I grew up in the Pennsylvania Dutch part of the Keystone state, and there's a saying from the folks around there. Perfect for this post: “We grow too soon

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

13.09.2024

Is Your Fundraising All Dots, No Pattern? - Agitator | DonorVoice

We report average gift as gospel. And if the giving by your donors looks like the normal, bell curve on the left then average and how tall or wide the

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

11.09.2024

Jiu-Jitsu Fundraising - Agitator | DonorVoice

An enemy is crystallizing. It's motivating. "Rally the mostly satisfied, even-keeled moderates to storm the bastille.", said nobody ever.

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

09.09.2024

Beware of Junk Science - Agitator | DonorVoice

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the most popular personality test in the world. Fortune 100 love it. Government agencies love it. More than 1.5 million

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

06.09.2024

What's cul-de-sac fundraising look like? - Agitator | DonorVoice

The echo chamber is getting louder, we tune out damn near everything not matching what we already believe and we're much more likely to distrust people who

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

04.09.2024

Breaking Free of the Past - Agitator | DonorVoice

The summer of 2024 ended on Labor Day, but it was neither lazy nor hazy. It was busy—busy for advocacy and political fundraisers and for the media, both

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

02.09.2024

No Heavy Lifting - Agitator | DonorVoice

We're taking the day off in deference to our U.S. readers coping with the official end of summer after a long Labor Day weekend.

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

28.08.2024

Do Neighbors Always Get the Same Direct Mail? - Agitator | DonorVoice

Bob and Bill are neighbors in Anytown, USA. They're the same age, race, income and married with 2 kids and a dog.

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

26.08.2024

I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed - Agitator | DonorVoice

A line that corny has to be good. Plus, for this writer and many a reader, it was a coming of age movie. But alas, now it's back to our original, behavioral

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

23.08.2024

Quick, Scan That Dude's Head - Agitator | DonorVoice

The Oklahoma State college football team is slapping QR codes on the back of player helmets. That could be an Onion article or meme fodder and yet it's

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

21.08.2024

Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me... - Agitator | DonorVoice

Conversation abounds in fundraising whether in-person or over the phone and everybody notes we should be active listeners and strive to make our

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

19.08.2024

700 X Match to Aid Widow of The Unknown Soldier - Agitator | DonorVoice

Bobbing up with increasing frequency in that digital flood will be the sewage of the Scam PACs, the subject of this post. Scam PACs,” political committees

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

16.08.2024

Is the Ask for a What or Who? - Agitator | DonorVoice

There are two mental giving decisions, will I give? (yes/no) and conditional on a yes, how much? Nobody makes the first decision because they've got an

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

14.08.2024

Do You Fundraise At or With? - Agitator | DonorVoice

Does your fundraising ask who should I send this appeal to or what appeal should I send to this person?

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

12.08.2024

Hand Size and Fundraising Success – Agitator | DonorVoice

A belief, once firmly held, is hard to change, even when the evidence and data overwhelmingly refute that belief. Take male hand size. We all know it correlates with…lower fumble rate among NFL Qu…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

09.08.2024

People Are Different, Does Your Test Design Ignore This? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Hidden in many “losing” test results is a test idea that worked for some people and not others. Here are experiment results for World Vision among prospective donors randomly split into…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

07.08.2024

Boost Your Results with Virtual Engagement – Agitator | DonorVoice

Some days I wish I could call an emergency meeting of all Agitator readers, if for no other reason than to get your immediate reaction to one or another of our most insane ideas—or at least Kevin’s…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

05.08.2024

Harris Defeats Trump. Trump Defeats Harris. – Agitator | DonorVoice

Conventional wisdom and a veteran political analyst who had predicted the winner in four of the five prior presidential races leading up to this 1948 election were clear; not only would Dewey win b…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

02.08.2024

Activism’s Double-Edged Sword – Agitator | DonorVoice

Social activism and creating a “movement” is hard work, made harder by a conflicting reality. More extreme actions, often effective at gaining (media) attention and increasing pressure on organiza…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

31.07.2024

Red State, Blue State? Dig Deeper – Agitator | DonorVoice

These two profiles seem like stereotypes or memes for urban/rural, or red state/blue state. This is 3rd party data. It’s big data, it gives us mass market reach as I can know these sorts of…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

29.07.2024

Is Your Work Necessary or Critical? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Necessary and critical are synonyms but not equal. The former is more neutral, the latter more promotional, market-y. Which one should you use if you’re making a claim? Research from the Na…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

26.07.2024

Subtract to Boost Donor Engagement? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Addition by subtraction. Less is more. Remove barriers. Mark Twain apologizing for the length of his letter, noting it would have been shorter if he had more time. Leonardo DaVinci defined per…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

24.07.2024

Activists Aren’t Donors, Even If They Donate – Agitator | DonorVoice

What makes an activist different from a donor? Too often the former is thought of as a lead-gen, name sourcing exercise to ‘convert’ them to the latter. Activists and donors are differ…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

