Award Winning Blog - Agitator

When metrics attack

If one acquisition mail package has a response rate of 1.1% and an average gift of $28, you’d pick that over another with a response rate of 1% and an average gift of $25, right? All other things being equal, of course you would. That’s the trap – all other things are seldom equal. Let’s […]

Learn More March 1, 2018

The Complexity of Simplicity

The universe tends toward entropy, toward ever-increasing complexity. But you and I don’t need to be unindicted co-conspirators. We can fight for simple. Fighting for simple isn’t simple. Complexity is a tricky bastard. He will plead “it’s just one more” for every field in a form, every message in a communication, every step in a […]

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A Little Hair of the Dog

You’ve heard me talking about knowing your donors’ identity or identities. One of the classic examples is cat people versus dog people: it’s simple, there are two options, and you can see how messaging would be different for each group. But it took a for-profit to give an interesting example of a next logical step […]

Learn More February 28, 2018

Avoid the Cringe-Inducing Moment of Calling a Deceased Donor

Today we’re adding TrueDeceased to The Agitator Toolbox. This easy-to-use tool enables you to go online and quickly—and without charge – get an overview of who on your database is deceased. When The Agitator first announced our Data Liberation Crusade and asked what low-cost data services were needed, reader Ann Kensek told us, “My Data Dream would include a database […]

Learn More February 27, 2018

Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers: Don’t Run. Dash!

I mean it. Dash right over to Amazon, click and order Dollar Dash: The Behavioral Economics of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising , a practical and powerful guide to the psychology behind P2P fundraising and the factors that drive donors and volunteers with plenty of case studies. In fact, even if you don’t give one whit about peer-to-peer […]

Learn More February 26, 2018

Advocacy Fundraising #3: Finding and Converting Advocates

You’ve defined your Advocate Identity. And you know the slacktivism traps. But, how do you acquire constituents who are advocates, then convert them to donors? There are services like Care2 and CQ Roll Call that will sell you advocates. I’ve heard mixed results from these services, including one recently who said her online advocates finally […]

Learn More February 23, 2018