Philosophy

The Research That Changed Everything

A deep dive into bequest data revealed a surprising truth about what really drives supporter commitment

The Discovery

At a large international aid organisation, I collated multiple years of bequest data, creating point-in-time Supporter Profiles for each person who left a bequest. Then I compared these against the broader supporter database.

The conventional wisdom suggested that bequest likelihood would correlate with:

  • Donation value - how much they gave
  • Frequency - how often they gave
  • Tenure - how long they'd been giving

But the data told a different story.

What I found was breadth of engagement. The more touchpoints, the deeper the commitment.

Bequest Likelihood Increases with TPC

1 TPC
0.09%
2 TPC
0.84%
3 TPC
2.70%
4 TPC
6.00%
5 TPC
10.20%
6+ TPC
17.30%

Key Insight

Supporters with 6+ touchpoints are 186x more likely to leave a bequest than those with only 1 touchpoint

Data from multi-year bequest analysis at international aid organisation

Understanding Breadth of Engagement

Why touchpoint count reveals deeper commitment than traditional RFM metrics

Not Just RFM

Traditional RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) metrics miss the full picture of supporter commitment

Multiple Touchpoints

Each way a supporter engages - Regular Giving, appeal giving, major donor relationship, community fundraising, events, activism, volunteering

True Commitment

Higher TPC indicates stronger emotional investment and long-term commitment to your organisation

Understanding Touchpoint Strings

Each person has an engagement pattern, represented by their Touchpoint String (TPS)

Example Touchpoint String

1

RG

0

Member

1

Appeal

1

Emerg

0

Major

0

Comm

0

Event

1

Activist

0

Vol

TPS: 101100010

Touchpoint Count: 4

TPC = 1

Single touchpoint

Appeal donor only

😐
TPC = 3

Multiple touchpoints

Appeal + RG + Volunteer

🙂
TPC = 6+

Deeply engaged

Multiple channels & activities

🤩

The Strategic Implication

If breadth of engagement is the strongest predictor of long-term commitment, then your fundraising strategy shouldn't just focus on extracting more money from existing channels.

It should focus on creating opportunities for supporters to engage in multiple ways - increasing their Touchpoint Count and deepening their relationship with your organisation.

Old Approach

  • • Maximize $ per donor
  • • Focus on high-value segments
  • • Siloed channel strategies
  • • Short-term revenue focus

New Approach

  • • Increase engagement breadth
  • • Create touchpoint opportunities
  • • Integrated supporter journeys
  • • Long-term commitment building

How JamData Applies This Philosophy

Every service is designed to help you understand and increase supporter engagement breadth

DM Appeal Selection

Identifies cross-sell opportunities that increase TPC, not just response likelihood

REGGIE Forecasting

Facilitating accurate budgeting of Regular Giving, a crucial Touchpoint

Audience Profile Design

Maps supporter journeys to systematically increase engagement breadth over time

Want to Apply This to Your Organisation?

Let's discuss how breadth of engagement thinking can transform your fundraising strategy

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