Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Repeat Giving Is an Outcome, Not a Habit

Your database knows a donor gave again but not whether she remembered why, responded automatically to the annual appeal, forgot about the monthly debit or was briefly unable to say no to a cheerful stranger in a branded vest. Your database is a security camera recording the behavior, not the motive. Volume Machine Fundraising (it’s […]

Learn More August 28, 2026

Twenty Years of Fundraising Experience or One Year Repeated 20x?

Would you rather take fundraising advice from a 28 yr old or 58? The older fundraiser probably gets the instinctive nod as 30 years in fundraising must have produced more knowledge than 8 yrs. But then come the qualifications like hiring the younger fundraiser to attract younger donors or operate whatever social platform appeared during […]

Learn More August 26, 2026

GOTV Works…Or Not

There was a field experiment using social pressure mailers that increased voter turnout by around 8 percentage points. That’s a massive lift. But averages, even big lift ones, can hide a lot. Nothing works the same with everybody. There aren’t universal “nudges” or other tactics that apply evenly to all people. To quote the late […]

Learn More August 24, 2026

What If Asking More Trains Donors to Give Less?

Ask more, make more is a very convenient theory of fundraising. At the campaign level, it often appears to work. Send another appeal and money comes back. Add another email and somebody clicks. Drop in an SMS and a few gifts appear. Revenue gets attributed to the contact, the spreadsheet turns green and the volume […]

Learn More August 21, 2026

Do You Have a Plan B for Your Payment Platform?

Here’s a question worth asking at your next staff meeting right after the digital guru finishes bragging about the online revenue numbers: if ActBlue stopped processing your donations tomorrow morning, what exactly would you do? Not what would you do next quarter, once someone convenes a task force. Not after the emergency call where somebody […]

Learn More August 17, 2026

Definitely Bold and Underline Fundraising Copy, Right?

There seems to be an article of faith in direct mail fundraising: bold and underline the important stuff. Do a Google search for fundraising copywriting advice and some version of the same rationale appears again and again. People don’t really read fundraising letters. They skim them. So bolding and underlining tell the donor what matters […]

Learn More August 14, 2026