Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Reality Distortion Field: Metaphor

Your high school English teacher taught you that metaphors were flourishes or poetic devices – that little bit of finishing salt to enliven a dish. How wrong s/he was. S/he handed you a tool for great good and/or a weapon for great evil. If s/he really understood its awesome power, the metaphor would not have […]

Learn More July 26, 2018

The Reality Distortion Field: Identity and Commitment

They say love is blind. It’s actually worse than that. If you were blind, you would know not to trust your eyes. Love distorts. It makes you see things that aren’t there. It enhances positives and turns negatives into charming quirks. That’s why you want donors who are fully committed to you, who love you, […]

Learn More July 25, 2018

The Reality Distortion Field: Imagination

Pollster Frank Luntz calls “imagine” the most powerful word in the English language. He says “imagine allows you to communicate in the eyes and the vision of the listener rather than yours.” Good verbs like “imagine,” “remember,” and “picture in your mind” give a person the trigger to help them put themselves in the place […]

Learn More July 24, 2018

May the Fundraising Force Be With You

Among the many skills attributed to Steve Jobs was his ability to create a “reality distortion field”—a mental force he created to persuade himself and others to believe almost anything. Colleagues from early days note it was this skill that enabled Jobs and his team to develop the original Macintosh computer and deliver the software […]

Learn More July 23, 2018

How Donor Opinion Can Steer You Right

Yesterday’s post ccataloged a multitude of reasons surveys and donor listening could steer you wrong. That said, there are many things we must ask donors that are both easy to answer accurately and vital for us to know: How easy was the online donation process? How committed are you to the organization? Are you a […]

Learn More July 20, 2018

Your A/B test winner may be losing money

It was an A/B test winner. The Bavarian State Opera had a fundraising ask post-online-ticket purchase. They found if they forced ticket purchasers to state either “I have donated already” or “No, thank you” to bypass this ask, response rate went up one percentage point and average gift increased by $.46. Increased average gift and […]

Learn More July 19, 2018