Uncategorized - Agitator

Breaking Out of the Status Quo

Neglected Treasure

Nick’s post on How Asking Affects the Askedemphasized the importance of requesting feedback directly from the donor and explains why that feedback is so important and so valuable. There’s another form of feedback and I’m afraid in our highly automated, often impersonal processes it’s been lost: the comments donors write on their response forms or […]

Learn More September 6, 2019

Board Meeting Bingo

In various conversations at Bridge and ANA conference recently, there was an undercurrent across organizations and fundraisers: my board won’t let me do X because Y. Or, conversely, my board is insisting we do Z despite my protestations. The person saying this is often a seasoned development professional, respected by their peers but not as […]

Learn More September 4, 2019

Hurricane Dorian and the Season Ahead

From Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to this year’s Hurricane Dorian The Agitator follows fundraising fallout from major storms and natural disasters. As I write this early in the morning of the U.S. Labor Day the path of Dorian is still uncertain. What is for sure is that this is a big (huge) storm and holds the […]

Learn More September 2, 2019

How Asking Affects the Asked

There are some phenomena that are impossible to measure without effecting some change. Think of your tire pressure gauge – to measure the pressure in your tire, you have to let some air out, thus changing your tire’s pressure. This is so ingrained in our lives and our physics that there are times that subatomic […]

Learn More August 30, 2019

Fundraising Pioneer and Provocateur Dies

John Groman, 74, co-founder of Epsilon and a pioneer in database fundraising died August 24 in Sheldon, South Carolina. John was more than a friend. He was a feisty, driven colleague who brought new methods and new ways of viewing direct response fundraising that forever changed our sector. Beginning in 1969—almost 50 years to the […]

Learn More August 28, 2019

Missing Out: Smaller Organizations and Direct Mail

Last month we surveyed Agitator readers in an effort to answer three questions: Are smaller nonprofits taking advantage of the power of postal mail/direct mail? Do they understand its financial potential? If they do understand its potential, why aren’t they using more direct mail/postal mail? The survey answers, in a nutshell, are: Smaller organizations are not taking […]

Learn More August 26, 2019

Buy Nick’s Book

Nick has written a practical, helpful, and, yes, fun-to-read book on surviving the complex calamity of diminishing donor numbers, clogged acquisition channels and diminishing retention. It’s titled: The New Nonprofit: Six Models to Raise More Money and Accomplish More Mission. It’s just been released and is ready for your order! I’ve read the book four times […]

Learn More August 22, 2019

Donors At the Break Point

There’s a new trend in customer service – AI-assistance. Companies like Walgreens and AT&T are using your personal data to match you with the right customer services representative. And they are using something called the “break point” to walk right up to, but not over, the line where the customer will leave . They do […]

Learn More August 21, 2019

Fundraisers Abandon Ship

Not only is the nonprofit sector doing a lousy job holding on to donors, we’re apparently equally awful when it comes to retaining nonprofit fundraisers. In a recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll for The Chronicle of Philanthropyand AFP, using a self-selected sample of American and Canadian fundraisers, a whopping 51% of the respondents […]

Learn More August 19, 2019

Direct Mail Isn’t Dead, But Volume As A Strategy Is.

There’s an excellent post by Erica Waasdorp on CharityHowTo detailing how mail is still working for organizations. She highlights how digital is still a small-ish minority of all gifts (we’ve estimated it will hit 25% of gifts by 2084) and how there’s still a high return on direct mail investment for many organizations. We totally […]

Learn More August 16, 2019

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

Neglected Treasure

Board Meeting Bingo

Hurricane Dorian and the Season Ahead

How Asking Affects the Asked

Fundraising Pioneer and Provocateur Dies

Missing Out: Smaller Organizations and Direct Mail

Buy Nick’s Book

Donors At the Break Point

Fundraisers Abandon Ship

Direct Mail Isn’t Dead, But Volume As A Strategy Is.

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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