Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Key Fundraising Ingredients

What better way to end the week than with Dilbert; sent along by the ghost of Tom Belford who hovers like a hawk over The Agitator. A reminder that all the great research, advice, and case studies available to fundraisers ain’t worth much without investing the time and toil required to put them to work […]

Learn More April 20, 2018

What people will tell you that algorithms won’t

Predictive analytics are generally very good, to the point that people are living in different product bubbles from their neighbors. (In Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O’Neil tells the story of an investor saying that their new technology would make sure he would “never have to see another ad for the University of Phoenix.”) But […]

Learn More April 19, 2018

Attacking the Dreaded Rebrand with Donor Focus

I’ve been through rebrands. I’ve been through prostate exams. And I know which I’d rather go through again. That’s why when the question “what does donor identity mean for a rebranding organization?” came up on last week’s webinar, I started to experience all of the side effects you’d see in the average pharmaceutical ad. (“Ask […]

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The Terrifying Freedom of a Blank Sheet of Paper

It’s a yearly exercise – take what you did for your direct marketing program last year, replace some controls with the tests that beat them, and set up your tests and tweaks for the next year. Lather, rinse, repeat. This system has advantages. You know what each communication is capable of, and what it isn’t. […]

Learn More April 18, 2018

Confucius on Fundraising Tech Tools

The other day I received an email from the admirably and voraciously curious Simone Joyaux attaching the 2018 Global NGO Technology Report listing the “10 Most Effective Tools” for online use by nonprofits around the world. Simone asked: “Do you believe the nonprofits are “correct”? Or, are theser nonprofits thinking stuff is good but they don’t actually know […]

Learn More April 17, 2018

#MeToo Moment for Fundraisers

“I had a meeting with the chair of trustees. The meeting did not go well. As we were walking away from the meeting, he put his arm around me and squeezed me to him whilst saying “this would all be so much easier if you were just friendlier, Jane.” “He went to kiss me but […]

Learn More April 16, 2018