Seth Godin, in a post titled Erosion,  correctly notes that “While it’s tempting to imagine that the world changes via sudden shocks, that our culture is shifted by dramatic changes in leadership, that grand gestures make all the difference …

“It turns out that our daily practice, the piling up of regular actions, the cultural practices and biases that we each choose—that’s what makes change happen.”

This week The Agitator and DonorVoice will launch a three-part webinar series on the application of Behavioral Science research to fundraising.

I hope you will join us for all three of these free sessions. They’ll help you change some of your fundraising “daily practice” — for the better.

As you prepare your year-end plans, the First Session– The Science of Ask Strings, Wednesday, September 14th at 12:00 noon Eastern – should prove timely and helpful.

Nick Ellinger, formerly the head of fundraising, marketing and communications for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), now VP for Marketing Strategy at DonorVoice and  I will takes you through how to use the psychology of what you ask for and how to ask to increase revenue and retention.

Among the questions we’ll explore:

• What number in an ask string has 3 times more impact than any other number?

• What’s the best ask string formula? Highest Previous Contribution? Average Contribution? Most Recent Contribution? Some other?

• What are the different ask string formulae for active and lapsed donors?

• How fast and how steeply can you accelerate the asking formula?

• What figure should you use to increase average gifts by 20%?

All these questions, and many more will be answered in The Science of Ask String session on Wednesday, September 14^th at noon. Agitator readers can register at no cost here.

Then mark your calendar — and register early — for the next two behavioral science webinars:

• Increasing the number of your donors’ gifts per year on Wednesday, September 21st at noon Eastern:

DonorVoice principal Josh Whichard brings his 15 years of nonprofit direct marketing experience to bear on how to create an effective multi-gift program.

And…

• Using behavioral science to get people to opt-in on Wednesday, September 28th at 12:00 noon Eastern:

DonorVoice principal Kevin Schulman and Kiki Koutmeridou PhD, the Chief Behavioral Scientist at DonorVoice, will walk you through designing choices that make people click or check YES.

There’s no better, more gradual way to begin setting positive change in motion than by understanding how to apply the wealth of behavioral science research to your fundraising efforts.

I look forward to welcoming you at our first session.

Roger