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Behavioral Science Posts

How Donors Choose Among Nonprofits: The Role of Identity

There’s an old joke at the right that often feels like nonprofit marketing. While we do and should have ambitions of expanding the charitable giving pie, we also want to secure our own organization’s piece of said pie. One of the points Kevin made yesterday is that organizations are differentiating themselves by creating donor journeys […]

Learn More March 21, 2018

Low Risk Approach to High Reward Discovery

Yesterday Roger outlined the failings of alleged-segmentation systems that aren’t customized to your organization. Today, I’d like to suggest a proven, low-risk approach to dramatic improvement through better segmentation. It’s hard to get away from the significant advantages that come with being a mature nonprofit brand: you can get very good at delivery, incremental efficiency, […]

Learn More March 20, 2018

Fantasyland Fundraising

Grandma Craver always advised: “Never wake a sleeping snake to kill it.” And generally, I try to follow her advice. But, over the weekend The New York Times ran a blockbuster of a piece How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions. Behind the story is the tale of a voter profiling firm named […]

Learn More March 19, 2018

The Taxman Cometh, Part 3: A Way Forward

We’ve discussed the nonprofit tax debate over the past two days; now it’s time to talk implications. There are a few roads that lead from here, all with their pluses and minuses. Ignore the new rules. Do what you’ve been doing. Maybe people will still think their gift helps them on their taxes, even if […]

Learn More March 16, 2018

Teaching your elephant to dance – Delivery and Discovery

There are significant advantages to being a mature nonprofit brand. You can get very good at delivery, incremental efficiency, and volume. Delivery is about exploiting what we know to get something close to what we expect; it is the origin of efficiency. After all, if you know next year’s acquisition package is going to look […]

Learn More March 15, 2018

The Taxman Cometh, Part 2: Maybe the 2017 Tax Bill Won’t Kill Us All

Since I ended my piece yesterday the doom and gloom note of the existential threat to all philanthropy, this is an odd, or at least paradoxical, piece to write. But there’s some counterbalancing evidence that we may not be peering into the abyss created by the new tax cut law. Hope #1 is that donors […]

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The Taxman Cometh, Part 1: The Downside of the 2017 Tax Bill for Nonprofits

We’ve had a few reader requests to talk about the nonprofit implications of the new tax bill. The trick in meeting this request is that 1) smart people on this issue disagree and 2) I’m not one of the people in #1. So I’ll try to lay out the gloom and doom case today, the […]

Learn More March 14, 2018

What Ask String Works Best?

The life of a direct response fundraiser is filled with so many questions – far more questions than answers. Take the question, “How much should we ask for?” Usually the question is answered with the conventional application of a formula based on previous giving. For example, 1.0X, 1.5X, 2.0X highest previous gift –or some variation […]

Learn More March 13, 2018

Are Your Segmentation Skills a Joke?

IF you depend solely on RFM for your segmentation you’re leaving tons of money on the table. IF you buy into the idea of “personas” created by navel-gazing or demographics (age, gender, income, education) you’ve not only wasted time and money, but you’re leaving even more $, £, € on the table. If you buy […]

Learn More March 12, 2018

Level Three Feedback: Using Feedback to Model

You had an acquisition package that beat your control like the control owed it money. Turns out that putting in a coin and a notepad and address labels and a back-end premium in that package really increased response rate! You have a new control! Fast forward a year. Your donor file isn’t growing the way […]

Learn More March 9, 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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Behavioral Science Posts

How Donors Choose Among Nonprofits: The Role of Identity

Low Risk Approach to High Reward Discovery

Fantasyland Fundraising

The Taxman Cometh, Part 3: A Way Forward

Teaching your elephant to dance – Delivery and Discovery

The Taxman Cometh, Part 2: Maybe the 2017 Tax Bill Won’t Kill Us All

The Taxman Cometh, Part 1: The Downside of the 2017 Tax Bill for Nonprofits

What Ask String Works Best?

Are Your Segmentation Skills a Joke?

Level Three Feedback: Using Feedback to Model

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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