Award Winning Blog - Agitator

DON’T EAT THE SEED CORN: A Checklist for Fundraisers in Tough Times

Let’s not sugarcoat it. Economic turbulence is here—and it’s got teeth. The stock market’s sliding, anxiety’s rising, and if history is any guide, fundraisers are bracing for another punch in the gut. I’ve been working in the fundraising trade for more than 60 years. That means I’ve lived and worked through every recession since 1960—and […]

Learn More April 11, 2025

Why Your Best Appeal Is Failing 80% of the Time

We ran a test, five versions of a fundraising letter. Each one told the same story about the same woman — her loss of sight, her journey to get it back, and how donors made it possible. What changed? The way the story was told was tailored to match the personality of the reader. The […]

Learn More April 9, 2025

You’re Being Watched. Protect Yourself.

The AFPICON 2025 Conference is coming up soon (April 27-29) and there’s a growing unease among Canadian and other non-US fundraisers—an anxious undercurrent that’s hard to ignore. Many who once eagerly crossed the border for conferences and gatherings now find themselves hesitating. It’s not the logistics of travel or the cost. It’s the climate—the political […]

Learn More April 7, 2025

“Audience-Led” Is the New Low Bar. Time to Raise It.

“Audience-led” sounds strategic. But too often, it just means sorting your file by lifecycle stage, giving level, or age group — and sending slightly different versions of the same thing. It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure where every path ends with the same appeal, just in a different font. Different ≠ Deeper Yes, coordinating across channels is […]

Learn More April 4, 2025

Your Fundraising Team Needs a Robot With The Right Personality

Fundraising is communication. Communication is psychology. Psychology is trait-driven. And now… fundraising is also AI-driven. But don’t take that from a blog post. Take it from MIT. They ran a field experiment — not a lab simulation, not some clever survey. A real-world test with 2,310 participants creating real ad content for a real think […]

Learn More April 2, 2025

A Billboard and Brush. Defiance and Hope

Given the last 70 days of assholery, cruelty, mendacity, and stupidity, we all deserve an uplifting start to the week. Thus the following story appearing on Substack by the author whose nom de plume is Your Weirdo Friend. There’s something about this story—simple, plainspoken—that cuts through all the noise and bloviating hammering us daily. No […]

Learn More March 31, 2025