Ask Strings for Donation Requests Above $100: How To Do It

Jul 31

Data shows that annual fund donors are influenced by round numbers. Here’s how to improve your annual fund results by using the right ask strings for gifts over $100.

I’ll bet that if you look at the distribution of your nonprofit organization’s last annual fund gifts, you’ll find that gifts above $100 are almost all in round number amounts.

To demonstrate this, we compiled a database of over 1.4 million anonymized annual fund gifts from more than 80 non-profits doing direct mail and online fundraising—more than $250 million in gifts.

In a previous post I examined gifts from $1 to $100.

The following chart shows the distribution of gifts above $100 up to $1,000. Donors gave 5,517 different gift amounts in that range; but 71% of the gifts come from only 5 amounts—the round amounts of $150, $200, $250, $500 and $1,000—with another 15% coming from $125 and $300.

Chart of number of gifts greater than 100 dollars per gift amount in nonprofit fundraising

Donors are five times more likely to give one of those round numbers than an amount in between, as shown in the following table.

chart with information on annual fund donations from more than 80 nonprofit organizations on the number of gifts by amount for gifts between $100 and $1,000

When it comes to money (and a lot of other things), we all think in round numbers. Ask strings help donors jump to the next level by combining the two psychological factors of round numbers and anchoring.

I recommend that you use our downloadable table of ask strings (button below). It has been developed through data analysis and experience and incorporates the principles I’m discussing. It works hard to encourage those gifts of $1,000, $500 and $250 that you need.

For more information on donation requests, read the following posts: