Award Winning Blog - Agitator

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

Simone Joyaux Is Dead

Simone Joyaux, a beloved shit-disturber and hell-raiser, who battled tirelessly to improve our sector by applying deep devotion, abundant energy, and development skills highly honed by outrage against injustice and inequality, is dead. The 44-year veteran of board development, strategic planning and organizational management, died Sunday, May 2nd in Providence, Rhode Island of a […]

Learn More May 3, 2021

Give Your Supporters a Break

Breaks are necessary for our sanity and productivity. Not exactly a breakthrough statement. Yet, we rarely follow that advice. How many back-to-back calls did you have this week? Can you remember how you felt after the last one? In a recent study, Microsoft examined the effects of back-to-back video calls on stress, and engagement. They […]

Learn More April 30, 2021