Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Evolution of Ken Burnett’s Vision

In the soft dawn of the early 1990s, Ken Burnett sat at a modest desk in the UK, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts about the future of fundraising. He was a man possessed by a vision. The vision would ultimately culminate in the first edition of Relationship Fundraising: A Donor-Based Approach to the Business […]

Learn More June 7, 2024

2,000 Birds or a Flock?

Humans often find it hard to appreciate the size of the problem and therefore, are often unwilling to donate more if there are 2,000 birds or humans vs. only 20. And we’re all familiar by now with the identifiable victim effect that can spike giving when sharing the story of a single person or bird, […]

Learn More June 5, 2024

Zero Party Is Still A Good Party

Zero-party data is voluntarily, willingly shared by constituents. First-party data is passively collected, it’s the footprint left from the interaction with your brand – website tracking data, open/click email data, donation data. First-party is more abundant but requires inference and assumption, zero-party is a much greater degree of knowing and understanding. There are three types […]

Learn More June 3, 2024

Throw the Direct Mail Down The Stairs

My father was a professor and would stay up all night (and sleep all day…) to grade tests. I often joked he should adopt the throw em’ down the stairs approach, higher grades to those that travel further. Many fundraising tests have pitted longer vs. shorter with the former winning. But “always” and “never” are […]

Learn More May 31, 2024

My Choice or Yours?

When was the last time you felt good about being lightly manipulated or guilted into something? Probably never. Behavioral economics 101 emphasizes the power of defaults in steering behavior. Just check the box, circle, or highlight the option you want people to choose, and place it in the middle. These defaults are better described as […]

Learn More May 29, 2024

Memorial Day 2024

MOURN. REMEMBER.

Learn More May 27, 2024