Uncategorized - Agitator

Breaking Out of the Status Quo

Stuck On the Bottom Line

Why, for nearly six decades, has American philanthropy failed to grow beyond a 2% share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? After all, decade after decade athletes break new records, horses run faster, crop yields bloom with increases and on and on. But since 1970 American philanthropic giving has stayed stuck; the percentage of GDP […]

Learn More April 9, 2018

Segmenting Your Donor Services

Every donor is worthy of respect. After all, not everyone gives of themselves to help others. Every dollar given is a sacrifice. Even if given with not-wholly-pure motives like tax benefits or looking good to others, a dollar to charity is a dollar not spent on the hedonic or the temporary. And yet, for charities, […]

Learn More April 6, 2018

Mayfly marketing

Mayflies wait an entire year waiting to be born. On the day of their birth, they fly off, find a mate, lay eggs, and die. All in one day. This feels like the modern marketing landscape. Our windows of relevance in the media and of opportunity with donors seem so fleeting. I have bad news: […]

Learn More April 5, 2018

(Lack of) Speed Kills

When Amazon started, people were nervous about providing a credit card number in hope that their books would arrive. (Don’t @ me, 25-and-unders, this was a real thing.) Will my book arrive? Will it be what I intended? Is this whole Internet thing a scam? So a large part of Amazon’s infrastructure works to convince […]

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The Neuroscience of Donor Services

Why do we care about donor service? Let’s delve into our donors’ brains to find out. You! Put down that hacksaw! I was speaking metaphorically! Picture any decision you make as a debate between “pull towards” and “push away.” The pull comes from our nucleus accumbens. The nucleus accumbens – think of this as your […]

Learn More April 4, 2018

The Value of “Random Amazement”

This week Nick and I deal with the critically important function of “Donor Service.” Let’s start with this fundamental question: Do you really know what good donor service looks like? I sure hope so, because as we’ve reported before, nearly 20% of all donors who drop out quit because of lousy donor service. Consequently, any […]

Learn More April 3, 2018

Are You Behaving Like Facebook?

Seems as though all the world– the press, Congress, the European Union, advertisers, competitors and millions of users themselves—are focused on Facebook’s privacy and data practices. This is a great opportunity to look at privacy and data practices in our own sector. Sadly, many nonprofits behave like Facebook. They share and rent data without asking. They […]

Learn More April 2, 2018

Ask them. Ask them every time.

I for one am shocked – shocked! – in the revelations that Facebook has treated our data with all the care of a four-year-old with a new Hot Wheel. (Let’s see what happens when we run a user’s personal information OFF A RAMP AND DOWN THE STAIRS!) After all, packaging these data for ads is […]

Learn More March 29, 2018

Are Your New Donors Hiding in Plain Sight?

We’ve talked about ways to bring people in from the outside like advocacy programs and content marketing efforts. But while both are good ways to get people on your file, they may not always convert to donors. So what if it turns out that, like the Scarecrow’s brains and the True Meaning of Christmas*, the […]

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YourMediaCompany.org

There are many real issues and perceived issues concerning the state of media. This is not that thought piece. This is the one proclaiming that this is the perfect time for your organization to become its own media organization; for several reasons. The costs of operating a media organization have never been lower. You could […]

Learn More March 28, 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

Stuck On the Bottom Line

Segmenting Your Donor Services

Mayfly marketing

(Lack of) Speed Kills

The Neuroscience of Donor Services

The Value of “Random Amazement”

Are You Behaving Like Facebook?

Ask them. Ask them every time.

Are Your New Donors Hiding in Plain Sight?

YourMediaCompany.org

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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