Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Secret to Evoking Emotions in Writing: Why ‘Crying’ Beats ‘Sad’ Every Time

“She was sad.” Boooorrrrring. Talk about telling not showing. Something so important as emotion and yet, most of the time we reduce it to the lowest common denominator, literal use of the word; angry, sad, happy. How about this instead; “she was crying.” It shows, it describes. And for most of you, it likely […]

Learn More July 1, 2024

Inflation Messaging

Giving USA reported charitable giving increased by 1.9% but after adjusting for inflation, it’s down 2.1%. The cost side of your P&L has likely gone up, whether charity or agency. Is this a macro, negative externality you’re stuck dealing with or might this be a time to raise “prices”? If you raise your ask amount […]

Learn More June 28, 2024

All Fundraisers Must Be Brand Builders

The industry trendline is well worn – fewer and fewer people giving. The saving grace has been those left giving more. This is hardly a winning strategy. Your only path to sustained growth comes from increasing the percentage of prospects that know you. There’s a huge chasm in likelihood to donate and lifetime value between […]

Learn More June 26, 2024

The Anatomy of a Successful Call

Have you ever had a conversation with the other person dominating the talk time? How about one where the other person didn’t ask you any questions? Contrast that with a balanced conversation, one where you and the other person talked about equally and the talk sequence was you, other person, you, other person, etc.. This […]

Learn More June 24, 2024

Unlearn What You Have Learned, You Must

Syntax is the way we place words in a sentence. The simplest, clearest formulation is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), “The dog chased the cat”. Yoda uses a very complicated, awkward syntax called an anastrophe, placing the object and the verb before the subject. Simple is better, right? Use active voice, not passive, right? Every rule ever written […]

Learn More June 21, 2024

Beyond One Size Fits All For the Win, Again…

Our choices are expressions and reflections of who we are. I won’t pay as much attention to your fundraising message if it doesn’t reflect who I am. And since people are different, your fundraising needs tailoring to match those varied reflections. Most readers will probably agree with this statement and yet, the infinity problem stands […]

Learn More June 19, 2024