Best of 2023: Gift or Donation?
Synonyms, right? Not really. Words matter. Which is used more often to frame the request, donation or gift?
Pretty evenly split. Among the top 100 U.S. Charities 83% use “gift” and 83% use “donation” followed by “support” and “contribution” at very distant 30% and 24%, respectively.
And yes, that all adds up to well north of 100% telling us groups aren’t consistent, treating then as interchangeable synonyms and likely in a random way.
To wit, 70% of the top 100 charity websites use donation and gift interchangeably.
We know asking someone to become a donor instead of donating implies more permanence, christening them with a noun (versus transient verb) and “lite” Identity.
Gifts are associated with a social exchange between parties that know each other, often well. My donation or contribution typically goes to someone I don’t know well or at all. If the asking did a good job it’ll reduce the social distance by creating some shared values and goals between me and the beneficiary.
But does that get undermined by asking for a donation instead of a gift?
Yep. But like most things involving humans it’s different answers for different people and situations.
This experiment shows cause and effect. One effect is the first two bars showing much higher response (9.7 vs. 7.5) when a national health charity asks for gifts instead of donations.
The ‘why’ part is demonstrated with the 2nd set of bars. The Gift word reduces social distance but it’s not the only way to do this. Another option, sometimes, is reducing the physical distance, in this case between the donor and the beneficiary who was now going to be in the same state.
That shrinking of physical distance also shrunk social distance and the gift vs. donation difference goes away because the job is already done.
Context matters. Who matters too. People who are high in their need for social status aren’t impacted by calling it a ‘gift’. Why?
Reducing social distance also reduces the social status.
Not all rich and professionally successful people have high need for status but the paint-by-numbers, make it simpler than possible, Persona PowerPoint slide will descriptively and correctly note that high need for status people skew rich and powerful.
Use “gift” across the board. It doesn’t suppress high status givers, nor does it hurt if you’ve found other ways to reduce social distance.
It’s better or no worse. Win-win.
Kevin
13 responses to “Best of 2023: Gift or Donation?”
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 […]
Read Full Answer
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
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
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
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
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
Absolutely agree Kevin, people give money – they are givers and the money is a gift. I’ve ranted before (as you may remember), for a charity or agency internally you may call people donors but externally donors make donations of blood and body parts. People give money!
Hi Peter and I do recall the rant, we at the Agitator have a soft spot in our heart for rants…
What about asking people to give or contribute to social justice work, like raising the minimum wage, protecting voting rights, or exposing a local polluter and trying to change a policy to prevent further pollution?
‘Gifts’ when talking about these kinds of causes can sound like your asking for a present, like a set of wine glasses or a tie clip. Wondering your take in this context.
Hi Margaret, thanks for the comment and question. I think your question raises an important nuance, the gift recommendation is when you’re naming the money thing – don’t call it a donation or contribution, call it a gift for the reasons cited, it reduces social distance.
But, that choice of noun shouldn’t impact other nouns and verbs that attempt to make a connection. here are a few for instances in your social justice category.
-Fight with us today…
-join other social justice activists in telling X they can’t do Y.
-Lend your voice to X, fighting against Y
All of these active verbs and labels matter. They can all be preceded by asking for the gift or followed by it. Fight with us today, make your gift count. Make your gift today, keep fighting…
Thanks, I like the ‘fight with us’ et al examples. One lingering question I have about the distance thing: when asking for gifts to a charity that helps someone else (disaster relief, feed the poor, get puppies adopted, help wounded vets) I can see the thinking behind trying to narrow the distance between the giver and the receiver; but when asking for money to help clean up one’s own drinking water, or to stop one’s county from putting voting barriers in place that could keep ‘you’ from voting, or to change a law that stops surprise billing by health insurance companies because you (the person being asked) don’t want to get that kind of bill, isn’t that creating a close enough connection between the potential giver and the cause? Movements are about moving as one to create a change too big for an individuals to make, right? Could bringing the term ‘gift’ into the equation in this context actually create distance — will you help these people over here? Versus, will you be part of the change by contributing today????
Margaret,
There is no doubt that the donor who is also beneficiary even if abstractly as member of the community (vs. say type 1 diabetic giving to JDRF and using their resources directly) is doing a lot of work to remove social distance. This can be further reduced by the moral framing that matches the person – e.g., to prevent harm (for Agreeable people) or support your neighbors (for Conscientious person).
As to your specific question, the short answer is I don’t know. I take the point and understand the rationale. It’s worth a test but if this research holds, the most likely outcome is that it doesn’t matter because the “job” of reducing distance was already done.
In the test we reported on the gift vs. donation language didn’t matter for giving to a local (in your state) health charity. That isn’t the same as cleaning my drinking water but most giving to health charities is from people who have a very direct (self) or close (family or loved one) connection to disease X.
So, main answer is ‘don’t know’ but best guess is “it wouldn’t matter”.
Thank you for a well-sourced, articulate, easy-default answer, Kevin. Keep ’em flying.
Thank you Tom
Had a colleague who wouldn’t let use the word “supporter” because she associated with athletic supporters athletic supporters/jockstraps.
David, that’s funny. Funny ha-ha and also speaks to a funny sort of strange, which probably wasn’t the point of your comment but maybe a useful digression. There is an awful lot of subjectivity in our decision making. I don’t imagine very many people who draw that association, especially in the context of communications from the National Museum of the American Indian. My high school football coach telling me I needed a supporter might trigger that connection but even then I’d more likely be confused.
So, what to do? Accommodate a position that is probably pretty fringe? What if many of your humans who give encouragement and approval to your museum (i.e., support it) like being called a supporter or at least endorse the term and relate to it?
Do you have thoughts about using the term “investment” or “investing?” Become an “investor” in the work of _______. Our firm uses the term, “investable outcome(s),” to signify that your monetary commitment funds a result, not an activity.
Hi Jay. The framing of a gift as an investment or the donor as investor is likely to work with some people, not others. For example, if their occupation is in finance or business or entrepreneurship then the terminology might activate this investor Identity and work. For those without that Identity, I’d expect it undermines their view that the gift is altruistic and a belief that they “don’t want anything” in return, save for the unspoken need to be psychologically satisfied and reinforce the values and goals that go with their mission-affiliated Identity – e.g. conservationist to conservation charity.
Hi Kevin, thanks for the article. Is It possible you share the survey sample size and its source and methodology? Thank you very much!!