Wanna Make Millions $$$?
Other than response to disasters and political campaigns, situations where new donors tend to find you, most online fundraising success has come from mining existing house e-lists.
But one of these days, one of The Agitator's readers is going to figure out how to successfully prospect for new donors online.
When you do, you'll have two options: 1) lead your nonprofit to dizzying heights of fundraising success; or 2) start your own consulting firm and make millions.
In either case, you'll deserve a raise!
We'll bet that the winning formula will involve learning how to intercept well-targeted prospects as they use search engines. The online equivalent of picking the right mailing lists.
Commercial marketers are getting more and more sophisticated at online targeting, exploiting the digital trail that net users leave as they course through the web. It's called “behavioral marketing” and involves combining old-fashioned demographic data-appending to websites with actual browsing patterns of individual users.
This combination of relevant demographics and actual behavior permits marketers to zero in more precisely on ripe prospects, often with a cost advantage because more obscure — and less expensive — niche websites can be targeted for online ads.
Here's a good article from Behavioral Insider (talk about niche!) that gives a flavor of how the process works.
Roger & Tom
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