Award Winning Blog - Agitator

We Said “Donor First.” The Budget Said “Same as Last Year.”

Henry Mintzberg is not a fundraiser. He’s one of the most cited management thinkers of the past 50 years, and the author of The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. His most durable idea is simple: there is deliberate strategy, what leaders intend, and there is emergent strategy, the pattern that actually materializes from decisions […]

Learn More February 27, 2026

Behavioral Ruts Beat Brilliant Campaigns

For years, Domino’s believed it was in the transportation business. They spent a lot of operational time and money on speed, routing and driver density. Everything revolved around getting a box from oven to doorstep faster than the other guy. Then fees rose, tipping fatigue set in, inflation crept up and customers turned carryout into […]

Learn More February 25, 2026

Please Submit Something Disruptive That Fits in Our Spreadsheet

“We want creative and innovative ideas.” What self-respecting agency doesn’t like hearing that? The rub is when it’s neutered by also needing to forecast within three percent of plan, survive a board meeting, and resemble something a peer organization has already tested. What I’ve realized is that wanting novelty that behaves like familiarity isn’t hypocrisy, […]

Learn More February 23, 2026

Fundraising At or With?

Does your fundraising start with: “Who should we send this appeal to?” Or with: “What should we say to this person?” That distinction isn’t about creative talent, it’s about which operating system you’re running. The Volume Machine model runs on a presumption that asking is the most important activity and sameness is the efficiency lubricant […]

Learn More February 20, 2026

Salience Over Saturation: Why Timing Outperforms Volume

If you’ve ever sat in a campaign planning meeting staring at last year’s results and this year’s bigger revenue target, you’ve heard what comes next. “Let’s add more touchpoints.” Sometimes it’s delivered with missionary zeal of someone who believes revenue rises in proportion to frequency. Sometimes it comes from the exhausted fundraiser who knows better but […]

Learn More February 18, 2026

Honey.Bunny and the Case for Matching Message to Person

Imagine getting an email from honey.bunny77@hotmail.de. What would you immediately infer about this person? Ok, spam and X-rated content but after that you might infer age, maybe gender, maybe a certain playfulness or lack of seriousness. You formed a view about competence and credibility from a string of characters. That instinct is not random. Researchers […]

Learn More February 13, 2026