Challenge To Agitator Readers
Attention all you fundraisers out there!
We’re looking for some savvy folks who have "solved" any of the key challenges — or should we say opportunities — we see presently out there in the nonprofit fundraising world.
Here are the challenges:
1. You have improved you first year renewal rate in the last twelve months over the previous twelve.
2. You have acquired brand new donors online through a replicable program for a true cost per acquisition less than your direct mail cost.
3. You have tested alternative "donate" pages on your website, found actionable improvements to make, and produced higher conversion rates as a result.
4.You have used social media (Facebook, MySpace, personal website badges, etc) to generate more than miniscule response of some kind (this implies you were actually looking for a measurable response of some kind, as opposed to just being cool).
5. In the last year, you have beaten your previous new donor prospecting mail package by a sufficient margin to switch to the new package.
6. You have improved your bequest fundraising results by more than 20% in the last twelve months over the previous twelve (remember that gazillion dollar inter-generational wealth transfer happening under your very nose?!).
If you or your team have conquered any of these challenges in the last year, we want to give you a raise! Three of them and you enter The Agitator Hall of Fame!
Roger & Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
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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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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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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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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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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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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