What the Fundraising — Episode 276: Unlocking Donor Motivation Through Behavioral Science with Kevin Schulman

Host: Mallory Erickson
Guest: Kevin Schulman, Founder, Donor Voice
Date: December 30, 2025

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Mallory Erickson sits down with Kevin Schulman, founder of Donor Voice, to delve into how behavioral science can revolutionize nonprofit fundraising. Kevin challenges the status quo, questioning long-standing “best practices” in the sector and introducing new ways to understand, measure, and motivate donor behavior. Emphasizing rigorous measurement and donor-centered approaches, Kevin argues that attracting supporters begins with understanding their motivations—not just increasing the volume of fundraising asks.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Rethinking “Best Practice” Fundraising (02:47–07:14)

• Behavioral Science in Fundraising

  • Kevin explains Donor Voice as a “behavioral science fundraising agency” that goes deeper than just applying nudges or social proof. Their work revolves around asking, “Why do people do what they do?” to inform more meaningful fundraising strategies.
  • “Ours is a bit more expansive... ‘Why do people do what they do?’ is what keeps us motivated.” (Kevin, 02:47)

• Critique of Volume and Sameness

  • Traditional thinking in the sector equates more frequent donation asks with more donations. This has led to a “volume model” that overemphasizes sheer quantity and uniformity over genuine motivation.
  • Industry reliance on “gimmicks” (premiums, faux deadlines, matching gifts) is widespread, making fundraising appeals indistinguishable across organizations.
  • “We’ve somehow decided that people give because we ask. And if you believe that to be true, then that invites more asking. So the volume model has been birthed on this too-simple idea that people give because we ask.” (Kevin, 04:13)

• Obsession with the Bottom of the Funnel

  • Many organizations focus heavily on tweaking donation conversion rates, ignoring the more significant “top of the funnel” growth challenges.

2. Redefining “What Works” (07:14–12:41)

• Measuring True Impact

  • Kevin questions how nonprofits define success and urges organizations to use real growth metrics (revenue and donor count), moving beyond metrics that simply measure internal comfort or efficiency.
  • “If your very first dashboard metric that you look at isn’t a growth metric for the charity’s business... then you don’t have the North Star that matters.” (Kevin, 07:59)

• The ‘Zero Spend’ Thought Experiment

  • If fundraising spend went to zero, revenue wouldn’t immediately drop to zero because loyal donors and other mechanisms continue to generate gifts. This baseline is often wrongly attributed to fundraising.
  • He emphasizes incremental testing to measure if new strategies (like adding SMS or new campaigns) produce additional revenue—not just redistribute existing dollars.
  • “There is an enormous amount of fundraising spending that is not producing incremental dollars; it’s just a clarity for credit.” (Kevin, 11:17)

3. The Case for Intelligent Incremental Testing (12:41–14:53)

• Indirect Influence & Holistic Attribution
  • Many fundraising activities have indirect or delayed effects that aren’t captured by standard last-click attribution.
  • Kevin recommends running controlled, long-term tests to measure true financial impact (e.g., split groups for new SMS campaigns, tracking results over six months).
  • “The way that most attribution gets done is pretty crappy... the only thing that matters is the bank account.” (Kevin, 13:45)

4. Advice for Resource-Strapped Organizations (14:53–20:17)

• The Trap of Short-Termism

  • Most organizations are putting almost all their spend into immediate direct response activities, often marketing to the same shrinking pool of donors.
  • Kevin distinguishes between direct response and brand-building—the latter is under-resourced but essential for long-term growth, awareness, and memory associations tied to the mission.
  • “It may feel like a win in the beginning to keep the doors open, but there is no path to prosperity with continuing to just market and remarket to the same people over and over...” (Kevin, 19:31)

• Memory Structures and Branding

  • Brand-building creates essential cognitive shortcuts for donors (“If I say Panda, almost everyone would say WWF.”).

5. The Need for More Sophisticated, Personalized Approaches (20:25–23:16)

• Complexity in Understanding Donors
  • Fundraising will “get more complicated before it gets less” because effective growth requires segmentation and message tailoring based on nuanced psychographics (like personality traits).
  • Donor Voice, for example, personalizes appeals to donor personality, leveraging big five trait profiles and third-party data to align messages with what donors pay attention to and act upon.
  • “One size fits all has been wildly efficient and wildly ineffective... People are messier and the job growing is messier.” (Kevin, 21:47)

6. What Really Motivates Donors (23:16–24:27)

• Attraction, Not Persuasion
  • Sticky giving is rooted in deep, personal, values-based connections to the mission—not in being asked repeatedly or persuaded.
  • The fundraiser’s job is to attract people by understanding and matching communications to their unique motives and values.
  • “Our job in fundraising is attraction, and that means that I need to have some understanding of your motives and values and goals. Then my job is just to match the message to you.” (Kevin, 24:10)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On old fundraising habits:
  “Sometimes I wonder if fundraising has lost the plot. Our purpose for being is helping these organizations grow.” (Kevin, 04:13)

• On measuring success:
  “If you didn’t spend a single dollar on fundraising, you would still bring money in... that amount is currently being attributed to our fundraising effort.” (Kevin, 08:28)

• On the illusion of 'best practice':
  “We need to step back, tear the house down to the studs and start to re-examine what the heck we’re doing. And the impetus for that ought to just be back to our North Star: If we’re shrinking, that’s a problem.” (Kevin, 11:59)

• On the future of nonprofit marketing:
  “There is no path to prosperity with continuing to just market and remarket to the same people over and over...” (Kevin, 19:31)

• On donor motivation:
  “If people don’t give because we ask, then why do they give? ... The only giving that’s sticky is where you’ve got some personal connection.” (Kevin, 23:27)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:47 — Defining behavioral science in fundraising
• 04:13 — Critique of ‘best practices’ and volume approach
• 07:59 — Rethinking what “works” in fundraising
• 11:17 — Incremental testing and the limits of attribution
• 13:45 — The importance of true, bank-account-based results
• 14:53 — Brand building vs. direct response for small orgs
• 19:31 — The long game: why over-focusing on existing donors is perilous
• 21:47 — Why personalization and complexity are necessary
• 23:27 — The deeper incentives for giving: values and attraction

Episode Takeaways

• Challenging “ask more, raise more” dogma; donor motivation is more nuanced.
• Rigid “best practices” often perpetuate inefficiency and donor fatigue.
• Tracking actual long-term growth and true increments—over credit-claiming and vanity metrics—is essential.
• Fundraisers must build attraction, rooted in values-based, personalized engagement, for sticky, sustainable giving.

Where to Find Kevin Schulman

• Website: thedonorvoice.com
• Blog: The Agitator (search online to subscribe)
• LinkedIn: Follow Kevin for regular insights and content

This summary cuts through sector jargon to surface what really matters: a behavioral, data-driven approach to unlocking donor motivation and sustainable growth. For more resources, full episode transcripts, and practical tools, visit MalloryErickson.com/Podcast.