Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Avalanche Fundraising

I’m an avid skier but mostly on-piste, making me a novice backcountry skier and it’s this bit of knowledge that makes me more likely to take backcountry risks. Paradoxically, more knowledge and training only increase the risky decision making. Why are the most well-trained backcountry skiers the most likely to die in avalanches? Some of […]

Learn More December 18, 2023

Punishing Women While Taking Their Money

Among the host of current events ranging from terrifying to troubling there are two I want to focus on: the 100thanniversary of the introduction Equal Rights Amendment on December 13th and the fleeing of Kate Cox, the Texas mother denied permission for a life-saving abortion from her Texas home […]

Learn More December 15, 2023

Cul De Sac Fundraising

The echo chamber is getting louder, we tune out damn near everything not matching what we already believe and we’re much more likely to distrust people who aren’t like us. Partisan agreement between spouses was around 60% in the mid 60’s, it’s now closer to 85%. Pew research shows partisans have few friends from the […]

Learn More December 13, 2023

Is Your Brand Name Like Throwing Up?

I promise this title isn’t clickbait while acknowledging it probably feels that way. The mouth’s first job before words and speech existed was to swallow food and liquid that was digestible and return indigestible items back to nature in reverse order. These days, the mouth has a much bigger role to play notwithstanding the two-to-one […]

Learn More December 11, 2023

Is Your Brand Famous and Unique?

Half of brand ads are mistaken for competitor brands per LinkedIn research. A thought exercise: Imagine removing your logo and brand name from your appeal. Would any donor know it was from your organization? Is there anything uniquely you after removing your mark and name? How many other charities are likely to be mentally associated […]

Learn More December 8, 2023

What if KISS emphasizes the 2nd “S” Too Much?

“If only we could get more people to give and do so more regularly.” ” Let’s devise a test. ” The HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) in the room says, “More people will give if we change the landing page to have more/less…text/pictures/fields.” “Great, we’ll do that test”, says the non HiPPO in the room. […]

Learn More December 6, 2023