Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Knew or should have known

“What about our telemarketing program?” We know donors who give you their preferences are worth more. And we know asking for preferences makes people more likely to opt in. But this was the big fear from a person who runs their nonprofit’s telemarketing program: if we allow people to opt out of using the phone, […]

Learn More August 9, 2018

Satisfaction vs. Effectiveness

At DonorVoice, we are constantly monitoring the satisfaction of donors. Was it easy to donate online? How was your experience with that canvasser? How satisfied were you with that event? It may surprise you, then, to hear me say that you can have donors who are satisfied by an experience and it doesn’t matter at […]

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Identity vs. Persona

In talking about donor identities, people will often say they’ve tried personas and they haven’t worked like they thought they would. Therefore, they aren’t going to invest more in seeking donor identities. HOWEVER…just as with donor commitment and engagement that I covered yesterday, donor identities and personas are fundamentally different. Personas are usually created […]

Learn More August 8, 2018

Commitment vs Engagement

At first blush the terms “donor commitment” and “donor engagement” sound similar. After all, is it not a truth universally acknowledged, that a loyal donor in possession of strong commitment, must also want to be engaged beyond beyond their donation? No! It is possible to be committed to an organization, but not engaged with that […]

Learn More August 7, 2018

Heroic Incrementalism

Now, more than ever, our nonprofit world cries out for “game changing” innovations and solutions. Significant breakthroughs. For many fundraisers, the term “game changing” means some big, bold innovation that can carry us into the Promised Land of Greater Response and Larger Gifts with magical ease. And so, we go through phases of abandoning the […]

Learn More August 6, 2018

Channel strategies die; donor-focused strategies are immortal

Andrew Chen’s Law of Shitty Clickthroughs: “Over time, all marketing strategies result in shitty clickthrough rates.” In addition to being the best-named marketing law, there’s great truth in this. Customers respond to a new form of marketing with excitement. Think how excited the villagers were to get the Wells Fargo wagon in The Music Man […]

Learn More August 2, 2018