Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Are Your Donor Conversations Any Good?

Conversation abounds in the world of fundraising whether in-person or over the phone. Everybody makes note that we should be active listeners and strive for making a conversation, well, you know, “conversational”. That feels thin. The social science world has done a lot to get a more robust answer. This has implications for humans talking […]

Learn More December 19, 2022

Is Twitter Political?

Much ink has been spilled decrying social media rabbit holes and political echo chambers, threatening our democracy by increasing hyper-partisanship and extremism. And that was before Musk. What if it’s fake news? It’s true there are hyper-partisan people on Twitter. It’s also true many of these hyper-partisans are opinion influencers with big followings. The problem […]

Learn More December 16, 2022

I Think, Maybe

Conversational hedges are words or phrases indicating uncertainty, tentativeness, or modesty in a conversation. Words like “maybe,” “I think,” or “I’m not sure”. What role do they play? They can make the speaker appear more credible and trustworthy by acknowledging uncertainty. Hedges can also make the speaker seem less pushy, which in turn makes the […]

Learn More December 14, 2022

PI…WWW…AI

I’m old enough to remember the world pre-internet, PI, and the first, niche Tandy personal computers. The screens were microscopic, monotone. You’d run some basic scripts on DOS prompts and that was about it. Early internet was terminally slow but we didn’t know any better. You can still hear the whirring, dinging and high pitched […]

Learn More December 12, 2022

Supporter Motivation Is Under Your Control

Motivation is arguably the coin of the fundraising realm. If a donor feels motivated to give, they’ll keep doing it. Motivation differs by amount, a lot or little and by type, high or low quality. And most importantly it differs by situation or context. We all experience this; different levels of motivation for different jobs […]

Learn More December 9, 2022

What Should You Know When You “Know” A Donor?

Charities love to segment and design appeals and giving programs to fit a group. These groups are typically created using demographics (age or income) or donors’ giving history – sustainers, lapsed sustainers, one-time donors. Segmentation works, helping create more effective appeals. Giving Tuesday can mean something very different to, say, a long-time monthly donor versus […]

Learn More December 7, 2022