A Journey Inside your Donor’s Brain

Leah Eustace, CFREAFP Congress 2012

Twitter: @LeahEustace

Emotion drives action

Engage the emotions

Giving makes donors happy

…and it makes them live longer

So, giving donors the opportunity to invest in your organization is,

in reality, doing them a favour

Moral identity matters

“Thanks for calling and becoming a kind and caring WFIU donor”

Those two words increased giving by 21% amongst female donors (no impact on males).

Donors experience psychic numbing

“If I think of the mass I will never act, if I think of the one, I will”

We really don’t make any sense

Give $10 million to fight a disease claiming 20,000 lives and save 10,000.

orGive $10 million to fight a disease claiming

290,000 lives and save 20,000.

The case of Karen Klein

Stories are powerful

Stats depress response

versus

Our brains change as we age

Design is really important

And so is readability

If your fundraising messages has a grade level higher than 7, it will draw a lower response than one written at 7 or less. It’s a tested reality.

Obama is really good at this

MRI’s of Donor Brains

Speaking of planned giving

Donors have no idea what those words mean

95% of planned gifts

are bequests

Why, not how

Telling someone your goal makes it less likely to happen

Be cautious about raising awareness

Beware of what donors say

Leah Eustace, CFREChief Idea Goddess, Good Works

@LeahEustaceleah@goodworksco.ca