Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Myth of the Average Donor

In Greek mythology, Procrustes was the hotelier from hell. He had a bed where passersby could spend the night. If they were too short to fit the bed, they would be stretched to fit it; if they were too tall, they would have the “excess” lopped off. His sizist reign ended when Theseus (of minotaur […]

Learn More March 27, 2019

Predicting Sustainer Retention

Monthly givers should be like an annuity or bond – an initial investment pays steady dividends over time. In reality, sustainers are great, but they are not Ron Popeil’s “set it and forget it”: there’s far more investment of time and energy required to make sure a donor stays with you for the long-term. What […]

Learn More March 25, 2019

Donor Acquistion: Time for New Approaches

We’ve devoted significant space ( here, here, here and here) emphasizing the importance of tending your Garden of Existing Donors to assure higher retention at a time when, overall, the sector is hemorrhaging donors. BUT…as noted on Monday, even if we can arrest the momentum of the descent in numbers of donors, these actions alone will […]

Learn More March 22, 2019

Toward Donor Sustainability

You awake and grab your rod and reel. You will eat what fish you catch; if you do not catch you do not eat. The fish awake. They have two schools of thought*. You have the Dory school with poor memories. They think the western part of the water is a great place to get […]

Learn More March 20, 2019

Three Scenarios for The Future of Individual Giving

Last week, we did some wringing of hands, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments about the loss of the average individual donor. But how wringy, gnashy, and rendy should we be? What does our future hold? So we did what any smart person would do when working with Fundraising Effectiveness Project data: fired up […]

Learn More March 18, 2019

Take Action Before The Trump Bump Slumps

As we head into board meeting season and the discussion around preliminary budgeting for 2020 many advocacy organization leaders will be touting the magnificent rise in both income and numbers of donors over the past two years. What frightens me is that some may believe this bonanza will last. It won’t. If experience holds, many […]

Learn More March 15, 2019