Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Richest Americans’ Poor Response to Covid-19

Sooner or later every fundraiser has heard—and many have put to use—the story of the “Widow’s mite” in terms of illustrating and suggesting a level of sacrificial and cheerful giving. Mark 12:42-44 and Luke 21:2-4 tell the story of the widow who gave all she had, two “mites”—the tiny copper coins circulated in Judaea during the time […]

Learn More June 15, 2020

Second Chance to Tap Hidden Gold Mine

When the pandemic struck I’m sure lots of folks wished like hell they had a monthly giving program in place. Sure would be nice to have a regular, predictable source of revenue in these trying times. The Agitator is a big believer in second chances. (Actually, given the quantity of posts we’ve done on monthly […]

Learn More June 12, 2020

Remembering Jaap Zeekant

Jaap Zeekant, a pillar of Dutch and international fundraising died on May 28 at age 69. Beyond the flash and recognition of the conference speaker’s podium fundraising is a business where the audience doesn’t see or feel the hard work and dedication that goes on behind the scenes. For nearly 40 years Jaap, with his […]

Learn More June 10, 2020

Constantly Mailing Your ‘Best’ Donors Can Make Them Your ‘Worst’

It is inarguable that increasing the number of mailings increases current demand/responses. Send out more mail, get more demand/responses. But, this decision making behind “mail more, make more” lives in the short-term. We estimate the probability (usually crudely with RFM business rules) that a donor will give and then include them or not. Because the selection […]

Learn More June 8, 2020

American Renewal

One of the great advantages of older age is that experience seen in life’s rear-view mirror often provides a helpful understanding of what’s happening as seen through the front windshield of today. What I see today, while deeply disturbing in so many ways, gives me great hope. This is especially true where citizen action and […]

Learn More June 5, 2020

It’s Way Past Time to Raise the Donor-Centric Bar

Why is the norm in which most nonprofits operate based on a premise nobody believes: every donor is the same. Yet, this false premise often serves as the very cornerstone of our work. For example, we run A/B tests with the ‘gold’ standard being met when the test and control group audiences are the same […]

Learn More June 3, 2020