Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Locally or Globally?

Part of me would prefer this post be about “all politics are local”, or “to think globally, act locally”, or some other bumper sticker phraseology. Alas, it’s about a theoretical and practical problem that won’t neatly fit on your bumper. What if your best practice, or your best statistical model, or your best appeal, or […]

Learn More February 3, 2021

Bernie’s Magic Mittens and Abusing Your Donor

One of the light and bright photo by-products of the horrid trifecta of January events in Washington, D.C. – Insurrection, Impeachment, Inauguration—was the terrific photo of Senator Bernie Sanders seated at the Inauguration swathed in parka and hand-knit mittens. Of course it didn’t take long before that photo was transformed into an endless stream of mostly […]

Learn More February 1, 2021

Applying Science to Boost Sustainer Results

Here at the Agitator we post a lot on the use of behavioral science in fundraising. My purpose in badgering Kiki, Kevin and Stefano to keep their insights coming is because I believe the main purpose of their work is to use science to find and provide creative and practical solutions for fundraisers. I’m sure […]

Learn More January 29, 2021

Donor Retention and Loss: A Tale of Two Charts (actually 5)

Which chart would you rather show to your CEO, finance chief or Board? The answer is obvious and also underscores an innate human condition – we hate the thought of loss. In fact, we have such a subconscious aversion to loss that we will irrationally choose to frame everything as gain even though the […]

Learn More January 27, 2021

Nudging to Improve Human Experience or Simply to Sound Smart?

There seems to be an obsession with biases lately and by extension, a flurry of consultants and agencies slapping “behavioral science” on their letterhead. While acknowledging biases as real and important to understand, considering biases as the one and only answer is dangerous. When examined solely through distinct biases, human behavior appears to be concrete […]

Learn More January 25, 2021

Donor or Activist?

What makes an activist different from a donor? Too often the former is thought of as a lead-gen exercise to source names to ‘convert’ them to the latter. Activists and donors are different. And while activists often donate that initial act of activism (e.g. the lead-gen petition signing) should not be thought of as a […]

Learn More January 22, 2021