Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The context of donor surveys

We advocate strongly for asking donor commitment, satisfaction, preference, and/or identity immediately after first donation. One question we get is whether donors get turned off by these questions. On the contrary, most donors prefer that you know them and act like you know them. But we’ve all had someone ask for more personal information than […]

Learn More June 7, 2018

To Sin by Silence

“To sin by silence, when we should protest,/Makes cowards out of men.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox The time: January 2016. Two venerable news organizations were taking on the practices of the Wounded Warrior Project. I’ll defer to the learned and studied words of Doug White’s report on the allegations against Wounded Warrior Project (WWP). Suffice it […]

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Letting Go of Donors

A couple weeks ago, I argued you haven’t truly acquired a donor until you get permission, information, or a second gift. Now let’s talk about the other end of the spectrum – when does your relationship with a donor end? This is an important subject for me, because most organizations of my acquaintance spend too […]

Learn More June 6, 2018

The Tragedy of the Donor Commons

“Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons. … the rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another; and another… But this is […]

Learn More June 5, 2018

Are You Missing the Golden Middle?

In 1987 I launched a series of highly successful mid-level giving programs and for years wondered why others weren’t doing the same. So, when Tom and I started The Agitator we began ranting on the subject, urging folks to get on board. For example, hereand here. And so did others like Mark Phillips of BlueFrog with […]

Learn More June 4, 2018

Building lifetime value into your acquisition

There are some people that, like the old EF Hutton commercials, when they talk, you listen. Mary Meeker is one of those people, as one of the lead analysts on online and high-tech issues. To give you some perspective, she managed the Netscape Communications IPO in 1995. Usually when someone says they have 20+ years […]

Learn More May 31, 2018