WHAT THE FUNDRAISING
143: Unlocking Donor Engagement: Designing Tiny Habits that Increase Fundraising Success with Juni Felix
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“Fundraisers are never just fundraisers. Depending on the good causes, we’re helping to move forward. We are world changers.”
– Juni Felix
Episode #143
Overview
In this episode of What the Fundraising Podcast…
Does it sound familiar that despite your efforts and motivation, your donor engagement endeavors seem to be struggling? Sometimes we feel like we’re taking effective action, but we’re still left feeling frustrated because we’re unable to establish strong relationships or sustain donor support. Behavior design strategies can help, because there are certain behaviors that will lead to increased long-lasting donor relationships, but many of us don’t know how to design them.
That’s exactly why I’m excited to introduce you to my special guest Juni Felix. Being a key member of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab teaching team, Juni deeply understands the scientific models and methods behind behavior change. Along with this, Juni proclaims her title as a sci-fi nerd, gamer, music artist, and explorer with pride and joy. Her mission is to guide people in creating helpful, effective systems using the science of behavior design to elevate their holistic well-being. That sounds like something all fundraisers could use, right?
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
- Introducing Juni Felix
- Balancing Donor Acquisition and Retention
- Fundraisers as Messengers of Hope
- Overcoming Self-Blame and Shame
- Simplifying Fundraising Activities
- Building Relationships with Donors
- Designing Strategic Prompts
- Making Donors Feel Valued
- Matching Behaviors to Strengths
- Overcoming Competing Motivations
- The Need for Change
- Reaching Out to Sylvester Stallone
- Calling Gleason's Boxing Gym
- Identity of a Fundraiser
- Tiny Habits for Motivation
- Understanding Motivation and Ability
- Overcoming Discomfort and Low Motivation
- Processing Feelings and Slowing Down
- Setting Tiny Objectives and Celebrating Success
- Connecting with the Fundraising Tribe
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Resources on fundraising using Tiny Habits and Behavior Design
- Many thanks to our sponsor, Bloomerang for making this episode possible. Bloomerang offers donor management and online fundraising software that helps small to medium nonprofits, like First Tee of Greater Akron, a nonprofit that empowers kids and teens through the game of golf. After just one year with Bloomerang they doubled their unique donors, improved donor stewardship, and raised more funds. Head to bloomerang.com/whatthefundraising to learn more about Bloomerang.
- If you haven’t already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link.
- If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point
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TIPS AND TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT TODAY
- Prioritize donor engagement and retention by simplifying fundraising activities and breaking them down into smaller, achievable tasks.
- Explore the use of texting prompts to increase engagement with donors by making the prompts highly relational.
- Consider using the Tiny Habits method to design and implement new habits (for yourself as a fundraiser) that support donor engagement and retention.
- Embrace your role as a fundraiser and acknowledge the impact you have in being a part of the solution for creating a kinder and gentler world. This will increase your motivation even when you have a natural dip in motivation.
- Remember that simplicity changes behavior and celebrate every tiny success, no matter how small, to build momentum
FAVORITE QUOTES
- “So fundraisers are never just fundraisers, in my opinion. Depending on the good causes, we're helping to move forward. We are world changers. We are messengers. We are ambassadors of hope. One text, one phone call, one email, one direct message at a time, and hang on to that last part. Because no matter what prompt we are using to reach out to our existing donors or our previous donors, we are part of that message of hope and love and light. We are light workers.” - Juni Felix
- “The formula for human behavior is behavior equals motivation, ability, and a prompt. The prompt is the thing that says, do this now. You can look at making this easier to do by changing your prompt and making that prompt highly relational, because that is what people are hungry and thirsty for. Design strategic prompts that will help your existing donors feel like they're not just a number. They're a part of the change that's being made in this area. This good and healthy change.” - Juni Felix
- “Remember, simplicity changes behavior. We systematically break things down to their tiniest components. When motivation is down, we look for ways to make the behaviors easier to do. We honor what you're feeling so we can process it in a healthy way. Then, how can you make that behavior smaller, tinier, easier to do? And how can you celebrate every tiny success, no matter how tiny, because that celebration factor is so important. Let's take a look at your routine related to your fundraising activities. Let's see how we can make these activities simpler to do. Let's make everything tiny and simplify, because then you will start to see success, celebrate success. And then that success momentum will help you to take the next step in your fundraising task.” - Juni Felix
- “A lot of it is just telling yourself to be quiet. Don't listen to your fears and just make the call. Send the text, send the DM. They put prompts on their calendar to make the call. They have all the phone numbers written out in advance, like they've made the thing as easy as possible to do, and they just cannot get themselves over the action line to actually make the call.” - Juni Felix
- “You need to reach out and affirm and celebrate your donors.” - Juni Felix
- “Design your team in such a way where we are affirming those strengths and you're affirming them by letting them know that you know them, you see them, you know what kind of team members they are and the value they bring.” - Juni Felix
- "Fundraisers are never just fundraisers. Depending on the good causes, we're helping to move forward. We are world changers." - Juni Felix
- "What we're talking about here is a better understanding of how behavior happens, and then giving ourselves the opportunity to play and iterate." - Juni Felix
- "The formula for human behavior is behavior equals motivation, ability, and a prompt. The prompt is the thing that says, do this now." - Juni Felix
- "Remember, simplicity changes behavior. We systematically break things down to their tiniest components." - Juni Felix
- "A lot of it is just telling yourself to be quiet. Don't listen to your fears and just make the call." - Juni Felix
- "You need to reach out and affirm and celebrate your donors." - Juni Felix
- "Design your team in such a way where we are affirming those strengths and you're affirming them by letting them know that you know them." - Juni Felix
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Get to know Juni:
Juni is a member of Dr. Bj Fogg’s Stanford Behavior Design Lab Teaching Team, the founder of Mastermind Behavior Design, and a presenting author at the 13th annual Persuasive Technology Conference where she collaborated to share ideas for the ‘Caring, Feeling, and Understanding Cities of the Future,’ and the author of ‘You are Worth the Work – Moving Forward from Trauma to Faith. She’s an unapologetic Sci-Fi nerd, video gamer, singer, songwriter, hiker, and world traveler, as well as an international broadcaster and speaker with a passion for designing helpful and effective systems using the science of Behavior Design for sustainable, holistic well-being. Juni’s life motto is: Kindness is a Superpower!
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I teach nonprofit fundraisers to bring in more gifts from the RIGHT donors… so they can stop hounding people for money. Fundraising doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.
- CEO & Creator of the Power Partners Formula™
- Disruptor in the funding sector, changing lives everyday
- Relentlessly committed to the movement of money into the nonprofit sector
- Focused on win-win partnerships that allow fundraisers to be authentic and empowered in their work
- Over 15 years working in nonprofits (managing director and ED of multiple fast-growth organizations)
MALLORY ERICKSON
