We like to think that philanthropy is driven by pure intention. We assume that if someone has the means and the desire to give, the rest will just… happen.

But if you’ve spent any time in this space, you know the reality is much messier. Donors get overwhelmed by choice, distracted by the day-to-day, and even when they manage to make a gift, there is limited feedback and follow up.

At ideas42, we’ve spent over a decade looking at this through the lens of behavioral science. Our driving philosophy is: Intentions are fragile. Context is king. Donors do care; but the context in which they give is often fraught with friction, confusing choices, and a lack of clear signals.

The old way of thinking asks: "How do we motivate donors to care more?"

Behavioral science asks: "How do we clear the path so it’s actually easy for them to act on the care they already have?"

That’s why we’re so excited to launch our Generosity by Design guides, which pull back the curtain on how donor behavior can be shaped through better design.

This isn’t just another PDF full of "best practices." It’s a roadmap for designing the donor experience to work with how people behave, rather than against it. We’ve taken years of field testing and condensed it into four strategic pillars that tackle the most common behavioral bottlenecks in the donor journey:

  • Attention & Discovery explores how to capture donors’ limited attention and help them discover effective organizations—without making it feel like a chore for donors or adding burden to nonprofits.
  • Curation & Personalization offers strategies for narrowing choices and tailoring options so donors can more easily find and fund causes and organizations that resonate with their values.
  • Framing & Choice Architecture examines how the way information and options are organized influences decisions, confidence, and satisfaction.
  • Reflection & Feedbackfocuses on shaping norms and creating opportunities for learning and feedback that strengthen donors’ giving practice over time, and make it more rewarding.

When we stop treating donors like rational calculators, and start designing for real people—people with limited time, wandering attention, and a genuine desire to help—we can move more funding where it’s needed most.

You can dive into the full Generosity by Design guide here.

To bring the guides alive with examples from real work happening in the field, starting May 6, 2026, we're hosting a free 4-part webinar series where we unpack each guide alongside guest practitioners and partners who are leveraging these strategies. Register for the webinar series.

And keep an eye out—later this year, we’ll be releasing a hands-on toolkit to help you apply these design concepts directly to your platforms, DAFs, advisory practices, and more!

Let’s stop wishing for more "motivated" donors and start building a better context that makes it easy for them to follow through on that motivation.

Want to work with us to apply these insights to your context? Email us at giving@ideas42.org

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This article was originally published on LinkedIn and is republished here with permission.