In the mood for giving: How well-being sparks generosity through direct mail

By |2023-10-31T17:06:16+00:00October 31st, 2023|

A new academic study from the University of Massachusetts and Georgia Institute of Technology has found a connection between donor well-being and their generosity, suggesting that designing direct mail campaigns that makes people feel happy will be an effective way to encourage donations. The concept explores the concept of “preheating,” by replicating the warm glow often associated with post-donation moods. While psychologists are familiar with this idea, the study is the first to identify the impact of this on charitable giving. Using natural language processing tools the sentiment of communications donors sent before and after they made a donation were analysed. The researchers detected a reliable and statistically significant mood boost in communications sent up to about an hour before [...]

Those most likely to donate as a result of Direct Mail

By |2023-07-21T09:18:23+00:00July 21st, 2023|

A new study, The Future of Direct Mail 2023, reinforces the effectiveness of direct mail, with the overwhelming finding that 81% of people engaging with direct mail in some way. Almost two thirds were found to have purchased a physical product as a result of receiving a piece of DM, 43% took advantage of a discount or special offer that was promoted through the mail, 35% applied for a financial product whilst 25% donated to charity as a direct result of a call to action within a mail pack. With charity fundraising suffering as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, understanding the impact of direct mail and who is most likely to respond is incredibly valuable. The report finds that, [...]

Charities shouldn’t put the data cart before the horse

By |2022-10-04T07:07:09+00:00October 4th, 2022|

New research shows that charities are falling behind when it comes to data. With the cost-of-living crisis now really beginning to show its teeth resulting in a sharp decline in donor numbers and donation value, data is now a critical capability for charities to master. However, data doesn’t have to be complex. More on this later… first, let’s have a look at the findings of the State of the Sector Data Maturity Report. The study measured 1,000 charities and rated their data maturity through five stages, from ‘Unaware’ to ‘Mastering’ across seven key themes: Uses, Data, Analysis, Leadership, Culture, Tools, and Skills. When it comes to data leadership over half (53 percent) of those surveyed said that there is no [...]

‘Significant number’ of charities sending fundraising material to people who have asked them to stop

By |2022-07-18T17:26:06+00:00July 18th, 2022|

According to an article recently published in Third Sector Magazine a “significant number” of charities are sending fundraising communications to members of the public even after requests to stop, the Fundraising Regulator has said. The regulator made the statement after a review of the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS), which was set up in the aftermath of the Olive Cooke case, which tragically saw the 92-year-old life-long charity supporter take her own life due to a deluge of charity donation requests.   The FPS provides members of the public with a way to ask charities to stop contacting them with requests for donations. The Fundraising Regulator said it was writing to those charities which are not responding to public requests and telling [...]

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