Uncategorized - Agitator

Advocacy Fundraising

The Non-Political Twitterverse

Much ink has been spilled decrying social media rabbit holes and political echo chambers that threaten our democracy by increasing hyper-partisanship and extremism. What if that’s fake news? It’s true there are hyper-partisan people on Twitter. It’s also true many of these hyper-partisans are opinion influencers with big followings. The problem with the echo-chamber thesis […]

Learn More June 8, 2022

Why You Need Personalized Matching

Do you select, segment or do personalized matching? A definition is probably in order to answer that accurately. A big part of the distinction is whether you treat people differently or not. Selection is who is in/out for a communication. This is almost always tied to behavior data – e.g., RFM, hasn’t opened an […]

Learn More June 6, 2022

Biases and Nudges Work Differently for Different People

Do we sound like a broken record? People are different and yet we treat them all the same. I’m desperate to understand why this is as it’s been this way a long time and maybe that’s both the issue and the reason. A long time means a lot of well-worn habits and resistance to change […]

Learn More June 3, 2022

Only a Week?

I was struck, again, at how behavioral science is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere in the nonprofit world. If you look at the program side of our sector you’ll see lots of examples of behavioral science at work. Hell, the UN has a behavioral science committee and a working group and a subcommittee and a steering […]

Learn More June 1, 2022

Think Locally, Act Locally

How do people think about and organize their giving? Do people have a favorite charity or two for each sub-sector that matters to them? The pie-chart of giving method? What about the stacked bar chart method where folks are single-issue oriented and give to 5-7 conservation charities, for example? I expect most readers would bet […]

Learn More May 27, 2022

Digital Donor Abuse

With another batch of primary elections behind us and more still ahead…with the future of Roe v. Wade and reproductive rights hanging in the balance…with heartbreaking scourge of mass shootings at schools and shopping centers…there’s barely time to ponder the ultimate fate of life as we know it either by pandemic, famine, flood, locusts, or […]

Learn More May 25, 2022

Calling all Copywriters

Your words matter. Anybody saying people don’t read copy hasn’t done a copy test to prove they do. Heck, we’ve done seemingly really minor copy tweaks and seen that matters. Subject line testing anyone? All copywriters know the copy needs to be simple and relatable. It should read like a personal letter or conversation. And […]

Learn More May 23, 2022

Do The Opposite?

Some might say I’m contrarian. Some might be right. In keeping with what some people think, try this on… Charities need, More debt Less revenue diversification Less leanness (i.e., they need bigger reserves) Higher overhead This isn’t contrarian for the sake of it. Consider that the opposite of what I’m prescribing is (more or less) […]

Learn More May 20, 2022

Time for a Money Revolution in the Board Room

Conventional wisdom in nonprofit board rooms, as best as I can tell, is that “in the midst of these uncertain political and economic times we should pull back”…”husband our resources”…”not be aggressive at a time like this”….and a thousand other cautionary excuses. Frankly, whether in good times or bad that’s usually the case because the […]

Learn More May 18, 2022

What Time is It?

Faces matter. Humans know this, intuitively. Babies process and understand faces at an almost adult level as early as four months. We automatically process expressions taking cues and altering our behaviors accordingly. And of course we see faces all the time. This almost constant exposure to faces makes us prefer inanimate objects that mimic faces. […]

Learn More May 16, 2022

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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Advocacy Fundraising

The Non-Political Twitterverse

Why You Need Personalized Matching

Biases and Nudges Work Differently for Different People

Only a Week?

Think Locally, Act Locally

Digital Donor Abuse

Calling all Copywriters

Do The Opposite?

Time for a Money Revolution in the Board Room

What Time is It?

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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