Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Identity Triggers Only Work When They Matter

Teachers were asked by their school district to complete a survey. The experiment was a 2×2 design (one of our faves): The result? A nothingburger. No difference in survey participation between A-D, randomly assigned groups. To quote Paul Harvey, “And now for the rest of the story.” Researchers noticed a difference in survey participation on […]

Learn More November 8, 2024

Social Movement Paradox

This post was written on November 4th. Just breathe. Whether you’re an R or D or believe Trump is savior or anti-Christ there will likely be social activism afoot and aspiring, hopefully civil movements sustained or birthed. A movement paradox however is that what gains media attention and pressure on institutions also reduces popular support […]

Learn More November 6, 2024

At Last! Kevin is a Bot.

I’ve been watching and ready to call bullshit on most of the advice given to fundraisers on the use of AI. Every day it’s another pitch about “efficiency” and “targeted engagement”—all solutions in search of a problem that isn’t even defined let alone understood. AI for fundraisers? Sure, if your goal is to reduce human […]

Learn More November 4, 2024

Getting People to Part With Their Money is So Easy

I routinely see some version of this on the world wide web: Ask, thank, report back. Repeat. But make sure you get that 2nd ask in the first 90 days otherwise, people are much less likely to give. And don’t forget, do some multi-channel matching luggage exercise mimicking the mail piece in email and social. […]

Learn More November 1, 2024

Don’t Talk to Me When I’m Not Listening

Picture this: Most nonprofits are places where 7 out of 10 freshly acquired donors vanish faster than free bagels at a staff meeting. You’d think CEOs and fundraisers would be crawling over each other, eager to hear what donors have to say about how we might keep them around. But alas, we’re too busy rehearsing […]

Learn More October 30, 2024

GOTV Works. GOTV Doesn’t Work.

There was a field experiment a few years back using social pressure mailers that increased voter turnout by around 8 percentage points. That’s a massive lift. But averages, even big lift ones, can hide a lot. Nothing works the same with everybody. There aren’t universal “nudges” or other tactics that apply evenly to all people. […]

Learn More October 28, 2024