There was a time when “engagement” meant something. A donor was engaged if they cared, felt something, had made a psychological investment. Now?

Engagement means…they opened your email or clicked a link or attended a virtual town hall while folding laundry.  We turned a mental state into a series of browser events.  And worse: we started using those as proxies for Commitment.

The Data Doesn’t Lie — But It Does Mislead

Here’s what we see when we track donor Commitment (measures satisfaction, sense of reciprocity, trust) and compare it to the usual menu of digital “engagement” behaviors and lifetime value.

What you’re looking:

• Commitment segments on the X axis. These segments are derived from 100% pyschological measures, no behaviors. They are ordered by Commitment score, going left (Transactional lowest Commitment) to right
• Dual Y axis, Lifetime value on left Y and plotted with red line, Number actions taken on Right Y and plotted with blue bars
  • Actions include events, tele-town halls, inbound emails, inbound calls and social comments

Commitment is very predictive of giving.  The “engagment” behaviors are predictive of, well, not much.  What we found:

• Attending a tele-town hall?
  Great except half the audience is there for free info. That’s the classic free rider problem.
• Inbound phone call?
  Likely a complaint. Engagement? Sure in the way someone yelling at customer support is “engaged.”
• Sending an email?
  Possibly out of frustration. Possibly automated. Possibly nothing.

In psychology, we’d call this a measurement problem. In fundraising, we call it a metric with a dashboard and quarterly KPI.

What Engagement Actually Is

Engagement, academically and behaviorally, is a mental state,  not a behavior.  It’s how someone feels about the organization. Their emotional and cognitive alignment with your mission. Their self-perception as a supporter.  But we’ve flattened that into a shallow event log and lost the plot in the process.

 So What Do We Do Instead?

Here’s what we tell our clients at DonorVoice and what we build for them.

• Stop Using Engagement Scores as a Crutch. They’re mostly noise. A feel-good metric that says more about your marketing calendar than your donor base.
• Measure Commitment, Not Clicks. Use validated commitment metrics that actually predict retention and lifetime value. This is social science, not email marketing.
• Treat Engagement as Identity. Want someone to “engage”? Make them feel like they’re the kind of person who supports your cause. Not just someone who got your email.
• Redefine Inputs and Outputs. Opening a newsletter isn’t an input. It’s barely an output. Start building your segmentation on psychological traits not activities.

Kevin