in the commercial world. Still, **** happens. Someone up in the executive suite, down in accounting, or out in the field embezzles some money (e.g., the Red Cross). The media claims, fairly or otherwise, that services are […]

Learn More February 26, 2007

Do The Math

Abny Santicola of Fundraising Success recently filed a useful series of stories on channel integration … using direct mail, telemarketing and online channels (as well as other “customer touches”) to optimize donor retention and value. Nowadays any nonprofit fundraiser worth her salt should be integrating. But marketing creativity, good intentions and good theory too often […]

Learn More February 13, 2007

Smarter Donors, Better Nonprofits

About 5-6 weeks ago, the Chronicle of Philanthropy ran a great opinion piece (available to subscribers only) about the need for more sophisticated and sustained media coverage of nonprofits. Written by Robert Egger, president of the D.C. Central Kitchen, agent provocateur and blogger. We’ve been thinking about it ever since. Egger sees three benefits to […]

Learn More January 18, 2007

Are Best Practices A Crutch?

Describing his skepticism about best practices, David Baker, VP of E-mail Solutions at Avenue A/Razorfish, web consultants to some of the best known brands in the world (including Oxfam, for whom they created this gifting website), says this: Best practices are like benchmarks. They are very personal and contextual. Applied incorrectly, best practices can become […]

Learn More January 16, 2007

Give Thanks For Nonprofits At Thanksgiving

A recent report on MSNBC notes that America’s 1.4 million nonprofits (as registered with the IRS in 2004) account for 5.2% of the nation’s economic output and 8.3% of its wages and salaries. That’s a significant contribution indeed to the nation’s economic well-being, but it pales in importance to the enormous good work charities, cause […]

Learn More November 23, 2006

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: