Meet Gary
In this white paper, Your Donor in 3D, fundraising agency Good Works introduces Gary … your typical three-dimensional donor.
Their point is that fundraisers need to speak to three aspects of the donor’s awareness — rational, emotional and spiritual.
The white paper elaborates on these eight ways to conduct the conversation …
1. Tell stories — lots of stories!
2. Are your stories from someone?
3. Press emotional buttons.
4. Make it sensual.
5. Make your facts and figures easy to digest.
6. The cause comes first — always!
7. Express your beliefs.
8. Explicit purpose & meaning.
Very good paper and advice. And Good Works backs it up with this research.
Tom
2 responses to “Meet Gary”
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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# 4 made me stop and think. At first I thought it was a typo and and should have read “sensory” which made me think about how one might evoke a donor’s sense of smell, touch, hearing, visual, etc. An intriguing notion in and of itself.
Then I followed the link to the actual report and realized they are really talking about sexual, as in passion and excitement – that unmistakeable feeling of attraction or falling in love. A very powerful notion, that. Those are wonderful feelings – and quite outside just intellectual /rational appeal.
Amazing paper – here’s hoping my organization will take this advice