Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Connection Starts Where Most Segmentation Stops

If we want real connection, we have to stop pretending our generic segmentations are anything but shortcuts. We slice people up by what’s available—age, income, gender, channel, how they transact, etc. But the minute we start grouping by these surface traits, we’ve injected bias. And not just demographic bias, behavioral bias. We’re assuming the thing […]

Learn More August 6, 2025

Is Your Appeal Too Much, Too Soon?

Researchers ran a simple experiment. Two versions of a fundraising campaign with same photo, same story, same goal. One used the phrase “malignant tumors” in the headline, the other, a softer “illnesses.” The result? Naming the disease performed much worse. But this testing was on a crowdfunding platform with donors seeing saw multiple campaigns side-by-side. […]

Learn More August 4, 2025

Matching Gifts Are So Tired But Here’s a Twist

We’re not fans of matching gift offers. They used to be strategic: tied to a big gift or a time-sensitive campaign. Now they’re everywhere, overused and generic and often the match isn’t a message, it’s the message. Make no mistake, you’re subsidizing the donation and sensitizing people to the discount, just like retailers coupons. How so? […]

Learn More August 1, 2025

Ten Years of Hope, Hype, and Heartburn

I’ve been poking around in the Agitator attic lately—blowing dust off ten years of posts, decks, podcasts, conference swag, industry reports and other artifacts of our beloved trade. Call it fundraising death cleaning. Call it archaeology with spreadsheets. Either way, it’s a look at what mattered to fundraisers back in 2015, and what matters now […]

Learn More July 30, 2025

A New BEAT at DonorVoice: Rethinking Fundraising Measurement

Hi, I’m Jen. I’m new here, the newest employee at DonorVoice. I’ve been helping mission-driven organizations challenge the status quo for nearly two decades. About a year ago, after meeting Kevin and the DonorVoice team serendipitously, Kevin invited me to join DonorVoice. At the time, I wasn’t ready. I stubbornly wanted to prove that I […]

Learn More July 28, 2025

How to Make People Stop Doing Good Things: Ask for Money

Swedes are world-class recyclers, nearly 90% of bottles and cans get returned. It’s a habit and point of civic pride. Then researchers added one small twist to the recycling machines: “Press here to get your deposit.”“Or press here to donate it to charity.” And the moment that donation choice appeared, recycling dropped and the drop persisted. […]

Learn More July 25, 2025