Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Breaking Down Your Acquisition Silos

You can spend money on anything. That’s why it’s called money. Economists call this fungibility, which has nothing to do with mushrooms. It has everything to do with how a dollar can be used for rent or food or entertainment or whatever. In our minds, though, we hate fungibility. People have sophisticated mental jars of […]

Learn More May 3, 2018

What to Do When Cost-to-Acquire Lies to You

I’ve argued cost-to-acquire (CTA) and lifetime value were the two metrics that mattered most. The idea is that if lifetime value is going to be higher than the cost of acquiring, acquire that donor. If not, you need lower acquisition costs or higher lifetime value. That makes great sense as far as it goes. The […]

Learn More May 2, 2018

What Your Board Should Learn from Starbucks

There’s no question in my mind that a great deal of the furor over the ‘high cost of fundraising’ on the part boards, CEOs, watchdog groups, the press, regulators and many fundraisers themselves stems mostly from ignorance. Ignorance about what “acquisition” is, how it should be measured, and when or whether its costs should be […]

Learn More May 1, 2018

It’s Donor Acquisition Week

Many fundraisers –regardless of the size of their organization—tell us that donor acquisition is one of their biggest problems. The numbers support this. In the UK eight of the largest charities are losing donors faster than they acquire themby a rate of 5 to 3. In the U.S., for the fourth quarter of 2017 the […]

Learn More April 30, 2018

What You Need to Know from the 2018 Fundraising Effectiveness Project: Implications

The 2018 FEP report has both silver lining and cloud. Now what? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments; here are a few of mine. We must rebuild our base. Increasing retention post-first gift is a major part of this and we should pat ourselves on the back (not too hard) for this. […]

Learn More April 27, 2018

The preferred nonprofit

“It is not enough to be loved — I wish to be preferred” – Andre Gide, playwright It would be wonderful for you if all your donors gave only to your organization. Rationally, they should. They would look at all the organizations out there, pick the one with the biggest impact for the buck, and […]

Learn More April 26, 2018