Using the example of others to increase donations dramatically

Donations can be increased dramatically by providing examples of previous donors. Two research papers I've read recently - one from 2008, the other from 30 years previously, in 1979 - both came to the same conclusion: providing a donor with an example of a previous donation, from a person they can relate themselves to, dramatically increases the funds raised. The procedure is simple: before making the ask, provide the prospect with examples of high donations made by people similar to themselves.


The papers approach the issue and the theory behind the effect from quite different angles, however the value of the approach is clear in both.


The 1979 experiment examined adding one or more of the following to a face-to-face donation ask made to university students:

1. The names and amounts given by previous donors (using either 4 or 7 names, and both with either low or high value gifts)
2. A statement linking the student to the beneficiaries of the gift

The results were dramatic (the table shows total funds raised as a % of the control, a straight ask):

 

Straight ask		No example	Low example	High example
	No example	100%
	4 previous donors		172%	193%
	7 previous donors		209%	300%
Related ask		No example	Low example	High example
	No example	209%
	4 previous donors		181%	324%
	7 previous donors		198%	424%

That is, compared to a simple ask, showing the prospect a list of 7 donors similar to themselves, who were shown having made high gifts, increased the total funds raised 3-fold (from a combination of a 50% increase in response rate and a 100% increase in average gift).

Linking the prospect to the beneficiaries (in this case, where the ask was for the Heart Foundation, the link was to say that the people saved may be people the student knew) also doubled the funds raised. Adding in 7 high-value examples doubled the response again, to 4 times that of the control!

The 2008 paper examined the use of a single matched donor (the specific comparison used was using a high-value example from someone of the same sex, versus a high value example from someone of the other sex). Simply matching the challenge donor increased the funds raised by 35%. The effect was more pronounced when the prospect was focussed on other people (their matched or challenge donor group) rather than focussing on themselves.

So: 2 papers, 30 years apart, from completely different viewpoints. Both very clearly supporting the value of getting the prospect to identify strongly with a peer group who have made high gifts. It may be very difficult to extrapolate out of the very specific situations in these papers, but that 35% to 300% increase is very tempting ...