Uncategorized - Agitator

Board Meeting Swipe File

BRANDING: Help or Hindrance?

Sooner or later someone connected to your organization, totally devoid of fundraising knowledge (likely a board member or the spouse of one), is going to come back from their summer break with the ‘brilliant idea’– half-baked in the sun and sand—that your organization should be changing its name. Or your logo. Or your tagline. Or your graphics […]

Learn More July 26, 2019

Scarcity Is The New Cool

Last week Jeff Brooks, in his post How scarcity focuses your donors on your fundraising , noted the power of using “scarcity” in fundraising. He cites the “scarcity” that exists in matching gift funds where there’s only a certain amount of money available and only a finite amount of time to meet the match There’s […]

Learn More July 24, 2019

What Comes First?

Once upon a time, YouTube had what they called the Gangnam Style problem. They recommended your next video largely based on the popularity of videos, so engineers joked that if you just left your computer on YouTube long enough, it would play Gangnam Style eventually. (This also dates the problem nicely to 2012-2013.) YouTube retooled […]

Learn More July 22, 2019

My Last Email

No, I’m not about to quit. But, when the message popped up in my inbox from Sen. Amy Klobuchar with the subject line reading “My last email” I initially thought she was throwing in the towel. Not so. She was simply noting that this was her “last email before the first FEC deadline of this […]

Learn More July 19, 2019

A Calculus-free Guide to Lifetime Value

Lifetime value. We’ve talked about how to calculate it, how to simplify the calculation, why to focus on it, how to use it in acquisition, and how and why to segment by it. In short: we are fans. As you will see in this post, it’s a simple way of understanding and adjusting your program, […]

Learn More July 17, 2019

Test of the Month Webinars

A quick one for you… The Nonprofit Alliance is now offering a series of “Test of the Month” webinars. On the third Thursday of every month at noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific, we’ll meet for 30 minutes to discuss fundraising experiments from the scientific literature and/or real-life testing. That’s two days from now, hence the odd […]

Learn More July 16, 2019

The Advocacy of Not Advocating

There is a healthy debate over the role of nonprofits in politics. For traditional 501(c)3s in the United States, part of our charter is that our political efforts will be minimal. Minimal, however, isn’t nothing; many nonprofits are very successful in making political change a part of their mission. Others shy away from politics and […]

Learn More July 15, 2019

The Real Limited Resource

The real limited resource isn’t money. Sure, budgets are tight for most. But if you found a magic box where you put one dollar in and got two dollars out immediately, I’ll wager phrases like “hiring freeze,” “unbudgeted expense,” and “budgeting cycle” would be thrown out the window pretty quickly. (Also, you’d have to decide […]

Learn More July 12, 2019

Are Smaller Organizations Missing Out on The Direct Mail Advantage?

I’m getting more curious and more concerned about why so many nonprofits sector so neglect the “basics.” Simple things like updating addresses. Identifying deceased donors. Or promptly sending a prompt and truly heartfelt “thank you”—on paper… in an envelope… with a stamp. “Basics” that are considered mundane but left unattended damage every organization. Many caring […]

Learn More July 10, 2019

The Donor Upgrade Conundrum

Every day on her way to work, a woman walks by the same bagel stand run by a guy who is clearly selling these bagels to survive. So every day, that woman drops a dollar in the mug and leaves without asking for a bagel. One day, she feels a tug on her sleeve as […]

Learn More July 8, 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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Board Meeting Swipe File

BRANDING: Help or Hindrance?

Scarcity Is The New Cool

What Comes First?

My Last Email

A Calculus-free Guide to Lifetime Value

Test of the Month Webinars

The Advocacy of Not Advocating

The Real Limited Resource

Are Smaller Organizations Missing Out on The Direct Mail Advantage?

The Donor Upgrade Conundrum

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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