Since last Wednesday’s post announcing the 2020 Pilot Study to determine how drivers of giving – Identity, Personality, Quality of Motivation, Commitment and Satisfaction –impact giving and how you put this information to practical use Agitator readers have expressed significant interest and participation.

To briefly recap, you’ll recall that this DonorVoice research project—global in scope—aims to bring together “cause” and “effect” enabling us all to better deliver on the largely unfilled promise of donor-centricity.

• Effect: Actual giving data and other non-financial behaviors
• Cause: All the important psychological measures that cause giving plus donor experience data.

Over the past few days Kevin has held conversations with folks who’ve signed up a participants in this Pilot Study.  I thought it would be helpful to readers thinking about participating to cover more details on the measures and the practical value this research hold for participating organizations.

For those readers still considering participation I also want to note that the time to decide is now.  DonorVoice is selectively looking to fill a few more slots (see the criteria in this earlier post) so please do act if interested, since these last slots will fill quickly.  Contact Kevin Schulman at kschulman@thedonorvoice.com

Q&A On the Pilot Study

• Charity Question: What is the Personality data all about?
• DonorVoice Answer:   “Personality” is our character, our temperament. Personality influences what we chose to mentally process, how we process it and the decisions we make.  We are born with it and while we all have varying degrees of the Big Five Personality Traits we all skew towards one (or two).   That skew makes us different from some and similar to others.  This means we can create Personality segments in our donor database and message to them differently.

As a pilot participant you’ll learn,

• • • The personality profile of your donors compared to other donors and the population at large.
    • How personality influences giving for your donors
    • Suggestions for optimizing your telemarketing, direct mail, and digital communications with  evidence-based personalized persuasion techniques.

• Charity Question:  Isn’t motivation a quantity thing – you have a little, some or a lot?
• DonorVoice Answer: 
  • There is quantity to motivation but more importantly, there is Motivation Quality— specifically, autonomousand controlled motivation.
  • Autonomously motivated donors give because they’re genuinely interested and value the work your charity does. They feel like they want to give, they are more likely to give and keep giving. Donors whose motivation is controlled give because they feel pressured to do so.
  • We’ll assess the motivational quality of your donors to identify their risk of attrition and show the relationship between Motivation Quality and historical giving.
  • We’ll also offer key suggestions in messaging and experience development for fostering more autonomous qualities of motivation across different touchpoints.

                   Identity

• • We all have lots of these – gender, hobbies, professional, sports interests, political, parental – and they are germane in certain contexts.  When activated (with messaging) they help determine choices we make as we look to align behavior with the Identity-based values and goals.
  • The Pilot Study will determine the key identities that comprise your donor base—the social roles, beliefs, key experiences, and abiding values that tie them to your charity.

I asked Kevin what part of the Study he considered most valuable. “The most important– dare I say, “breakthrough”, part of all this is the modeling that will put it all together.  How is giving impacted by the interplay between our varied Identities, our changing and contextual Motivation, our innate Personality and our judgement of the experiences charities deliver?”

He went on to explain, “This uber model is our “Theory of Giving” to borrow and bastardize the “Theory of Change” turn of phrase that is commonplace in nonprofits’ C-suites and with program staff.  Those folks understand a theory is nothing more than a point of view on how the world works.  However, it is a North Star and should guide every single decision you make. “

“This uber model, which Pilot Participants will have the benefit of is our Theory of Giving that can become your Theory of Giving.  Your North Star as a foundational part of fundraising and marketing strategy.”

To Get Involved You’ll Need…

• A minimum of 20,000 donors with addressable email (can be a mix of one-time/cash and regular/sustainer to hit the 20,000).
• Giving data (specifications available upon acceptance).

Want to Discuss…

Get in touch with Kevin at kschulman@thedonorvoice.com to express interest and with any questions or comments.  For our Australian readers, please contact OneVoice’s, local partner, The Fundraising Agency, who will make sure you get maximum value from pilot participation.  You can contact either founder, Clarke Vincent or Andrew Martin.

DonorVoice is asking those accepted into the study to pay $950 (USD) as a participation fee to partially offset the direct costs of the study.

Roger

P.S.  You’ll find more details on the various types/verticals of nonprofits included in the Study and other details here.