Segmentation - Agitator

Behavioral Science Posts

The “Intention to Give” Giving Gap

There is an entire field of study, decades old, focused on the relationship between intention to do something and doing it – intended behavior vs. actual behavior. This is far more involved and practical than the too simplistic and quite misleading adage that ‘people don’t do what they say’. In fact, the intention to do […]

Learn More August 3, 2020

Is the Donor Missing From Your Giving Equation…And Your Fundraising?

Stick with this post. By the end –following a somewhat wonky start –you’ll feel more control over your fundraising and relatedness to your donors. This is what the vast majority of giving formulas, albeit never expressed, look like: Giving = solicitation + random error (difference between your budgeted number and reality) (Remember algebra? Don’t stop reading; […]

Learn More July 20, 2020

The Theory of Giving : A Fundraiser’s North Star

Since last Wednesday’s post announcing the 2020 Pilot Study to determine how drivers of giving – Identity, Personality, Quality of Motivation, Commitment and Satisfaction –impact giving and how you put this information to practical use Agitator readers have expressed significant interest and participation. To briefly recap, you’ll recall that this DonorVoice research project—global in scope—aims […]

Learn More June 22, 2020

A Closer Look at the Big Five and Personalized Persuasion

My last post introduced the “Big Five” or “Five-Factor” model of personality traits and offered a glimpse of the way personality insights can be useful for donor segmentation and campaign messaging. We’re sticking with these topics in this post but going a little deeper. A Brief History of the Big Five I want to first […]

Learn More March 18, 2020

The Bigger World of Behavioral Science

In his Agitator debut our new expert on supporter motivation explains why the time has come for nonprofits to more fully access the psychological insights and tools available to them and maximize their fundraising potential. Traditionally, “motivation” has been seen as an attribute that varied only by amount: folks can be either more or less […]

Learn More March 4, 2020

Cluster Analysis or Cluster F***k?

Don’t shoot the profane messenger. If you ever think about or talk about or actually perform donor segmentation, you’ll want to read this post about a statistical technique called cluster analysis. It is time to sound a warning bell for what might be a largely unnoticed, but no less severe, epidemic of shoddy cluster analysis […]

Learn More February 19, 2020

“Zero Party” Data is the Best Party Data

To recap our previous post, zero-party data draws a distinction between first party data (i.e. data you have based on direct interaction with your supporters) that is voluntarily, willingly shared and that which is passively and (often) unknowingly collected. The latter requires inference and assumption, the former is knowing and understanding. There are three types […]

Learn More February 12, 2020

Finding the Real Donor-Centric Unicorn

Why do donors give? And how do we build our segmentation and “journeys” around who they are and why they give? If we need or want a label to guide us, and of course most of us do, enter the elusive term “donor-centric”. This is our sector’s magic unicorn that is rarely seen and yet, […]

Learn More January 24, 2020

Why Do Donors Give? And Why Do They Stop?

Seems like two questions worth knowing the answer to if you are in the business of trying to affect donor behavior. One of the main reasons they give has nothing to do with your specific charitable brand but rather, their using your charitable brand to deliver on, or otherwise reinforce, their innate sense of self. […]

Learn More January 22, 2020

Fundraising Pioneer and Provocateur Dies

John Groman, 74, co-founder of Epsilon and a pioneer in database fundraising died August 24 in Sheldon, South Carolina. John was more than a friend. He was a feisty, driven colleague who brought new methods and new ways of viewing direct response fundraising that forever changed our sector. Beginning in 1969—almost 50 years to the […]

Learn More August 28, 2019

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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Behavioral Science Posts

The “Intention to Give” Giving Gap

Is the Donor Missing From Your Giving Equation…And Your Fundraising?

The Theory of Giving : A Fundraiser’s North Star

A Closer Look at the Big Five and Personalized Persuasion

The Bigger World of Behavioral Science

Cluster Analysis or Cluster F***k?

“Zero Party” Data is the Best Party Data

Finding the Real Donor-Centric Unicorn

Why Do Donors Give? And Why Do They Stop?

Fundraising Pioneer and Provocateur Dies

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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