Uncategorized - Agitator

Breaking Out of the Status Quo

Cause Connection: A Simple, Underused Donor Identity

The last two days have covered two examples of health charities that have increased their revenues by differentiating based on cause connection. That is, they looked differently at those who either had the disease they are working to abate or had been treated by their facility and those who didn’t have this type of cause […]

Learn More May 18, 2018

Would you hire your nonprofit?

Marketing professor Theodore Levitt once remarked that “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.” The idea is that you need to sell results, not the product or features. This is why nonprofit marketing gurus talk about having a “you” focus in your nonprofit. When you are talking about your […]

Learn More May 17, 2018

Generating Leads By Combining Identity and Programmatic Outreach

The natural assumption is that most donors to the American Hangnail Society either have hangnails or care about someone who does. Yes, as you can tell, we are anonymizing a disease-focused charity. There is not, to my knowledge, an American Hangnail Society (AHS). (Yet; I’m eagerly awaiting the DRTV spots with dreadful looking cuticle beds.) […]

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Channel vs. Identity: Two Go In; One Comes Out

The words we use shape our thinking. A recent study, for example, showed you can change how people want to stop crime by how you describe it (by more than the divide between Democrats and Republicans). If crime is a “beast preying” on the city, you want more punitive crackdowns. If it’s a “virus infecting” […]

Learn More May 16, 2018

The four words that increased click-through by 42%

“As a medical professional”… That was simple, no? They certainly aren’t the types of words you would usually use to increase click-through, response, and conversion rates. And, alas, they may not work for you. Their power lies in the fact that they are a simple priming of a simple, but relevant, donor identity. The test […]

Learn More May 15, 2018

The Opposite of “More” Is Not “Less”; It’s “Better”

For generations direct response fundraisers have been steering the fundraising car with little more than two controls: the gas pedal and the brake pedal. Want more monthly donors? Invest more money. More prospecting. More F2F. More DRTV. More campaigns to reactivate lapsed sustainers. More. More. Want more net income to “meet the numbers”? Cut back […]

Learn More May 14, 2018

Lousy Boards, Lousy Bosses

Yesterday’s email yielded a field report from the circuit-riding Tom Ahern summarizing the dangers of lousy bosses and boards. . He had just previewed a new training session— Everyone’s a Critic– with an audience drawn from a few universities, the Girl Scouts, some hospital, social services, arts/museums and a hospice. Tom reports that “after two hours the group […]

Learn More May 11, 2018

Monthly Giving Part 4: Stewarding Monthly Donors

For reasons attributable only to sloth or ignorance far too many organizations sign up monthly donors then walk away. No thank you. No phone call. No newsletter. Nothing. And they wonder why these precious donors lapse. Really? In a moment I’ll share the top three tips on stewarding (treating donors like human beings) monthly donors […]

Learn More May 10, 2018

Dining With Donors

It had been years since I visited an all-night diner. So, the other night, road weary and longing for a cheeseburger and fries, I pulled into a real live, old-fashioned, aluminum clad diner and made my way to a booth with its own jukebox. Heaven. BUT… something was amiss. Out of place. Unfamiliar. With my […]

Learn More May 9, 2018

“Sorry, We’re Too Busy to Improve”

“No one is working 10-12 hours a day. Being busy is not working. Taking calls and meetings is a waste. Whenever someone tells me they’re actually working 12-14 hours a day [I ask] are you working or is your time filled with tiny blocks of bullshit ore are there large blocks of uninterrupted time?” That […]

Learn More May 8, 2018

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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Breaking Out of the Status Quo

Cause Connection: A Simple, Underused Donor Identity

Would you hire your nonprofit?

Generating Leads By Combining Identity and Programmatic Outreach

Channel vs. Identity: Two Go In; One Comes Out

The four words that increased click-through by 42%

The Opposite of “More” Is Not “Less”; It’s “Better”

Lousy Boards, Lousy Bosses

Monthly Giving Part 4: Stewarding Monthly Donors

Dining With Donors

“Sorry, We’re Too Busy to Improve”

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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