Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Year-End Benchmarking

Two weeks from now, you’ll be picking up the pieces, trying to figure out what went right … or wrong. Assessing how well your last-ditch December fundraising went. Of course the most attention will go to dollars raised: a) against budget targets set for the year (and month), and b) year-over-year (hopefully growth). As you […]

Learn More December 19, 2016

Wikipedia’s December appeal – a marvel of behavioral science

I was on Wikipedia the other day looking at things that were totally job-related* when I came across this ad: We here at DonorVoice are huge believers in science generally and behavioral science in particular (with what I think is the industry’s only behavioral scientist on full-time staff). And this is (with two exceptions) a […]

Learn More December 16, 2016

Will You Survive?

You’ve seen that they’ve been huddling in the executive conference room for the past week. The performance reviews have all been submitted. Cryptic organization charts are being carefully guarded. You know what’s coming. You were asked about alternative lines of reporting. About doing more with less staff. About your accumulated vacation days. They’re reorganising the […]

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“We Amplify Pride”

“We amplify pride” … Are you kidding me?! December is the month when nonprofits unleash a tsunami of emails upon their beleaguered donors, who are far more concerned about why their Christmas tree lights won’t light. Despite the torment you cause, I’m sure all you email senders are convinced that it’s effort and resource well-spent, […]

Learn More December 15, 2016

The Importance Of Understanding Failure

An Agitator reader emailed me asking: “Why do you think most fundraisers are so resistant to innovation and change?” A good question. An important question. I attempted to answer that question three years ago when I first received it. I believe the answer bears repeating today. My first response was to bat out a kneejerk and facile response […]

Learn More December 14, 2016

Are e-News Subscribers Worth The Effort?

Following the U.S. elections, I received tons of emails from groups urging me to subscribe to their action updates, bulletins, latest news, etc. I did. But in doing so I vowed I would track the follow-up of the various organizations to see how well they did in persuading me to do more than simply sign up. […]

Learn More December 13, 2016