Uncategorized

TEST RESULTS: Strengths and Weaknesses of the Identifiable Victim

Stalin said “If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.” Mother Theresa said “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” Both were talking about the idea of scope insensitivity (yes, one to save lives, one […]

Learn More August 24, 2018

Growing your data garden

Places like Facebook are called walled gardens. You can play all you want in the garden while you are there, but everything stays in the garden. From a marketer’s perspective, however, they are more like a Roach Motel: data checks in, but it doesn’t check out. It’s not just Facebook. Try to use the major […]

Learn More August 23, 2018

TEST RESULTS: You Raise More Money When You Listen to Donors’ Preferences

We know that, given the options, many donors would give more if they could direct where their gift went (see, for example, here and here). Yet restricted giving is a giant pain for most fundraisers. You could end up in your finance department explaining yourself for the rest of your natural life (and some of […]

Learn More

TEST RESULTS: External Validators Are Vitally Important–Except When They Aren’t

We’re looking at external validators – seals and such – in our week-long series on how to frame overhead and impact. These validators were the second most important factors to get right, lagging only how overhead is presented (which we covered yesterday) In the DonorVoice study with the DMA Nonprofit Federation, we looked at five […]

Learn More August 22, 2018

TEST RESULTS: Donors Don’t Care How You Spend Your Money. They Care How You Spend Theirs.

It sounds like a semantic difference – after all, if donors are donors, then their money becomes your money. But it makes all the difference in the world. We know that (unfortunately) donors have an aversion to overhead. Take a study from Gneezy et al. They allowed participants to give $100 to either charity: water […]

Learn More August 21, 2018

TEST RESULTS: Donors Care About Their Impact, Not Your Overhead

A significant factor in the donor’s decision to give rests in how s/he answers the question, “how am I going to feel if I make this gift?” So, the job of the fundraiser is to determine how those factors under an organization’s control can be most effectively presented. One major set of issues involve those […]

Learn More August 20, 2018

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, What’s The Best Mindset of Them All

Some fundraisers believe that donors are born the way they are and little can be done to change them. Others believe that valuable and committed donors aren’t born that way; they have to be created. My experience is that these beliefs are often a mirror reflection of the fundraisers themselves. The “donors are born that […]

Learn More August 17, 2018

When do donors lapse?

Back in May, I argued that you haven’t really acquired a donor until they’ve given permission, information, and/or a second gift. Let’s look at the end of a donor lifecycle – the moment they lapse. That one is easy, you say. We have a business rule that says someone is lapsed after they haven’t given […]

Learn More August 16, 2018

WoW

Soon we’ll enter the “crank-up-for-year-end-giving-and-2019- acquisition -efforts” phase of the year and we’ll have lots to say about key elements of all that. However, let’s not forget that behind all the research, advice, commenting and debate the Agitatorand our readers engage in we’re all participants in a shared and fundamental mission: changing the world. Making […]

Learn More

Awareness Versus Impact: Which Do Donors Choose?

Does raising awareness sell? That is, do people want to donate money to raise awareness about an issue or organization? Or do they want to fund efforts to remediate wrongs directly? Robert Smith and Norbert Schwarz wanted to find out. Actually, being good scientists, they wanted to analyze donor’s metacognition about awareness activities vis-à-vis whether […]

Learn More August 15, 2018

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

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 […]

Read Full Answer

Uncategorized

TEST RESULTS: Strengths and Weaknesses of the Identifiable Victim

Growing your data garden

TEST RESULTS: You Raise More Money When You Listen to Donors’ Preferences

TEST RESULTS: External Validators Are Vitally Important–Except When They Aren’t

TEST RESULTS: Donors Don’t Care How You Spend Your Money. They Care How You Spend Theirs.

TEST RESULTS: Donors Care About Their Impact, Not Your Overhead

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, What’s The Best Mindset of Them All

When do donors lapse?

WoW

Awareness Versus Impact: Which Do Donors Choose?

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?

DonorVoice products

Commitment System

Donor Feedback Platform™

PreTest Tool

TouchPoint Mapping