Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Double-Edged Sword of Social Proof in Fundraising

Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon whereby individuals tend to emulate actions and behaviors of others to shape their own. It’s grounded in the belief that if many people engage in a certain behavior, it must be beneficial or correct, thereby prompting others to follow suit. Here’s an example fundraising message, “On average, […]

Learn More May 17, 2023

Is Your Fundraising Like Old Wine in New Bottles?

The jangle fallacy occurs when two similar or identical things are assumed to be different because they are labeled differently – old wine in new bottles. This is rife in psychology where the term originated. My fan faves, Grit. In high school my kids were required to read the Duckworth book. Grit was a new […]

Learn More May 15, 2023

Show Don’t Tell Emotions

If I had a nickel for every time I started a blog post with this line I’d have exactly $1.15. Twenty-three times. An inflation adjusted synonym might be “If I had a dollar…” Speaking of synonyms, said the worst and longest windup, cry and weep are synonyms. They are also action verbs. And these action […]

Learn More May 12, 2023

Don’t Dull Your Fundraising Sensory Symphony

There was a time when food purchasing was multisensory. The food buying experience of a bygone era involved, Taste: Local markets or small shops offered samples galore. Sampling is far less common, relying instead on packaging and branding. Smell: Food shopping used to be an aromatic experience, with the smells of fresh produce, baked goods, […]

Learn More May 10, 2023

Your Dual Message Pillars Should Be Bookends

If you take nothing else from this post, take this: an awful lot is known about your donors. Too often we think we know very little. Consequently, we believe tailoring messages to who they are is seemingly impossible. Sadly, this means everyone gets the same thing. Taxonomy is the science of naming, describing and […]

Learn More May 8, 2023

Death to Channels. Long Live Channels

Defining donors by channel is a bit like defining me by whether Amazon, USPS, UPS or Fed-Ex delivers my packages. It’s accurate and objective but I rarely make that choice and it’s inconsequential to why I bought what I bought. The channel I give in is often a function of exposure and where I happened […]

Learn More May 5, 2023