Award Winning Blog - Agitator

My Shiny New Gadget

I’m a bit reluctant as I begin to write this post. It’s about neuroscience insights into effective advertising … based on research in India! How far could that exotica (erotica?) be from our present pre-occupation with the hard core survival issues of fundraising, like donor retention and measuring lifetime value? The recent drift of Agitator comments […]

Learn More April 4, 2017

Herbicide For Donors

The gardening catalogs, those heralds of Spring, are piling up on my desk. I’m way behind in ordering. Part of the reason the delay is that for many organizations where I volunteer, it’s budget time. And paying attention and advising them on their budget priorities is far more important than ordering the latest hybrid tea […]

Learn More April 3, 2017

Increasing face-to-face donor retention

It’s no secret that face-to-face donor retention is extremely challenging. Your fundraisers aren’t meeting cultivated lists of people — they meeting random people on the street. (OK, not totally random — they are placed in areas to maximize their potential success and screen people based on what they look to be. But these are imperfect […]

Learn More March 31, 2017

If You Must Deal With The Boss And Board

I guess I just started out in a grumpy mood this week, on Monday implying that for most fundraisers, hanging on to their donors was too demanding, beyond their ability. Roger on Tuesday tried to find some good news in a Bloomerang study indicating that somewhat more nonprofits were monitoring their retention rates these days, an ‘accomplishment’ […]

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Back To Basics: Lifetime Value (LTV)

Tom’s rant, A Man of Infinite Patience in a World of Imposters, triggered helpful comments from fellow Agitators on what can be done to help organizations better focus on understanding and measuring retention rates and other key metrics. Gail Perry suggested stamping out stupidity (mostly male) with basic education for boards and executive leaders on how fundraising works. Jay Love added the helpful […]

Learn More March 30, 2017

A Man Of Infinite Patience In A World Of Imposters

Roger surprised and impressed me yesterday with the incredible display of patience and tolerance displayed in his post, Donor Retention: Good News And Poor Excuses. The ‘good news’ in his post was that, according a Boomerang survey of 775 nonprofits, 67% are tracking their donor retention rate, as compared to 55% in 2014. That improvement […]

Learn More March 29, 2017