Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Easier is Better

Easy things make brains happy. Happy brains do the things we ask them to (like donate). The easier something is, the more it convinces. Simple stocks go up more; simple named people become president. We often forget this. So here’s a simple post about keeping it simple. (The hard data are in links.) Image credit: Boston […]

Learn More May 17, 2021

“Just One Damn Thing After Another.”

The headline quotation, attributed to British historian Arnold Toynbee, pretty much summarizes the worst approach to teaching or slearning history. Lists of battle. Names of great men. “Just one damn thing after another.” In fact, to seriously study history rather than memorize lists, is to look into causes of and relationships between people and events. […]

Learn More May 14, 2021

The Double Problem of Local Optimization

It’s tempting to say every improvement is a win. Perhaps you got an extra three percent on the response rate or the average gift nudged up. The important question to ask when judging improvement is what goal are you optimizing toward? Let’s say your goal is to climb the highest mountain. To reach that goal […]

Learn More May 12, 2021

The Strength of Knowing What We Don’t Know

Kevin’s moving tribute to his father noted two essential traits for greatness in any profession –including fundraising: “He had a voracious appetite as a learner. As smart as he was, his greatest strength was his humility in knowing the vastness of what he didn’t know.” We all need to work harder at harnessing the immense […]

Learn More May 10, 2021

Is “Donor” the Best We Can Do?

My father died last week. I rarely share personal details and especially not this personal. I’m doing so now because he was a donor, though he’d never refer to himself that way. That begs the question of whether the “donor” label is so superficial as to be not only useless but counterproductive. What if part […]

Learn More May 7, 2021

Simone Says: “Why?…Why?…Why?

Wonderful stories abound as memories of Simone Joyaux flow across Fundraising Land. Here at the Agitator we counting our “Simone Blessings” and also checking our archives. We came across this post from a few years back that illustrates how Simone’s curiosity and constant questioning helped keep us all on our toes in an effort to her […]

Learn More May 5, 2021