Search Results for: feedback
Make Em’ Feel Sad or Hopeful?
There is a lot of misinformation out there about the role of emotion in fundraising. The misinformation ain’t at presidential politics level but still, off the mark. There is research and lots of test results in a vacuum that’ll show negative emotions “work”. The social science explanation is that a negative emotion like sadness invokes […]
The Donor’s Experience Matters But Not Equally
Word of mouth is an interesting phenomenon because it’s inherently organic and somewhat unpredictable and impossible to turn off. If you have an online presence you’ll get word of mouth whether you want it or not. And even if you could erase your online presence, there’ll forever be ‘offline’ WOM. And while charities aren’t purpose […]
Beware the Danger of Status Quo Fundraising
Direct response fundraisers face an uncertain future (declining number of donors, declining retention rates, increased costs, increased shortage of experienced staff are just a few of the troubling indicators). So, in figuring out how to navigate choppy waters it’s helpful to understand that the default position for most of our sector is to resist […]
Where Has All the Money Gone?
Recently The New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg, in her column questioned Where Has All The Left-wing Money Gone? Citing “endless appeals, sometimes in bold all caps” of the seemingly endless the-sky-is-falling, guilt-tripping and flood of fundraising emails is a reason folks aren’t donating as much as they used to. She […]
Still On Vacation But Still Seeking Your Input
This vacation thing ain’t half bad. We’d love your feedback and editorial suggestions. Either in the comments or by emailing me directly at kschulman@thedonorvoice.com, please do tell us, Which topics should we cover less? Which topics should we cover more? Any other suggestions or feedback? Thank you, Kevin and Roger
Halfway, Now What? Tell Us.
We convened the esteemed (read: infamous) Agitator editors and all our dedicated senior staff and researchers (read: Google search, Google scholar search and Chat-GPT) to debate the merits of taking a few days off to celebrate the quintessential American holiday, July 4th. And in a bout of irony, we decreed it so despite the staff […]
Q: What are the three most important things to consider when designing a brilliant supporter journey?
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 […]
Is Your Data Noisy and Ambiguous?
Do you prefer noisy and ambiguous or clear and explicit? Doubt anyone would say the former but the sector, ironically, relies almost exclusively on the noisy and ambiguous kind of data. The person, Clicked – did they click out of idle curiosity or with intent? Did the context (e.g., time of day or mood) impact […]
A Bad Bet
Grammarly is an online tool to help users improve their writing by correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation. It uses reams of machine learning and natural language processing technology to analyze text and provide suggestions for improvements to improve tone or clarity. It has done three rounds of private financing in amounts, $110 million in 2017, $90 […]
What Gets Measured Can Be Better Managed
We manage lots and lots of thing that we don’t measure at all or well. That’s the nature of business and human enterprises. But, I’d argue measuring makes managing better. The question isn’t can we measure or should we but rather, what’s worth measuring. ‘Worth it’ is often traded off for easy. Take engagement data. […]