Willful Ignorance
I’ve already gone to the Seth Godin file earlier this week, but his latest post has such an important message that I decided to give him another crack.
Here’s his post in its entirety.
The Arrogance of Willful Ignorance
People have come before us, failed, learned, written it down. Scientists have figured out what works, and proven it. Economists have gained significant understanding about the long-term impacts of short-term decisions. And historians have seen it all before.
How dare we, then, decide to just wing it? To skip class. To make up history. To imagine that science is a matter of opinion, something optional, a diversion for the leisure classes… How can we work in the marketing tech field, for example, without knowing about David Ogilvy and Lester Wunderman and Claude Hopkins? Or Kaushik and Shirky?
If you’re doing important work (and I’m hoping you are), then you owe it to your audience or your customers or your co-workers to learn everything you can. Feel free to ignore what you learn, but at least learn it.
Can’t add anything to that message. For many fundraisers, the next six weeks or so will be relatively slow. Use the opportunity to learn something.
Tom
3 responses to “Willful Ignorance”
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 orgās brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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Iām not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language.Ā 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, hereās 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 ā 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. Hereās another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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Thereās 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 āseeā and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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Iām not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019ās charitable giving. The researchers didnāt find a reduction. Actually, they observed an āincrease 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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In my blog posts this week at Generous Matters I, too, encourage fundraisers to use the relative quiet of July and August as learning time — about their programs, their profession, and themselves. Great to see the theme reinforced in The Agitator, one of my daily must-reads. Thank you for your good work. I’ve learned a lot from you.
I’m all for learning all the time. But are the summers quiet for any fundraisers anymore? My experience in the last three or four years is that summer has become just as busy as most of the rest of the year.
I agree with Devon. If anyone is not busy, feel free to come to my office. We just started an aggressive, time-consuming, crazy campaign. I’d happily share some of my work with another development professional. š
I also agree that learning and more learning is very important to developing professionally, but I also think that people learn best when we make mistakes. Sad, but true. Just ask any mom.