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Back to Normal
Covid changed everything. For a little while. The prognosticators claiming otherwise were seemingly trying to outdo one another with their hyperbolic goobly gook. Here is one such hot-take, “that one can talk about a global synchronisation of human behaviour establishing a completely new, universal change of consumer patterns.” Uh, yeah, whatever. A nod to Mark […]
Fundraising in Inflation and Under Threat of Nuclear War. 7 Survival Tips for 2022
Here we go again. The phone’s ringing, the email inbox dinging as colleagues attempt to figure out what to do in a world that more than ever seems to be falling apart. Over Agitator’s 15 years our readers have witnessed a litany of financial meltdowns (2008), pandemic disasters (2020) and now in 2022 inflation coupled […]
And the Behavioral Science Award Goes To___________
I’ll accept this award on behalf of the DonorVoice Behavioral Science Team, their partnership with UCLA and the client that made it all possible, Catholic Relief Services. They’d all be here to accept the honor but they’re doing real work while I steal the stage. This is a big deal, especially for lead-author, Ilana Brody […]
The Importance of Building Trust in a Cynical World
Can declining trust in institutions be partially at fault for the overall decline in personal giving? That’s a critical question international fundraiser Richard Pordes posed in commenting on our post reprinting Tom Ahern’s Is Mass Fundraising Extinct? In Richard’s words: “But aren’t there larger societal trends that have caused the decline in numbers of households […]
Is Mass Fundraising Extinct?
For the past 10 years The Agitator has sought to put meat on the jargon-ridden bones of the Donor-Centric skeleton. That’s why we dwell so much on essential vertebrae of donor-centricity such as Donor Identity, Donor Psychology and Personality to name a few. Although this detail is essential in becoming truly donor-centric, it’s important to […]
Make Em’ Wear the Schwag
Here’s a crazy idea, so crazy it’s genius or maybe it’s just crazy interesting. I don’t know. The idea: make the wearing of the “premium” schwag a requirement to give (time or money). “What the hell did he just type?” I can hear the reader whisper. I admit to having lingering questions about this idea […]
The High Cost of Sacred Cows
Let’s make a wager. I’m betting there’s no more than one out of every 1,000 disease or health care nonprofits in the world with the guts or leadership to follow the process I’m about to outline. It’s donor-centric but also so very, very counterintuitive to what most organizations would—but should—do. I’m certain (sadly) that my […]
Great Guides to Storytelling
As Kevin noted in The Best Story Wins smart fundraisers pay serious attention to storytelling for the simple reason that better stories raise more money. Fine writing and Great Story Telling has always been in short supply in fundraising, particularly in these days of too many e-mails, too much Twitter and such. EVEN WORSE … […]
Does Your Lead Generation Attract the Best Donors?
Given the tsunami of petitions, surveys and other devices flooding both my postal and digital mailboxes it’s clear that more and more organizations are turning to lead generation as the first step in their donor acquisition programs. The question, of course, is just how well do these leads convert to good donors? And what steps […]
Are You Fundraising At or To Your Supporters?
This question of ‘at’ or ‘to’ struck me when reading a report from a UK agency that ran ads for a US animal rights advocacy charity. I found the thinking behind the ads and the testing to be wildly superficial and uninteresting and almost certainly leaving lots of money on the table. But, I realize […]