Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Free the Plush Toys and Tote Bags. Fundraising’s Supply Chain Woes.

Although the ghosts and ghouls of Halloween vanished with this morning’s sunrise another specter is sending chills up fundraiser’s spines. The Ghost of Supply Chain 2021. Bobbing offshore on hundreds of ships at anchor outside U.S. ports are shipping containers crammed with holiday goodies that may –or may not—be unloaded in time for the holidays. […]

Learn More November 1, 2021

Epic Fail And That’s OK

A lot of work done by behavioral scientists to promote more mask wearing during Covid met with little to no success. The key in our view is getting Covid messaging, and all messaging by extension, beyond the one-size-fits-nobody world. For starters, it’s no secret that Conservatives and Liberals tend to view the efficacy and necessity […]

Learn More October 29, 2021

The Fastest Way to Perfect Supporter Satisfaction

Q: What’s the fastest way to get perfect supporter satisfaction ratings? A: Have all your dissatisfied supporters leave and never come back. If that isn’t your preferred option, you might be interested in another. If so, mark your calendar: 4th November, 10am EST, Webinar on Donor Satisfaction. Kevin and I will share a new and […]

Learn More October 27, 2021

The Stuff In Between Our Words

Copy writing is all about the words. Or is it? What about all the little bits pushed in between? Punctuation usage can tell us a lot about writing style. Which copy looks easier to read? You don’t need to see any of the words to pick the one on the left. If you picked the […]

Learn More October 25, 2021

The Danger of Mistaking Change for Progress

I’ll never forget the little old lady. Early in my career I called on her to discuss the college’s plan for a new library, hoping she’d become a major contributor. She served tea and little cucumber sandwiches. We chatted amiably and then got down to business. With great enthusiasm I showed her the architect’s schematics, […]

Learn More October 22, 2021

There are No Best Practices

That is our headline from an analysis of (newspaper) headlines that found no discernible pattern in determining what makes for winning headlines. I know, dizzying. The analysis was performed on a a big data set: 141,000 A/B headline tests run by 293 newspaper websites. The project was done by academics at Northwestern’s Computational Journalism Lab. […]

Learn More October 20, 2021