Two Most Important Donor Questions
Roger made an off-hand comment in his recent keynote presentation to the Fundraising Success Virtual Conference & Expo.
He noted what he thinks are the two most important questions donors ask of a nonprofit:
1. Will my contribution make a difference?
2. Did my contribution make a difference?
With respect to #1, what result(s) are you promising your donor or donor prospect? Can you tell your prospect that in a sentence or two … a paragraph … that arrests their attention?
With respect to #2, how systematically and specifically are you reporting the results your donors’ contributions have made possible?
In your opinion, is there anything more important to your donors than making performance promises and keeping them?
Tom
2 responses to “Two Most Important Donor Questions”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Thanks so much for raising this. Yes, capturing donor information can be helpful for stewardship like newsletters, thank-you letters, impact updates. But how you ask matters. Forcing full data capture introduces friction that can significantly depress conversion, many donors may simply abandon the process. Beyond the friction itself, required fields also shift the emotional experience […]
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Unlike holidays that everyone already knows, Giving Tuesday is a created event. Many donors recognize the name but not the exact timing, so referencing it becomes a helpful cue. It serves as a reminder and taps into social norm activation (“everyone’s giving today”), which boosts response. However, we still want it paired with the mission, […]
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When a subject line leads with the match (“Your gift matched!”), it risks triggering market-norm thinking: the sense that giving is a financial transaction rather than an act rooted in values, identity, and care. This shift reduces intrinsic motivation and, over time, can weaken donor satisfaction and long-term engagement. It also makes the email indistinguishable […]
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There’s no evidence that QR codes suppress mid-value giving; all available research suggests they either help or have no negative effect. In fact, behavioral and usability research consistently shows the opposite: reducing friction at any point in the donation process increases completion rates and total response. And that has nothing to do with capacity and […]
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What you’re experiencing is very common. Resistance often isn’t about capability, but about motivation quality. If board members feel pushed into fundraising, that triggers controlled motivation (low quality motivation) i.e. obligation, guilt, or fear of judgment, which often results in avoidance. Instead, we need to create conditions for volitional motivation (high quality motivation) by satisfying […]
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That’s a really thoughtful question, and you’re not the first to raise it. Many of our clients have been cautious about placing the ask at the very end. To address their concern, we’ve tested both approaches, and the results are clear: when the ask comes last, even if that means it appears on the second […]
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Great post. Over and over again we are reminded that donors want to hear from us about what’s been accomplished with their dollars. Yet, as budgets get tight, one of the first things to get cut back is the newsletter which does precisely that. Let’s fight harder to keep our donor stewardship tools in the budget!
“In your opinion, is there anything more important to your donors than making performance promises and keeping them?”
With the possible exception of making certain that your donors know the maximum amount of their contributions goes to the actual mission (and not to administrative overhead or other things), probably not!
Simply, liken this issue to the stock market and public investment in companies and corporations. The stockholder wants to know: (a) if the investment will make a difference in the company’s ability to be profitable (and, perhaps, even make a positive difference in the world); and, (b) will the investment produce a return (dividend). The promises are made in the prospectus or product offering, and the outcomes are documented/reported in the annual report. If the promises made are not kept, the investor inevitably goes elsewhere!
I agree with Kathy that budget resources for the collateral communications devices needed to report to donors must be maintained. On the other hand, however, it is fairly easy to use routine communication with donors (i.e., acknowledgment letters, follow-up appeals, etc.) to report to them on performance promises made and kept. Every communication opportunity should be so used.