Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Getting a Fresh Start for Your Organization

At the beginning of the week, Roger talked about behavioral science cues and how they can help you boost year-end giving. Today, I’m going to cheat just a bit and move the conversation a few days forward: what do you do at the beginning of the year? After the hangover wears off for those who […]

Learn More December 8, 2017

Repetition: a fundraiser’s friend, or a supporter’s menace?

I’m sure you have a friend, or relative, who constantly repeats things. Well, I do too. And it’s true; repetition enhances memory. I remember perfectly what my friend’s latest issue was. So what? Was my advice different after the 8th repetition than it was after the first? More importantly, did my willingness to give advice […]

Learn More December 7, 2017

Exceptional Results From Exceptional Expenses

The old saw was that nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. Being part of the herd is a safe, comfortable place to be. But back on Tuesday, we talked about zigging where others zag by avoiding year-end matches to increase revenues. Now, there’s some concrete proof that doing what you’ve done before, and what […]

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Getting to Your Year-end Gooooooooaaaaaaaal!

I bet it’s been at least a decade since you saw a mercury-based thermometer anywhere but the skeuomorphic version used on fundraising pages. We fundraisers are keeping a tradition alive. And with good reason. Unlike many “we’ve-always-done-it-this-way” techniques, this one has real science to back it up. In fact, you can probably increase your year-end revenues […]

Learn More December 6, 2017

A Soggy Box of Matches

Last year, I made the mistake of subscribing to the email newsletters of the top 100 nonprofits in the United States for end-of-year giving. The summary version of this story is that the average organization sent ten emails during December. And the emails were tough to differentiate by organization. For #Giving Tuesday almost every organization […]

Learn More December 5, 2017

Change, It Is a Comin’

Over the next two months we’ll be working behind the scenes on changes and additions to The Agitator. Changes in how we organize and present information. Additions to our content and additions in the opportunities for reader engagement. Our editorial content will primarily focus on our view of the changes we see as essential if […]

Learn More December 4, 2017