Award Winning Blog - Agitator

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

Is It Anger or Malaise?

The mostly or even lightly satisfied lot is not where one’s likely to find the fuel for any movement, much less a populist one. Populism is on the rise with varying flavors of left- and right-wing promotion of the “people” against the “elite”. The very nature of populism blaming others for negative situations screams anger […]

Learn More July 7, 2023

Still On Vacation But Still Seeking Your Input

This vacation thing ain’t half bad. We’d love your feedback and editorial suggestions. Either in the comments or by emailing me directly at kschulman@thedonorvoice.com, please do tell us, Which topics should we cover less? Which topics should we cover more? Any other suggestions or feedback? Thank you, Kevin and Roger

Learn More July 5, 2023