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A potpourri of updates

Here at The Agitator, we pride ourselves on well-reasoned, thoughtful posts that explore important themes in depth often over a week. This isn’t going to be one of those weeks. This is going to be a week of potpourri, using the popular Jeopardy definition of “doesn’t fit into any other category.” So we’ll start with […]

Learn More May 7, 2018

Agitator Cliff Notes: What’s Next?

I wanted to find another book to talk about today. But the problem wasn’t finding a book; it was narrowing it down to just one. So let’s hear your votes in the Comments on two things: Is this Agitator Cliff Notes approach worthwhile and worth doing again? What book(s) do you recommend? Roger has sent […]

Learn More May 5, 2018

When Have You Acquired a Donor?

When you received their donation, right? Once you have their sweet sweet cheddar in your bank account, the person has made a donation. Thus they are a donor. They have been acquired. Q.E.D. On to the next blog post. But let’s consider this in reverse. You go to a new restaurant. It’s so horrid you […]

Learn More May 4, 2018

iBlackHole

The new M+R Benchmarking data are out; I highly recommend them. I was looking to do a summary of them for you but, as with my Agitator post today, got stuck on one chart: That’s right. The average mobile donation page conversion rate is single digits. This is why while mobile website traffic is the […]

Learn More May 3, 2018

Breaking Down Your Acquisition Silos

You can spend money on anything. That’s why it’s called money. Economists call this fungibility, which has nothing to do with mushrooms. It has everything to do with how a dollar can be used for rent or food or entertainment or whatever. In our minds, though, we hate fungibility. People have sophisticated mental jars of […]

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What to Do When Cost-to-Acquire Lies to You

I’ve argued cost-to-acquire (CTA) and lifetime value were the two metrics that mattered most. The idea is that if lifetime value is going to be higher than the cost of acquiring, acquire that donor. If not, you need lower acquisition costs or higher lifetime value. That makes great sense as far as it goes. The […]

Learn More May 2, 2018

What Your Board Should Learn from Starbucks

There’s no question in my mind that a great deal of the furor over the ‘high cost of fundraising’ on the part boards, CEOs, watchdog groups, the press, regulators and many fundraisers themselves stems mostly from ignorance. Ignorance about what “acquisition” is, how it should be measured, and when or whether its costs should be […]

Learn More May 1, 2018

It’s Donor Acquisition Week

Many fundraisers –regardless of the size of their organization—tell us that donor acquisition is one of their biggest problems. The numbers support this. In the UK eight of the largest charities are losing donors faster than they acquire themby a rate of 5 to 3. In the U.S., for the fourth quarter of 2017 the […]

Learn More April 30, 2018

What You Need to Know from the 2018 Fundraising Effectiveness Project: Implications

The 2018 FEP report has both silver lining and cloud. Now what? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments; here are a few of mine. We must rebuild our base. Increasing retention post-first gift is a major part of this and we should pat ourselves on the back (not too hard) for this. […]

Learn More April 27, 2018

The preferred nonprofit

“It is not enough to be loved — I wish to be preferred” – Andre Gide, playwright It would be wonderful for you if all your donors gave only to your organization. Rationally, they should. They would look at all the organizations out there, pick the one with the biggest impact for the buck, and […]

Learn More April 26, 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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Uncategorized

A potpourri of updates

Agitator Cliff Notes: What’s Next?

When Have You Acquired a Donor?

iBlackHole

Breaking Down Your Acquisition Silos

What to Do When Cost-to-Acquire Lies to You

What Your Board Should Learn from Starbucks

It’s Donor Acquisition Week

What You Need to Know from the 2018 Fundraising Effectiveness Project: Implications

The preferred nonprofit

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?

DonorVoice products

Commitment System

Donor Feedback Platform™

PreTest Tool

TouchPoint Mapping