Award Winning Blog - Agitator

“Nonprofitness” Is a Verb—And You’re Not the Only One Doing It

Ask any donor: What makes a nonprofit, well, nonprofit? Is it the tax status? The actors involved? The actions they take? Or is it the lofty goals they pursue? Spoiler alert: It’s not the tax code, the org chart, or your stellar board of directors. It’s something far more elemental and far less tied to […]

Learn More December 18, 2024

Giving by Algorithm: When Metrics Miss the Mark

There’s a scene I can’t shake. A small-town food pantry, shelves half-empty, volunteers stretching every last dollar to feed neighbors they’ve known their whole lives. The kind of place where a $100 gift isn’t a drop in the ocean—it’s the ocean. The scene came roaring back when I […]

Learn More December 16, 2024

Attribution Gone Wild: How $100 Becomes $400

Picture this: A mid-size nonprofit spends $783K across channels and raises $3.1M. Pretty straightforward, right? But here’s where it gets interesting – and by interesting, I mean messy. Let’s look at what each channel claimed versus what actually happened: Take a moment with those numbers. The platforms are claiming $7.27M in revenue from activities that […]

Learn More December 13, 2024

Beware of Old Tricks, Not Dogs

For years, in The Agitator and as a principal in a direct response fundraising firm, I’ve held firm in my opposition to two types of fees: those based on volume, and the traditional 15% commission fee for purchasing and placement of media. I oppose them for one simple reason: they align the incentives with the […]

Learn More December 11, 2024

Your Campaign Results Report is Wrong and It’s Unavoidable

You know those funhouse mirrors that distort your reflection? One makes you tall and thin, another short and wide. That’s how most campaign reporting works. The numbers might look impressive or disappointing but they never show the real picture. Your Numbers Are Lying (And it’s not their fault) Here’s the thing: all campaign-level reporting […]

Learn More December 9, 2024

What’s 82 Seconds Worth?

If there’s one thing that trips up fundraisers again and again, it’s this: we’re too quick to ask. This speed over connection choice plays out in the calendar of pushes and within a given appeal. The fundraising playbook has conditioned us to believe that the sooner we get to the ask, the better the results. […]

Learn More December 6, 2024