Award Winning Blog - Agitator

What Happens When Your Boss Has Different Goals?

Nonprofits need to exist as long as their issue exists. Most deal with long-term problems. Thus, they need to exist in the long-term. That’s why we preach retention above almost all other things – the donors you have are the ones who will sustain you. As a fundraising professional, it’s your responsibility to think about […]

Learn More July 10, 2018

Be Attentive to Incentive

“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.” — Charlie Munger, investor, author, philanthropist and Warren Buffet’s irreverent partner at Berhshire Hathaway. In my post on the future of “full service” agenciesI urged that we all give serious thought to re-directing the financial incentives to reward innovation, growth […]

Learn More July 9, 2018

A $400 Billion Industry Powered by Anecdote

You’d think a $400 billion industry like ours would have empirically based standards and practices readily available and accessible to all. After all, most sectors — ranging from apple growers to doctors and hospitals, and even zoos — have them. Fundraising doesn’t. What we do have is mass of accumulated tribal wisdom, often conflicting, seldom […]

Learn More July 6, 2018

Volume is not a retention solution (part MMCCLVI)

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Yet another agency has argued for more email volume as the solution to online retention. Sigh. Well, once more into the breach. We’ve debunked a lot of this before, so to catch those up just joining us: There is a negative correlation between email volume and retention for us as […]

Learn More July 5, 2018

The Slow, Painful and Costly Death of the “Full Service” Agency

Four years ago In Part 5 of our Barriers to Growth series I raised the question of whether the “full service” fundraising agency has outlived usefulness. More pointedly I wondered whether in fact they’re actually a danger to the sector. Today, I’m revisiting this issue because, if anything, I’m convinced the “full service” agency is more […]

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Celebrating Dissent

This photo of my grandsons Jalen (at left) and Zachary (in the “kiddie cage” at right) joining the national protest against the Trump Administration’s separation of migrant families made me more than proud. It serves as assurance that the gene of dissent has successfully made its way to the next generation. I wanted to share […]

Learn More July 4, 2018