Award Winning Blog - Agitator

How Not to Test Communication Volume

I’m a fan of M+R. Their free nonprofit tool shed is great for quick calculations for those who, like me, can’t do chi-square or t-tests, in their heads. Their yearly benchmarks are a must read every year. (And they are adding retention to it, which is a great addition.) They are also more open about […]

Learn More January 30, 2018

Volume: The Fundraising Assembly Line to Nowhere

Few topics yield more heat and shed less light than the debate over how frequently we should communicate with donors. Some fundraisers take the stance “mail more, make more.” Others –like The Agitator—feel the evidence is clear on the side of “mail less, make more”. Here, here, here and here. This week we’re wading back […]

Learn More January 29, 2018

Get Your Millennial Audience Off My Lawn

I’ve been reading The Agitator for years (part of why it’s been such a pleasure to write for this august blog). But I have a confession to make. Every time I saw posts like More On Millennials: 6 Ways To Entice Them and Time To Take Notice Of Millennials?, I wasn’t buying. To clarify, I […]

Learn More January 26, 2018

Are your donors hardcover or paperback?

Amazon is the standard against which other online experiences are measured. When donors say “I want to have my information saved on your site so I can donate without re-entering it” or “I want to get my acknowledgment from you rapidly with no errors,” the “like Amazon” that could follow these statements isn’t any less […]

Learn More January 25, 2018

Demographics: The Second-Best Way to Segment Your File

Yes, demographics are the second-best way to segment. The best way, however, is literally almost any other way. Take, for example, the experience of Todd Yellin, Netflix’s VP of Product Innovation. Netflix has one of the great treasure troves of data out there. What does he use? Quote: “There’s a mountain of data that […]

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RFM Segmentation: First Refuge of the Scoundrel

“Wait!”, I hear you cry. “You rail against segmentations that aren’t predictive. But transactional RFM segmentation is not a bad predictor.” And I will stipulate that: A person will tend to give the amounts that they have given in the past. A current donor is more likely to give than a lapsed donor. A donor […]

Learn More January 24, 2018