Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The New Agitator

After 11 years and 3,191 posts The Agitator has a new look and a new address: agitator.thedonorvoice.com, instead of theagitator.net. I’m using this first post on the new site to summarize the changes, additions and, most importantly, the guiding philosophy going forward. Why the Change? We’ve increasingly been drawing on the research, testing and results of pilot […]

Learn More September 4, 2018

YEAR END: One Year Ends; The Next Begins

Hopefully, this week has prepared you for your year-end giving season. You’ll get your communications set and you’ll watch the donations come in. And when, at 10:27 local time, you hit your online giving goal, you will celebrate the New Year in a way that makes you not want to give up until at least […]

Learn More August 31, 2018

Who do you want on your file?

Everyone who wants to be there. There! That was simple! Join us next week when we explain why water feels wet. (It’s a liquid). Yes, it sounds simplistic. But we violate this simple premise by not asking supporters how they would like to get communications from us. This step has a few key benefits: It […]

Learn More August 30, 2018

Year End: Ideal Asking Amounts

Do you really know the best “ask amount” for each donor? Many fundraisers really don’t know. They guess, or resort to traditional, tribal wisdom ask strings like 1X Highest Previous Gift (HPC), 1.5 X HPC, 2 X HPC and Other $_______ The result? They’re often leaving massive amounts of money on the table. The ask […]

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Year End: Optimizing Monthly Giving

It’s not too late to take make adjustments to your monthly giving progress that will boost recurring giving returns in this year-end quarter. Even if you’re overwhelmed and can’t take these key steps right now, there is a wealth of evidence you need to absorb and act on as soon as humanly possible. In a […]

Learn More August 29, 2018

YEAR END: War on Christmas: Donor Preference Edition

I’ll get my personal politics out of the way first: I’m a firm believer in stating the reason for the season. I hate, because of stupid political correctness, to not be able to say things like “Merry Saturnalia,” hold my feast of Natalis Invicti and my Zarahosht No-Diso festival, or publicly display my Festivus pole. […]

Learn More August 28, 2018