Award Winning Blog - Agitator

A Fundraising Metaphor? Choose Wisely.

Humans are messy and complex, so are the societal issues your raising money for – a double whammy of messy complexity. Metaphors can serve as bridges, connecting abstract ideas to concrete, familiar images, making complex concepts more digestible. Contemplating abstract things is easier with the use of concrete and familiar mental images. But metaphors are more […]

Learn More July 28, 2023

The “Fill it Up” Supporter Journey Approach

Our calendar is 12-months and most of civilization has been using since 1582. These 12 months have a natural, logical basis tied to lunar cycles but having lunar cycles dictate the supporter ‘journey’ for charities starts to quickly lose both logic and reason. And yet, how many charities start with a blank calendar (or more […]

Learn More July 26, 2023

Celebrating the Wonder and Wisdom of Jerry Huntsinger

“It happened September 21, 1962. My first day on the new job. At last! I was a writer! Hired to create publicity releases, news stories, feature articles. Or so I thought. “Instead, at 9:00 a.m., the Executive Director of the charity comes into to my office and says: “Write the quarterly appeal.” “ ‘Excuse me?’ […]

Learn More July 24, 2023

Work Next to AI, Not With It

I’m struck by the hubris of AI prognosticators, perhaps including myself in that category though at least I’m admitting it… There are some forecasters who have a pretty good track record – geopolitical gurus and bridge (card game) experts are good as are meteorologists (really). Technology forecasters on the other hand are pretty lousy, including […]

Learn More July 19, 2023

Old Fundraiser, Any New Tricks?

Would you rather hire a 20 something fundraiser or 50 something to give you fundraising advice? I’d wager damn near every reader instinctively leans to the older guided by the worldview that more days on this Earth likely provides more accumulated knowledge. Now maybe your reaction was, well it depends. And I’d hazard a guess […]

Learn More July 17, 2023

The Volume Model Kills, Quickly

The fundraising metric paradox, no single metric is useful in isolation and yet running your program on that single metric has the power to kill your program. And the irony sauce to go with the paradox main course? It kills quickly but you notice it too slowly. There are plenty of examples, response rate or […]

Learn More July 14, 2023