Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Avocados and Fundraising

The miracle of avocado toast is not the avocado. Thirty years ago, Americans were not buying avocados year-round in every grocery store from San Diego to Scranton. Mexican avocados were effectively kept out of the U.S. market for most of the twentieth century, with pest risk as the official reason and California growers having every […]

Learn More June 15, 2026

When the Image Becomes the Ask

A set of experiments for a medical charity found people were more likely to choose campaigns with, Images showing visible illness and Group images instead of a single person. You probably think the first finding is akin to water being wet and are dubious of the 2nd one. In both cases, the useful part is […]

Learn More June 12, 2026

Same Cause, Different Morality

Most fundraising appeals are written as if the moral case is obvious because, to the organization, it probably is. Here is the child, family, animal, veteran, patient, forest, student, or cause in need. Here is the donate button. Proceed directly to generosity. But that skips the part where the donor has to decide what kind […]

Learn More June 10, 2026

The Donor Hunger Games: May the Highest RFM Score Win

If people gave because we asked, one-size-fits-all fundraising would be the smartest system ever invented. Put the same appeals on the same calendar and dial up your activity to see generosity roll in. The orginal sin is believing or at least behaving as if you belive asking = getting. Fundraising has two jobs: what we say […]

Learn More June 8, 2026

Your Gift String Should Not Need a User Manual

I got a cold text donation ask for Ukraine relief with this gift string: $120 repairs a damaged roof and broken windows $100 provides psychosocial counseling for one person $295 delivers emergency essentials to a family. There is a version of this that makes sense inside the organization. Someone probably had to get three different […]

Learn More June 5, 2026

Fundraising Keeps Asking Strangers to Act Like Supporters

If the list, offer and package are right, response will follow. Sort of, sometimes, maybe. This fundraising holy trinity leaves out a tiny detail: whether people know who the hell you are. That might sound obvious but obvious can be in limited supply. The chart shows acquisition analysis looking at how much mail went into […]

Learn More June 3, 2026