6 Minutes and 46 Seconds To Be Reminded and Inspired

Jerry Cianciolo is Dead

Jerry Cianciolo, ground-breaking Co-Founder and Chief Editor of the publisher Emerson & Church is dead The news reached us via an email from Jim Hilborn, head of Civil Sector Press, the global nonprofit publisher that in 2022 acquired the Emerson & Church backlist and continues to publish and update their books. (See Keeping the Soul […]

Human vs. Machine

We humans built the machines so the “vs.” doesn’t properly credit our maker status bona fides.  Having said that, machine is often much faster and yes, better. Here’s another instance that feels pretty close to home.  This experiment used professional copywriters to draft ad campaign copy, 100 words or fewer, for an NGO for four […]

The New Acquisition: Don’t Miss out in 2024

One of the eternal mysteries here at the Agitator is why so many fundraisers ignore the issue of donor retention in favor of obsessive focus on donor acquisition.  They’re whistling past the graveyard of declining acquisition returns and rising costs. Even back in 2012 when we launched the three-year study of donor behavior that led […]

When is Less More?

Facebook is nothing if not obsessed with users using the app more frequently and for longer durations.  App notifications are like crack for this hamster wheel and so the idea of sending fewer seems anathema. But this is exactly what their data science team did because user satisfaction surveys showed a preference for fewer notifications. […]

People Don’t Give Because We Ask

Just those first few notes and I’m transported to 1981 and formative years, memories and emotions.  It creates a physical response, those music chills. Journey’s, Don’t Stop Believin’ is iconic for me but here’s the paradox: you only hear the music because Journey plays, but you don’t feel the connection because they play. You feel […]