Award-Winning Blog


For Fundraisers Who Can’t Stand People

Many nonprofits proclaim their love of humanity but behave as though they can’t stand people. You need only look at their basic fundraising practices:  like failure to properly thank donors…failure to seek or abide by donor preferences….failure to provide feedback mechanisms…failure to treat donors as anything other a bucket in the l RFM Sea of […]

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Fireworks

Today Agitator readers in the UK are going to the polls. Electoral fireworks. On this side of the Atlantic U..S. readers witness celebratory pyrotechnics today as Americans celebrate our Independence Day, called such because “Amxit” is a mouthful. At Agitator/DonorVoice HQ we focus on the fundraisers – as ever, the real unsung heroes of the […]

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The Secret to Evoking Emotions in Writing: Why ‘Crying’ Beats ‘Sad’ Every Time

“She was sad.”  Boooorrrrring. Talk about telling not showing.  Something so important as emotion and yet, most of the time we reduce it to the lowest common denominator, literal use of the word;  angry, sad, happy. How about this instead; “she was crying.”   It shows, it describes.  And for most of you, it likely […]

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Inflation Messaging

Giving USA reported charitable giving increased by 1.9% but after adjusting for inflation, it’s down 2.1%.   The cost side of your P&L has likely gone up, whether charity or agency. Is this a macro, negative externality you’re stuck dealing with or might this be a time to raise “prices”? If you raise your ask amount […]

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All Fundraisers Must Be Brand Builders

The industry trendline is well worn – fewer and fewer people giving.  The saving grace has been those left giving more.  This is hardly a winning strategy. Your only path to sustained growth comes from increasing the percentage of prospects that know you.  There’s a huge chasm in likelihood to donate and lifetime value between […]

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The Anatomy of a Successful Call

Have you ever had a conversation with the other person dominating the talk time?  How about one where the other person didn’t ask you any questions? Contrast that with a balanced conversation, one where you and the other person talked about equally and the talk sequence was you, other person, you, other person, etc.. This […]

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