Tech and Nonprofits: Donation and Engagement Behavior with Creative Science Labs | Online

About this event

It is estimated that Americans donate over 300 billion dollars a year to charity and countless others contribute in other forms whether it be their voice, time or energy. However, the psychological factors that govern whether to give or get involved, how much to give or get involved, are still not well understood. People’s understanding of charitable giving and engagement is based primarily upon the intuitions of fundraisers and leaders in the space guided by what we think works well, rather than what we know works well. Nonprofits must understand the framework in which people operate in order to optimize the potential for engagement and donations. In absence of this knowledge they could be missing out on opportunities to engage with potential supporters and capitalize on donations. As digital has a key pillar of a nonprofit’s overall strategy, it is imperative that they understand how to leverage it correctly. Oftentimes foundations and nonprofits are missing out on a lot of opportunity simply because they don’t understand the human decision making process. By examining experimental methods in which the variables of interest are experimentally manipulated, we can gain greater insight to the effectiveness of certain initiatives. As a result, it becomes possible to identify the causal factors that underlie giving, and to design effective intervention programs that can help increase the likelihood and amount that people contribute to a cause, whether financially or time. This talk will examine the efficacy of fundraising strategies commonly used by nonprofits and make concrete recommendations about how to make these campaigns more efficiently and effectively by leveraging behavioral economic theories. The talk will showcase how to apply these theories to online properties such as; websites and mobile applications, and moreover the profound impact they can have on helping nonprofits move their people to action. Nate will highlight the most intriguing, surprising, and enlightening approaches on the topic of donation and engagement behavior. This will open up exciting pathways to cross-cutting the divide between theory and practice and how these ideas can be executed in the nonprofit space.