The Quiet Frenzy of Union Organizing In Nonprofits

As we celebrate Labor Day here in the U.S. it’s appropriate to note the quiet frenzy of labor union organizing that has gripped parts of the nonprofit world. Recent moves by workers—particularly younger workers—to organize unions in some of the nation’s best-known companies –Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Apple, Amazon, Chipotle—have pretty much put the lie to […]

Are You Using the Power of Retro Fundraising?

Summer is coming to an end.  Schools are about to re-open. Remember that first day back at school? It was full of excitement and eagerness. You had a new bag, new supplies, and you probably couldn’t wait to see your friends. Or maybe it was a bit different for you. Maybe you were shy, or […]

The Science of Personalized Matching

At DonorVoice we use the term personalized matching to describe the process of creating persuasive appeals that align with the phychological characteristics of the recipient donors. If you’re a regular reader of the Agitator, you already know that personalized matching works. Personalized matching applies the old adage “know your audience” to large-volume marketing. But you […]

Oscar Wilde on Fundraising Copy

“Books are well written or badly written. That is all.” Well, whatever aesthetic criteria Oscar had in mind when talking about literature, we can now scientifically say the same for fundraising copy. All I’ve ever done is write copy (I mean, I’ve done other stuff with my life, but not for a living). But it’s […]

Avoiding Being Asked? Say it Ain’t So.

If people enjoy giving then why would they ever actively avoid a fundraising ask? Being solicited and the joy that can arrive from being charitable are not synonymous.  Heck, sometimes they aren’t even distant, far-flung cousins. Relatedly, the act of giving is not what brings joy.  It is how people react afterwards.  We don’t give […]

If You’re Good at Something Does it Matter More?

Teachers were asked by their school district to complete a survey.  The experiment was a 2×2 design (one of our faves): The result?  A nothingburger.  No difference in survey participation between A-D, randomly assigned groups. To quote Paul Harvey, “And now for the rest of the story.” Researchers noticed a difference in survey participation on […]

Idea Problem or Execution One?

There are two parts to innovation, idea generation and delivering on those ideas. Academics at the London School of Economics (James and Kotak) and Oxford (Tsomocos) built a macroeconomic model to understand productivity growth as a function of idea generation and our collective ability to deliver on them. They used a sample of NYSE companies […]

If You Ain’t First You’re Last

One of the greatest movies of all time for those of us who enjoy parody, slapstick and juvenile humor is Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights. He spends most of his life against an impossible standard of “if you ain’t first you’re last”, a motto from his father who was high on peyote at the time he […]

Statistical Significance Smificance…

Your SmartPhone Makes You, More You

I hate my phone and love it. Check that; I love my phone and hate my kids’ phones. Check that;  I love my phone and hate my kids’ phones except when I need to reach them but even then, I still kind of hate their phones because they insist on texting with initials and shorthand […]