Uncategorized

New free ask string white paper and webinar

Wanted to let you know quickly about two new free resources: We have a new white paper up called The Science of Ask Strings. It walks through donor psychology, how to set your ask string goals, and how to use behavioral science to get the results you want. It’s a free download here. Thanks to […]

Learn More September 14, 2016

Three free Webinars in September 2016

Not only are we humans irrational, but we are irrational in predictable ways, with biases baked into our brains’ operating systems. Behavioral science can get more people to do better things without force or coercion – simply designing better choices can make a big difference. These set of three free Webinars will address how to […]

Learn More September 7, 2016

The Neglected Gold Mine of Lapsed Donors

I’m glad Tom raised the issue of ‘lapsed’ donors in his post, When To Give Up On A Donor. The issue of seemingly inactive or financially unproductive donors receives to little serious attention. In the direct response part of the trade, ‘lapsed’ donors are too often mechanistically shoved into various RFM buckets with little understanding […]

Learn More August 29, 2016

For Fundraiser Introverts

Which way would you have it …? Fundraisers should be introverts, because this more introspective personality type would be better suited for getting ‘inside the heads’ of donors and tapping their core emotional motivations. Or, Fundraisers should be extroverts, because they are more naturally equipped with the engagement skills that would better attune them to […]

Learn More August 19, 2016

Fundraising As A Driver Of Social Justice

On a hot August afternoon 46 years ago I dropped my first direct mail campaign at the main post office in Washington, D.C. The 250,000 envelopes contained a six-page letter that began “Everybody’s organized but the people…” announcing the formation of a new “citizens lobby” called Common Cause. It was a big gamble. Few organizations […]

Learn More August 17, 2016

Being donor-centric is not function of volume (even though volume biz model horribly broken)

Let’s be provocative from the start; donor-centricity used to be an empty, vacuous, platitude. This, in and of itself, is not a big deal and in fact preferable to the definitions that seem to be filling the empty, vacuous void. First and foremost, volume (i.e. cadence) seems to have quickly stepped in to become “a”, […]

Learn More May 16, 2016

Will Political Fundraising Harm Your Bottom Line?

As Bernie Sanders’ Presidential campaign nears the $150 million mark in small gift (average $27) fundraising, and as record amounts pour into the rest of the Presidential primary campaigns, there’s no doubt that nonprofit CEOs and Boards will be wondering: How will all that political giving impact support for our organization this year? The answer: […]

Learn More April 11, 2016

Fundraising Change Is Like Climate Change

The greatest fallacy in nonprofit thinking is that maintaining the ‘status quo’ is the least risky of all strategic options. In fact, in this era of rapid change and shifting demographics there is almost nothing as risky as sticking with the status quo. Most fundraisers — even the most sophisticated among us — intellectually recognize […]

Learn More March 15, 2016

Fundraising Miracle

Short-term thinking is by far the greatest enemy of effective fundraising. Signs of this noxious enemy abound. Boards and CFOs afraid to make an acquisition spend that can’t be recovered in a year — or less. CEOs who won’t invest in skill-building and continuing education for fundraising staffs. Fundraisers who persist in using metrics like […]

Learn More March 9, 2016

Better Face-2-Face Through Feedback

Tom’s piece on Donor Loyalty should remind us all of how little information we really have when it comes to understanding the commitment and loyalty of individual donors. As a result most fundraisers rely on conjecture and so-called ‘best practices’. We look at brand surveys, surveys of general donor populations and organization-specific donors hoping to […]

Learn More February 24, 2016

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

New free ask string white paper and webinar

Three free Webinars in September 2016

The Neglected Gold Mine of Lapsed Donors

For Fundraiser Introverts

Fundraising As A Driver Of Social Justice

Being donor-centric is not function of volume (even though volume biz model horribly broken)

Will Political Fundraising Harm Your Bottom Line?

Fundraising Change Is Like Climate Change

Fundraising Miracle

Better Face-2-Face Through Feedback

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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Donor Feedback Platform™

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