Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Segmentation Should Depend on the Question

It’s a simple question, which pair belongs together? The two older white men are an obvious pair. So are the two younger Black women. Group them by age, race or gender and the rows make perfect sense. But the man in the upper right and the woman in the lower left also belong together. Both […]

Learn More September 11, 2026

The Fundraising Coin Trick Doesn’t Add Up

In 1938, entertainer Eddie Cantor asked Americans to send dimes to President Roosevelt to fight polio. They responded with 2.68 million of them, flooding the White House mailroom and giving the March of Dimes its name. The direction of travel seems rather important, people sending their money to the cause. At some point, a fundraiser […]

Learn More September 9, 2026

They’re Not Leaving the Work. They’re Leaving the Workplace.

She has a laptop, a revenue goal nobody asked her opinion on, half a database, and a board development committee that is extremely supportive — provided nobody asks them to pick up a phone and call a donor. Her organization cut two positions last year. The work didn’t get cut. It landed on her, on […]

Learn More September 7, 2026

Your Best-Conversion May Be Your Worst Acquisition

The easiest way to increase advocacy conversion is to remove most of the advocacy. Ask people whether they oppose animal cruelty, want children protected or think politicians should stop doing the obviously terrible thing described in the headline. They click “Add My Name,” and congratulations, another committed activist has joined the movement, or not. Agreeing […]

Learn More September 4, 2026

Be Innovative and Traditional?

The post title reminds me of the spoof video making fun of management consultancies with the edict by the client to make 3 lines that are simultaneously parallel and perpendicular and the obsequious senior consultants promising it. Being Innovative and Traditional in format, design and copy seems impossible. At least if we’re limiting ourselves to […]

Learn More September 2, 2026

Women are Special. Audit the Verbs.

Women are special. No shit, Sherlock. Let me rescue that lede before some earnest copywriter or designer buries it under a lavender color gradient, a stock photo of two beige hands clasped over a beige table, and a subject line that says “Together, We Rise.” Almost every fundraising appeal targeted to women that dies on […]

Learn More August 31, 2026