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Monthly Giving

The Thermofax Gospel of Recurring Giving

Let me tell you a story. It’s May 24, 1815. Some well-meaning folks in a fledgling nation decided they could collect money on a regular basis. For charity. Subscription-style. Recurring generosity. Monthly giving. They got it right two hundred and ten years ago. Now jump to the present day, where most nonprofit boards still stare […]

Learn More May 27, 2025

Memorial Day 2025

MOURN.  REMEMBER.

Learn More May 26, 2025

Fundraising Is a Mirror. What Are You Reflecting?

Look at the image sets. Clean desk or chaos corner? Friendly reminder above the sink or sarcastic passive-aggression? Still life fruit or wild abstraction? Window-gazing calm or crowd-surfing madness?  You have a clear favorite in each pair, no struggle, no committee meeting, just instant affinity. That’s personality at work. That’s traits in action. And that […]

Learn More May 23, 2025

Engagement Isn’t What You Think It Is And It’s Probably Not What You’re Measuring

There was a time when “engagement” meant something. A donor was engaged if they cared, felt something, had made a psychological investment. Now? Engagement means…they opened your email or clicked a link or attended a virtual town hall while folding laundry.  We turned a mental state into a series of browser events.  And worse: we […]

Learn More May 21, 2025

Segmentation: The Five Rules and One Big Red Flag

The only reason to segment your donors is because you think treating them differently will make you more money. But for that to work, your segmentation has to follow five must-have rules: People in the same segment are similar in ways that matter to giving. People in different segments are meaningfully different, again, in ways […]

Learn More May 19, 2025

Headline: Headlines Don’t Matter

The headline from a study of headlines?  Headlines don’t matter. This was a study of 141,000 headline A/B tests across 293 newspaper websites with big data, reputtable academics and a research lab whose name suggests it should be making Iron Man suits: the Northwestern Computational Journalism Lab. Their goal? Figure out what makes for a […]

Learn More May 16, 2025

The Checkwriters are Dying. So Are We.

We are not acquiring enough new donors.  We are recycling corpses. It’s a quiet truth we all know and don’t say aloud. A whispered secret among fundraisers who still claim acquisition is alive. But look closer. The same two million names, passed from co-op to co-op like a rusted coin. They’re called “responsive,” but that’s […]

Learn More May 14, 2025

Any Space Between Your Words?

Copy writing is all about the words.  Or is it? What about all the little bits pushed in between?  Punctuation usage can tell us a lot about writing style.   Which copy looks easier to read?  You don’t need to see any of the words to pick the one on the left.  If you picked the […]

Learn More May 9, 2025

Experience Is Not Strategy

Magnus Carlsen is one of the greatest chess players of all time and didn’t just master the game, he got bored of it.  So he helped popularize Chess960, a version where the back-row pieces are shuffled around.  He did this to help players stop their overreliance on memorized openings and forcing them to think, not […]

Learn More May 7, 2025

If Your Strategy Works for the ‘Average Donor,’ It Works for No One

We treat the average gift like gospel – reporting, obsessing and buidling decks on it.  That would make sense if donor behavior followed a nice, clean bell curve, tall in the middle, tapering on both ends. In that world, averages matter. Standard deviation matters. Outliers? They’re noise. But your donor data probably doesn’t live in […]

Learn More May 2, 2025

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Ask A Behavioral Scientist

    Behavioral Science Q & A

    Q: As a designer who works with non-profits on fundraising strategy, I see the language like the following: “Our supporters help empower every girl, ensuring she has the resources she needs.” I do not think the word “help” is useful–I think “Our supporters empower every girl, ensuring she has the resources she needs. ” is much more engaging. Thoughts?

    Whether “help” is more engaging or not really depends on the framing and context. The word help can sometimes weaken the perceived agency of the supporter, making their role feel secondary rather than central (your point). On the other hand, help can also signal collaboration rather than implying full ownership of the outcome, which might […]

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    Q: We started offering a donor cover option last april 1. The data to date suggests this may be dampening giving.eg. those who say yes to donor cover have a lower average gift (based on analysis of 6000+ gifts). I’m wondering if those who give lower gifts feel more guilt and therefore say yes to donor cover or if the presence of donor cover is making people adjust (lower) their gift size to accommodate the extra 3%. Would love any insights you have.

    Great question! Here’s how behavioral science can help unpack what might be happening: Pain of Paying: Even a small extra charge can make giving feel more transactional than emotional, potentially reducing generosity. Fairness Concerns: Some donors might perceive donor cover as a surcharge rather than a contribution to the cause. If they feel the charity […]

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    Q: When writing an appeal, I waffle back and forth between writing “Your gift CAN…” or “Your gift WILL…” Any studies of which of these two words is best for an appeal?

    The choice between “Your gift CAN…” and “Your gift WILL…” taps into the psychological framing of certainty vs. possibility. Currently, there is no academic research directly comparing these two framings in charitable appeals. However, I suspect no framing is universally better—the outcome likely depends on your target audience and the campaign’s goal. Here are some thoughts: Certainty Framing – […]

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    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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