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Avalanche Fundraising

I’m an avid skier but mostly on-piste, making me a novice backcountry skier and it’s this bit of knowledge that makes me more likely to take backcountry risks. Paradoxically, more knowledge and training only increase the risky decision making. Why are the most well-trained backcountry skiers the most likely to die in avalanches? Some of […]

Learn More December 18, 2023

Punishing Women While Taking Their Money

Among the host of current events ranging from terrifying to troubling there are two I want to focus on: the 100thanniversary of the introduction Equal Rights Amendment on December 13th and the fleeing of Kate Cox, the Texas mother denied permission for a life-saving abortion from her Texas home […]

Learn More December 15, 2023

Cul De Sac Fundraising

The echo chamber is getting louder, we tune out damn near everything not matching what we already believe and we’re much more likely to distrust people who aren’t like us. Partisan agreement between spouses was around 60% in the mid 60’s, it’s now closer to 85%. Pew research shows partisans have few friends from the […]

Learn More December 13, 2023

Is Your Brand Name Like Throwing Up?

I promise this title isn’t clickbait while acknowledging it probably feels that way. The mouth’s first job before words and speech existed was to swallow food and liquid that was digestible and return indigestible items back to nature in reverse order. These days, the mouth has a much bigger role to play notwithstanding the two-to-one […]

Learn More December 11, 2023

Is Your Brand Famous and Unique?

Half of brand ads are mistaken for competitor brands per LinkedIn research. A thought exercise: Imagine removing your logo and brand name from your appeal. Would any donor know it was from your organization? Is there anything uniquely you after removing your mark and name? How many other charities are likely to be mentally associated […]

Learn More December 8, 2023

What if KISS emphasizes the 2nd “S” Too Much?

“If only we could get more people to give and do so more regularly.” ” Let’s devise a test. ” The HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) in the room says, “More people will give if we change the landing page to have more/less…text/pictures/fields.” “Great, we’ll do that test”, says the non HiPPO in the room. […]

Learn More December 6, 2023

Matching Gift Hot Mess

It’s as if slapping “matching” on an appeal is all the thought that’s required. Many of these offers are contrived or copycat-like but this one takes the cake for confusion and the irony is not lost on it being from Behavioral Scientist, a publication purpose built to help readers learn how to lower mental barriers […]

Learn More December 4, 2023

Too Much of What Matters Doesn’t Get Measured At All

Does the donor experience (DE) matter to retention? If so, we probably need to deconstruct the abstract DE term. Let’s start with context, this example is a telefundraising campaign converting digital petition leads to sustainer. A Mental exercise: Name two parts of the call experience that have a statistically significant impact on sustainer attrition in […]

Learn More December 1, 2023

Mobile Giving and My Focus on Me

Do you think it’s a positive if people, experience a warm glow from giving foster a sense of empathy in deciding to give give to reinforce personal values and goals I’d say yes to all these and in so doing, say yes to self-focus, which has several facets: Self-Reflection: “I often spend time reflecting on […]

Learn More November 29, 2023

More Bees With Honey

Face-to -face fundraising is a tough business, full of rejection. Although your direct mail appeal gets rejected at an even higher rate (unopened, non-response) it’s less personal, less in your face, literally. Fundraisers need to be resilient. If you can’t handle rejection, you can’t handle the gig. As a relevant aside, DVCanvass (our F2F and […]

Learn More November 27, 2023

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

Avalanche Fundraising

Punishing Women While Taking Their Money

Cul De Sac Fundraising

Is Your Brand Name Like Throwing Up?

Is Your Brand Famous and Unique?

What if KISS emphasizes the 2nd “S” Too Much?

Matching Gift Hot Mess

Too Much of What Matters Doesn’t Get Measured At All

Mobile Giving and My Focus on Me

More Bees With Honey

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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