Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Take a Guess to Increase Conversion

What percentage of Americans donate to charity in a given year? Take a guess. No really. What’d you guess? Was it less than 7 in 10 Americans? If so and if I tell you the percentage is 73% (a recent Gallup 2020 figure) then you’re more likely to donate if I ask you to do […]

Learn More August 9, 2021

Who’s in the Behavior Business? Charity Program Staff or Fundraisers?

Are you in the behavior business? Or does this task fall to your program staff? There is a growing paradox in charitable organizations between how the program staff and fundraising are (or are not) rethinking their most intractable problems. The former is realizing they’re in the behavior business. Behavior can be described, predicted or understood. […]

Learn More August 6, 2021

Nudging For (not “Or”) Donor Autonomy

In a recent Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly article, Rebecca Ruehle and colleagues considered some of the ethical objections raised against nudge techniques promoting charitable giving. The authors argued nudges are morally ok even when they violate donor autonomy, if they’re aimed at issues they deem morally worth it e.g. disaster recovery, clean drinking water, […]

Learn More August 4, 2021

Gender, Race and Fundraising

In The Vanishing American Donor we warned of the danger of not investing – time, money and skill—in reaching beyond an organizations usual comfort zone to understand, communicate with and attract donors in “new” markets. Without question one of the most under-appreciated group of donors for all too many organizations are women—particularly women of color. […]

Learn More August 2, 2021

How Can You Get Hooked on a Feeling?

Franceso Ambrogetti is a fundraiser who has served with many global brands, most recently (and frequently) with UNICEF in senior roles all over the globe. He’s probably forgotten more than I ever knew about the trade. He’s also a lifelong learner and committed to digging deeper into the why of behavior and in that way, […]

Learn More July 30, 2021

The Vanishing American Donor

The share of American households contributing to charities has dropped to the lowest level in nearly 20 years. As reported by the Associated Press, a study published by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy finds that from 2000, when 66 percent of U.S. households donated to a charitable organization, the number dropped to 49.6 percent in […]

Learn More July 28, 2021