High-profile data breaches expose how vulnerable even organizations with sophisticated IT departments can be to attacks from outside. But you don’t have to be a large organization to be concerned about  data privacy.  Protecting data for nonprofits is just as important and can be especially risky when dealing with marketing vendors. 

In our previous article, “You have to know your donors to engage them,” we outlined the data points needed to build the emotional connections with your donors that lead to increased ROI for your fundraising. Many of those points can be found in your existing donor data, or through data appends, but some points will require primary research. In this article, we outline how to design research to be useful in creating more relevant and meaningful communications. 

Most fundraisers are familiar with the idea that it’s less expensive to keep a donor than to find a new one. And many are aware about how to retain donors: they need to build strong connections between the charity and the donor. In the past, charities have focused on the importance of making rational, deliberate appeals on the assumption that donors made rational, deliberate decisions when giving. 

There’s a lot of conversation around behavior science and how emotion influences the decision to buy, donate or join in the marketing blogosphere these days. Many of those conversations cite the work of Nobel Prize winner and psychologist, Daniel Kahneman. In his 2011 book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Kahneman argues that the mind incorporates two systems for decision-making: one that works quickly making decisions more on intuition and emotion, and a second that works more slowly to rationalize the decision. Because it takes less effort, we’re more likely to rely on the first system.

CHALLENGE:
A 1,200% increase in net proceeds may not seem possible, but that’s exactly what we helped the Detroit Zoo achieve over a five-year period through a more efficient and targeted marketing program.

The results of appeal season are in for Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan (CLFM) and the impact of a new approach has been dramatic.

There’s so much uncertainty surrounding the impact the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will have on individual giving, that many of our non-profit clients are asking for advice on how to plan their fundraising activities for the coming years.

Market research sounds expensive. But it doesn’t have to be.  Hear CEO, Kirk Vercnocke’s interview on Michigan Business Network talk about how better communication can start with research.

Each combination of inserted messages can be specific to each recipient, based on marketing data analytics.

The secrets revealed by virtue of the responses, and qualitative research we conducted, allow PSF to gain immediate traction from their marketing spend with confidence.