Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Every Board Member Has An Excuse.

Every fundraiser has heard some version of the board member excuse when it comes to raising money. “I don’t know anyone with money.” …“I’m a terrible salesman.”… “I already gave.” …“I’ll help right after the gala.” (The gala, like the horizon, keeps moving.) …“I’d rather write a check than ask for one.” ….“If I ask […]

Learn More September 28, 2026

729 Possible Packages. Somehow We Keep Mailing the Same One.

Ray Bradbury said, “Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed.” The Fundraising Volume Machine read that as permission to send more appeals and chase donors around the internet with a butterfly net. Bradbury meant creative production, not contact frequency. There are three very different kinds of quantity in fundraising: Quantity […]

Learn More September 25, 2026

Are You Building Bridges or Moats?

Your charity’s issue or area of focus needs oxygen, like a flame, to stay lit. It requires exposure and active discourse to grow support and make material improvement against the problem. We’re all in the advocacy business. But is your approach building a moat or a bridge? The organizations in the orange circles are moat builders, […]

Learn More September 23, 2026

Before the Year-End Feeding Frenzy, Try Saying Thank You

The annual year-end fundraising migration is about to begin. Soon, vast herds of appeals will thunder across the digital Serengeti plain, pursued by matching-gift challenges, blinking countdown clocks, crimson exclamation points, and breathless warnings that civilization has only 11 minutes left. Donor mailboxes will groan, inboxes will beg for mercy. “Urgent” will be deployed so […]

Learn More September 21, 2026

Did Your Fundraising Become an Excel Table with a Budget?

Over the last twenty years, marketing effectiveness has fallen sharply. Campaigns, ads, and fundraising appeals are moving fewer people to act, even as budgets and frequency continue to rise. The pattern is unmistakable. It’s not just that everything looks and sounds the same; it’s that much of what’s being repeated is no bueno. Almost nine […]

Learn More September 16, 2026

Election Night Is Not a Strategy Meeting

It’s 11:47 on election night November 3rd. A fundraiser named Susan is sitting alone in the office conference room, half a sandwich beside her laptop and coffee long since gone cold. She’s has been told not to write anything until the organization knows what happened in this year’s mid-terms. Nobody knows what happened. The […]

Learn More September 14, 2026