Case study 1
A Christian Aid Charity
This case study outlines research completed in a Christian international aid organisation that works to end poverty in the most remote areas and helps the most vulnerable people in disasters.
We distributed a survey to the organisation’s donors to find the most important predictors of their giving. We found that two of the most important predictors of giving were:
Christian identity importance (how important being a Christian who is passionate about ending poverty is to the donor)
Connectedness with God (How personally connected donors feel to God)
How do we use this knowledge to grow giving?
With this organisation, we designed the fundraising campaign pack. The pack was written with the themes of boosting Christian identity and connectedness to God running throughout.
For example, sentences like the one below were included to boost Christian identity:
“We are determined to be a part of the transforming work that God is doing in vulnerable communities around the world. But we can’t do it without you.”
And sentences like the one below boost the theme of connectedness to God:
“Each member of the team is driven by our belief in a relentlessly loving God who cares deeply for his children.”
Within this pack, there was also a donation response form. Although every donor was sent exactly the same pack and read exactly the same letter, people received a donation response form in one of four conditions.
Condition 1:
Christian Identity and Connectedness Statements
The response form in this condition included two statements designed to boost the donor’s Christian identity importance and their connectedness to God just before the donation ask. Notice how they are asked to affirm each one.
Condition 2: Christian Identity Statement
The response form in this condition included just one statement – in this case the one designed to boost the donor’s Christian identity importance.
Condition 3: Connectedness Statement
The response form in this condition included just the statement designed to boost the donor’s connectedness to God.
Condition 4: The Control Condition
The response form in this condition included none of our booster statements.
Results
The addition of the two simple booster statements increased the response rate to the fundraising ask by 102% compared to the control condition! Statistical analysis shows that this is a significant result.
The response rates to the campaign pack in the four conditions are shown below.
We also did not find any statistical difference in the average gift between the four conditions. This means that although we see differences in the average gift sizes below, these are just due to chance.
Average gift to the campaign pack in the four conditions is shown below.
In conclusion
By boosting the concepts the survey showed us to be important to donors in the fundraising communication and then adding in booster statements before the donation ask, we can increase the number of people who decide to give without reducing (or increasing) the average gift received.
Case Study 2
Spanish Environmental Organisation
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, two weeks after Spain was locked down, we sent out a caring-for-your-donors survey to over one million of this organisations’ supporters and donors.
We selected 7 questions from our 500-question bank with the sole purpose of helping their supporters feel better during this crisis. There was no fundraising ask.
What we found stunned us. When we use these questions to help charities get to know their donors better, we rarely see people using negative words to describe themselves as a person or as a supporter.
But during the crisis, more than 50% of the words people used to describe themselves as a person were negative: sad, concerned, worried, fearful and uncertain.
In this situation we can see the real power of having a family of supporters bonded around a mission.
When people are asked for the words they use to describe themselves as a member of this organisation’s family, the negative words melt away.
This simple shift of attention from themselves as a person to themselves as a family member of the organisation increased people’s sense of well-being. We know because we measured it.
In addition, we asked supporters if there was a sentence or two of encouragement that they would like to offer to other supporters and if so, what would they be. We showed that the more characters and/or words that people used in these communications, the higher the well-being they experienced.
The psychological processes that we use in non-crisis times to fuel sustainable giving and the psychological processes that we use in crisis-time to help people feel better are identical. They are processes that will both increase well-being and giving.
In a separate sample we tested during the same week as the care-for- your-donors survey went out in Spain, we found that the same set of survey questions can increase giving by about $65 on an average donation of $125. This is an increase of about 52%.
In Conclusion
Philanthropic psychology works.