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In early April, the T4T staff attended the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta. We learned a lot over the three days and look forward to sharing some of it with you in the upcoming months.

Note: This article is summary of Katya Andresen, Alia McKee, and Mark Rovner’s session at the NTC on April 10, 2010. Katya is the Vice President of Marketing for Network for Good and Alia and Mark both work for Sea Change Strategies.

Click here to see the concrete take-away from this article. It’s a free eBook called Homer Simpson for Nonprofits: The Truth About How People Really Think & What It Means for Promoting Your Cause. You could read the whole book in 20 or 30 minutes if you plowed right through it. But here’s the deal, it’ll take you longer than that to soak up the content (I think you'll find that’s a good thing).

The authors begin with the basics (What is behavioral economics?) and then quickly get into real-life examples of how brains work when it comes to fundraising and decision-making. The eBook is organized into eight principles with tips and checklists for each. My brief summary of these principles really don’t do the book justice. It’s free to download, so go check it out. The many organizational examples, behavioral studies, and other stories will be well worth your time.

Principle 1: Understand Homer, but don’t use his ethics – It’s important to note that there is a fine line between using principles of behavioral economics to manipulate rather than persuade. Be sure to read this chapter all the way to the end. The final paragraph about flies in urinals is fascinating. Oh, sure! Now you’re interested.

Principle 2: The left brain need not apply – In the battle between the rational and emotional sides of your brain, the emotional side typically wins. One of the best ways to engage the emotional side? Story telling. Kiva and Charity:Water are some of the best.

Principle 3: Stick to social norms, not market norms – Social norms are stronger motivators than market norms. Focus your campaigns on the emotional rewards of giving (not market exchanges like premiums or giveaways).

Principle 4: Small, not big – The opening sentences of the chapter: “When it comes to problems, the bigger the numbers, the smaller our concern. The more who die, the less we care. And one girl in need matters more than millions.”

Principle 5: Hope, not hopeless – Keep your campaigns small and hopeful. Make your target numbers something that don’t make people want to give up. Give your supporters something they can fix. MercyCorps does a great job of this.

Principle 6: Peer pressure still works – Tell your donors about the larger movement you’re creating.

Principle 7: We listen to authority – Distinguish your staff as experts and toss in a credible celebrity or two!

Principle 8: The more you ask for, the more you get – Set a three-level suggested giving range, knowing most donors will choose the middle option then test, test, and test!

There they are. Eight straight-forward principles to engage more supporters.

Mark concluded the session with a measure of reality, “Chances are that people will ‘get’ this, but revert back to the traditional way of doing it [fundraising]. You won’t get any results if you’re not willing to try a change.”

To get started with your change, download the eBook and set aside just a few minutes for quiet reading time.