• Home
  • Blog Posts
  • Behavioral Science
  • On Demand Webinars
  • Toolbox
  • Archives

Nonprofit management

Death Of A Large Presence

In the fundraising marching band of impressive and memorable characters Tom and I have known over the years, Bill Dixon was the Drum Major. A big man, with a booming voice and boisterous laugh, love of life and passionately committed to human dignity and equality, Bill passed away March 22nd at age 81 in Richmond. […]

Learn More March 28, 2014

Discover Your Missing Middle

‘Mid-level giving’ is an essential element in any fundraising program. Sadly, in practice it’s one of those buzzwords lots of fundraisers talk about, few understand and even fewer know how or where to begin. This is why a new study, The Missing: Neglecting Middle Donors Is Costing You Millions, released Sunday at the AFP is […]

Learn More March 25, 2014

Donordigital Goes Secret Shopping

Donordigital has just released a study on integrated fundraising — Integrated Fundraising: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly — based upon ‘secret shopping’ at 16 major US nonprofits. They made an initial online contribution to the 16 groups, and then for six months tracked all interactions with these organizations through direct mail, online and […]

Learn More March 7, 2014

Forecast Of 2014 Giving

This week the Atlas of Giving released their most recent month-by-month giving forecast for 2014. They forecast that national giving is expected to grow 5.3% for the calendar year, and 4.3% for the next 12 months through January,2015. The Atlas tracks giving across all charitable sectors including higher education and religion. It then uses a […]

Learn More March 6, 2014

50 Shades Of Gray

Shame on you for even thinking The Agitator would go there. Instead, the headline was triggered by the fact that the divorce rate among folks 50+ has doubled in the past 20 years. This trend should raise questions for fundraisers concerning the ‘gray’ set. Thus we were pleased to hear from Barry Nelson, Senior Director […]

Learn More March 5, 2014

The Annoyance Of Meetings

Sometime back, in a post titled Fundraising Nonsense, I lamented the fact the biggest waste of nonprofit time is ‘the meeting’. George Smith, the late, great UK copywriter put it best: “I always used to say that meetings were what you were doing when you weren’t working. They remain the regular ceremonial of the client/supplier […]

Learn More February 21, 2014

Fundraising Land Grab

On Valentine’s Day, it’s fitting that The Agitator focus on fundraising’s equivalent of the ‘going steady’ relationship — the sustaining, committed or monthly giving donor. Chuck Longfield, founder of Target Analytics and chief scientist at Blackbaud, is one of my favorite fundraising analysts and observers. He preaches a lot about retention and how monthly giving […]

Learn More February 14, 2014

How To Make Your Website A Fundraising Winner

Yesterday Tom outlined how to destroy your website. Today, in the best yin and yang tradition of The Agitator, here’s how to make your website the very best of breed. WAGER:  I’m betting there’s no more than one out of every 10,000 nonprofits in the world with the guts or patience to follow the process […]

Learn More January 30, 2014

Who Better To Talk To?

If you are seriously interested in arresting your nonprofit’s declining retention rate, there are several approaches you can take — tactical improvements to your cultivation and renewal streams, improving ‘customer service’ aspects of your operations, telling a more compelling story (delivering both emotion and results). Of course these are not mutually exclusive approaches … probably […]

Learn More January 22, 2014

You Promised More Cash

OK, you did it. There you were, pressed by your CEO or Executive Director in front of the rest of the senior staff … how much net income — as in, cash we can spend this year on salaries, rent and program — will you deliver in 2014? [I appreciate that probably he or she […]

Learn More January 14, 2014

<< 1 … 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 … 134 >>

Ask A Behavioral Scientist

    Behavioral Science Q & A

    Q:We are struggling with acquistion. During our biggest community campaign, a colleague is suggesting that we have a QR code directing donors to a donate page that does not capture donor information – just a donation and an email address. We won’t be able to post any of these new doors our lvoely newsletters, or thank you letters. We’ll likely never hear from them again. What’s the best method to get this team to see the importance about a donor vs a donation?

    Thanks so much for raising this. Yes, capturing donor information can be helpful for stewardship like newsletters, thank-you letters, impact updates. But how you ask matters. Forcing full data capture introduces friction that can significantly depress conversion, many donors may simply abandon the process. Beyond the friction itself, required fields also shift the emotional experience […]

    Read Full Answer

    Q: Should we include “Giving Tuesday” in the subject lines for the emails that are going out before Giving Tuesday?

    Unlike holidays that everyone already knows, Giving Tuesday is a created event. Many donors recognize the name but not the exact timing, so referencing it becomes a helpful cue. It serves as a reminder and taps into social norm activation (“everyone’s giving today”), which boosts response. However, we still want it paired with the mission, […]

    Read Full Answer

    Q: can we pull the match language into the subject lines? Or this should be an A/B test?

    When a subject line leads with the match (“Your gift matched!”), it risks triggering market-norm thinking: the sense that giving is a financial transaction rather than an act rooted in values, identity, and care. This shift reduces intrinsic motivation and, over time, can weaken donor satisfaction and long-term engagement. It also makes the email indistinguishable […]

    Read Full Answer

    Q: Our mid-level donor team removed the QR code from the DM donation form that links to the donation page, but have left the URL for them to type it in manually. Not sure why they are adding a barrier to the donation process for a higher value donor – but I have to ask – is there any proof – either way – if a QR donation code reduces MV online giving, has any effect on their donation amount, has any effect on off line donations? Thank you….

    There’s no evidence that QR codes suppress mid-value giving; all available research suggests they either help or have no negative effect. In fact, behavioral and usability research consistently shows the opposite: reducing friction at any point in the donation process increases completion rates and total response. And that has nothing to do with capacity and […]

    Read Full Answer

    Q: How can we effectively use behavioral science to help shift our Board’s mindset. The majority are extremely resistant to asking their networks or sharing their contact lists with us, even after a candid discussion with an external lay leader who has been training boards with her fantastic Fundraising isn’t the F Word! workshop. We have also offered to use our automated email tool to send their appeals from their own email. It is so frustrating. We even have 2 Board members and the chair trying put some accountability on them for our big event but people are not really moving!

    What you’re experiencing is very common. Resistance often isn’t about capability, but about motivation quality. If board members feel pushed into fundraising, that triggers controlled motivation (low quality motivation) i.e. obligation, guilt, or fear of judgment, which often results in avoidance. Instead, we need to create conditions for volitional motivation (high quality motivation) by satisfying […]

    Read Full Answer

    Q: Copywriters often argue the ask should appear on the first page, but that usually breaks the story in two. With a one-sided letter the ask is always on page one, but with a two-sided letter it may fall on the second page—do results differ? Has your appeal structure been tested on both one-sided and two-sided letters? I just read the article Your Appeal Outline: Thoughtful Strategy or Random Spasm?

    That’s a really thoughtful question, and you’re not the first to raise it. Many of our clients have been cautious about placing the ask at the very end. To address their concern, we’ve tested both approaches, and the results are clear: when the ask comes last, even if that means it appears on the second […]

    Read Full Answer

    The Agitator Tool Box

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



      • © Copyright 2005 - 2026, The Agitator. All Rights Reserved.
      • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Sitemap
      • RSS Feed
      • We welcome your feedback!