Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Nazis. War. Hurricanes. Famine. Google Gold.

With Charlottesville a recent and painful memory, the U.S. hurricane season right around the corner, and heaven only knows what other natural or man-made disasters lying just ahead, potential donors, credit cards in hand are poised to ’emergency donate’. If your organization works in a space given to rage, disaster relief, or any number of […]

Learn More August 22, 2017

Stories Or Metrics?

Much is written and fretted about these days regarding the ‘differences’ — some real, some imagined — between Boomers (and older) donors and the younger generations of donors, especially Millennials. Over the weekend I read this ‘take’ on the situation — The Great Divide: Millennials vs. Baby Boomer Fundraising, written delightfully by a fundraiser in […]

Learn More August 21, 2017

Crowdfunding And The Rampage In Charlottesville

Within hours of the sickening and sordid rampage in Charlottesville last Saturday my Facebook account, emails and podcasts were filled with links to crowdfunding appeals for those injured. Tom and I don’t do much on crowdfunding so I thought I’d share some notes from observing how it was employed following this tragic and horrific event. […]

Learn More August 18, 2017

Our issue is on the news. Now what?

My wife turned to me and said “How do we defeat these assholes?” (Yes, perhaps there should be a content warning on this post. But this was about white supremacist Neo-Nazis. DonorVoice has proudly worked for conservative, moderate, liberal, and nonpartisan groups and organizations from several different religions. When I asked whether I could use […]

Learn More August 17, 2017

Jeff Sessions Would Like a List of Visitors to Your Website

Sandwiched between the revulsion that is Charlottesville on Saturday and the immoral ravings of Donald Trump on Monday and Tuesday was a little-noted revelation that should concern every nonprofit concerned with free speech and the right to protect their donors and volunteers from public exposure. On Monday the web hosting company DreamHost, revealed its ongoing legal […]

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It’s 40% About The Offer

Effective fundraising appeals require the convergence of right audience/prospect, strong and clear offer, and compelling creative. You’ve probably heard the ’40/40/20′ direct marketing adage that attributes the contribution each of these elements makes thusly: 40% of success due to right mailing list (proper targeting) 40% due to offer (you are asking your prospect to do […]

Learn More August 16, 2017