Finding Red Balloons
Here’s a fascinating Defense Department experiment that nonprofits can learn from.
DoD offered a $40,000 prize to whomever was first to locate ten red balloons placed in various locations around the US … some in very obvious places, some not so obvious. The balloons were eight meters in diameter.
The winning team, from MIT, found the balloons in just under nine hours using online tools! They set up a website, sent a bit of paid messaging via mobile phones, and sent out emails asking for help. They promised to share the prize with individuals who helped them locate the balloons and with charities. 4,665 people contributed bits of info to the search.
DoD’s goal for the project was to better understand how people interact via computer networks to accomplish shared goals.
Set aside fundraising for a moment and ask yourself …
How could our nonprofit use online media to directly involve our supporters in accomplishing the core mission of our organization … to find our unique red balloons?
Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
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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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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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