Framing Year-End Philanthropy: Behavioral Science Tweak
Are you framing your ask as an “annual appeal” or as “we only ask once a year?”
A growing body of research in psychology and behavioral economics shows how you frame your ask can have a big difference in your fundraising results.
Much of this has to do with how people mentally account for all consumer ‘purchases,’ including charitable giving.
Researchers have found people don’t treat all of their money (or time, effort or other resources) as if they have one big pool of it. Rather, they have separate mental accounts. When they spend resources they keep track of that expenditure based on the mental account it came from.
This has significant fundraising implications, so it’s important to delve further into this mental accounting principle.
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