Donor Conversion Starts with Understanding: A Human-First Experiment that Lifted Results by +920%
By Greg Colunga
At Amplify, we call our fundraising methodology “human-first,” but that could mean a lot of things to many people.
So today, I wanted to give you a practical example of what “human-first” fundraising is from an experiment I ran a few years ago with a client of mine at my former employer.
First, it’s important to outline the acquisition model that we use in online fundraising.
Model Introduction
We lead with value by promoting a content offer—a downloadable resource that’s relevant to our audience—via paid advertising. Once someone signs up to receive that offer (by giving us their valid email address), we redirect them to a donation page that ties the content to the organization’s larger mission and ask them to become a donor.
If they give in that moment, they become an instant donor, and we drop them into a new donor welcome series.
If they don’t, they become a new subscriber (or “non-donor”) and enter a new subscriber welcome series designed to build the relationship, offer more value, and gently invite a first-time gift.
That moment—between download and donation—is critical. So we asked:
What kind of welcome series actually converts more first-time donors? One that leads with mission—or one that continues offering value?
The Test: “Mission Pitch” vs. “More Valuable Content” promotional emails in the New Subscriber Welcome Series
We ran a test with two versions of the welcome journey for non-donors who had just downloaded a lead magnet:
- Control: Mission-Focused Series
Started with the organization’s story, sharing its purpose, programs, and stories of impact. Each story had a soft ask tied to them, and there was a final email in the series that made a direct appeal for donations from the President of the organization. - Treatment: Offer-Focused Series
Immediately delivered a 6-part series of more downloadable content, like the one they just downloaded—a value-driven follow-up to the resource that prompted the signup. There were no mission stories and no direct appeals in the series whatsoever.
It sounds a little counter-intuitive. We, as fundraisers, desperately want more donors and revenue, so taking away all of our mission content, stories of impact, and direct appeals in the welcome series sounds like it would tank results, right?
Wrong.
The Result: +920% Donor Conversion Rate
The treatment group—the one that led with a additional promotions of similar content offers—converted 920% more first-time donors than the mission-first control group.
And the difference wasn’t marginal—it was statistically verified at 99.9% confidence, meaning the outcome is essentially guaranteed to repeat.
Here’s the summary of results:
| Segment Name | Conv. Rate | Rel. Diff. | Confidence |
C: | Org-focused | 0.02% | - | - |
T1: | Offer-focused | 0.19% | 920% | 99.9% |
To put that abstract data into better context for you, this meant:
The treatment experience was creating 1.27 additional donors per day, while the control experience would take 9.5 days to create the same number of donors.
Over the course of a year, that means 413 additional donors.
This is an absolute game-changer for organizations, especially ones with limited resources trying to make digital work for them in a profound way for the first time.
Additional Wins (Beyond Donations)
The benefits didn’t stop with more donors. The offer-led sequence also delivered:
- −42.0% unsubscribe rate (LoC: 100%)
- +1,091.4% total revenue (LoC: 99.9%)
That’s not just a better welcome series—it’s a high-performing, revenue-generating engine.
Key Learning: Human-first means meeting people where they are at.
If there’s one insight from this experiment that should reshape how we think about donor cultivation, it’s this:
You have to meet people where they are at.
It’s important to remember that the vast majority of people don’t just go online to give donations. They go online to get something.
Most of the time, that’s something not related to your organization (or any charity for that matter) at all.
To truly transform your fundraising to be human-first, you have to understand this principle to know how you can meet people where they are at.
In this case, someone downloaded a piece of content from our organization. This doesn’t mean that they are fully sold on your programs and ready to give a first-time donation.
But they at least cared enough to get something from you that they’re interested in. This is the beginning of the relationship.
So meet them where they are at.
By offering more resources like the one they already downloaded, you’re showing relevance, care, and understanding. And each of those new offers acts as a soft ask. The prospective donor’s internal monologue eventually becomes:
“This organization keeps giving me great value. I should give something back.”
And they do—920% more often, to be exact.
This requires thoughtful care, but also being a good listener.
To be the best listener possible, you have to understand the ways that people communicate.
I like to say that people communicate in three ways:
- With their words
- With their body language
- With their actions
In digital fundraising, behavior is your language. And downloading a resource is a clear message:“This content matters to me.”
If you respond to that action by continuing the conversation—rather than shifting immediately into program or fundraising mode—you create the conditions for generosity to emerge naturally.
That’s how we earned more donors, retained more subscribers, and drove more than 1,000% more revenue.
Just from a simple new subscriber welcome series.
Because we stopped talking at people.
And we started listening to what they were telling us. And decided to change our program to meet them where they were at.
This is how to transform your fundraising program into a human-first methodology.
This human-first method drives better results. Why? Because it understands people. Meets them where they are at. It seeks a relationship, which produces trust.
And generosity is only freely given from donors in the context of a trusting relationship.
I hope this helps you improve your fundraising, builds better relationships, and grows generosity from your existing and prospective donors!
— GC
Greg Colunga
Managing Partner
Never Miss a Post!
We hope to post good and valuable content like this, without overwhelming your inbox once or twice per week. Want to be notified when a new post goes up? Complete the form below and we’ll make sure you get an email notifying you of new articles being published before anyone else gets notified.