19.07.2024

Don’t Make Persuasion Even Harder Than It Already Is – Agitator | DonorVoice

Jack Trout was a TV ad man who helped pioneer the brand positioning concept and famously quipped, “If your assignment is to change people’s minds, don’t accept the assignment.&#82…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

17.07.2024

Why Are You Waiting? – Agitator | DonorVoice

More than a decade ago before fleeing to New Zealand, Tom Belford, then co-editor of The Agitator dismissed my enthusiasm for a budding new media tool—the Podcast. With a s…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

15.07.2024

From Talk to Action: The ROI of Measuring Donor Experience – Agitator | DonorVoice

You can talk about donor experience but unless you’re regularly measuring it than that’s all it will ever be, talk. But what’s the return on investment? Is it a just-believe thin…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

12.07.2024

What’s Better, Ambiguous or Clear? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Do you prefer noisy and ambiguous or clear and explicit? Doubt anyone would say the former but the sector, ironically, relies almost exclusively on the noisy and ambiguous kind of data. The person…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

10.07.2024

What’s Worse, Actual Misinformation or Claims of It? – Agitator | DonorVoice

The World Economic Forum named misinformation as the top global risk, higher than war. I think it’s fair to say the WEF/Davos crowd ain’t exactly a representative slice of America or a…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

08.07.2024

AI Imagery. Creepy or Credible? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Imagine a world where for a modest fee, you get an AI-created image that looks real. No more expensive photo shoots or logistical nightmares—just a perfect image ready to go. AI-generated content i…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

05.07.2024

For Fundraisers Who Can’t Stand People – Agitator | DonorVoice

Many nonprofits proclaim their love of humanity but behave as though they can’t stand people. You need only look at their basic fundraising practices: like failure to properly thank donors…f…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

04.07.2024

Fireworks – Agitator | DonorVoice

Today Agitator readers in the UK are going to the polls. Electoral fireworks. On this side of the Atlantic U..S. readers witness celebratory pyrotechnics today as Americans celebrate our Independen…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

01.07.2024

The Secret to Evoking Emotions in Writing: Why ‘Crying’ Beats ‘Sad’ Every Time – Agitator | DonorVoice

“She was sad.” Boooorrrrring. Talk about telling not showing. Something so important as emotion and yet, most of the time we reduce it to the lowest common denominator, literal use of…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

28.06.2024

Inflation Messaging – Agitator | DonorVoice

Giving USA reported charitable giving increased by 1.9% but after adjusting for inflation, it’s down 2.1%. The cost side of your P&L has likely gone up, whether charity or agency. Is th…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

26.06.2024

All Fundraisers Must Be Brand Builders – Agitator | DonorVoice

The industry trendline is well worn – fewer and fewer people giving. The saving grace has been those left giving more. This is hardly a winning strategy. Your only path to sustained growth …

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

24.06.2024

The Anatomy of a Successful Call – Agitator | DonorVoice

Have you ever had a conversation with the other person dominating the talk time? How about one where the other person didn’t ask you any questions? Contrast that with a balanced conversation…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

19.06.2024

Beyond One Size Fits All For the Win, Again… – Agitator | DonorVoice

Our choices are expressions and reflections of who we are. I won’t pay as much attention to your fundraising message if it doesn’t reflect who I am. And since people are different, you…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

17.06.2024

2 Years After Dobbs: The Landscape of Support for Both Sides – Agitator | DonorVoice

In 1973 Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co. launched the first direct response campaign for the National Rights Action League (NARL,) now named Reproductive Freedom for All . That was the…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

14.06.2024

Grade Level Belongs In School, Not Copyrighting – Agitator | DonorVoice

Writing should reject all amplifications, digressions, and swellings of style: to return back to the primitive purity, and shortness, when men delivered so many things, almost in an equal number of…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

12.06.2024

Definitely Bold and Underline…or Not – Agitator | DonorVoice

It seems an article of faith that adding bold or underline in direct mail is best practice. Google it and some version of these points will surface many times over in the first few search result l…

The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits

10.06.2024

Transaction Costs Are A Killer – Agitator | DonorVoice

Not your transaction costs, the donor’s. Why does a mailing to a well curated list of folks garner such a low response rate? It’s only one of two reasons, A bunch of people on the ma…

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The Agitator | Fundraising, Direct Marketing and Advocacy Strategies for Nonprofits - Startups

We Grow Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart: Lessons from Botton Village - Agitator | DonorVoice

Is Your Fundraising All Dots, No Pattern? - Agitator | DonorVoice

Jiu-Jitsu Fundraising - Agitator | DonorVoice

Beware of Junk Science - Agitator | DonorVoice

What's cul-de-sac fundraising look like? - Agitator | DonorVoice

Breaking Free of the Past - Agitator | DonorVoice

No Heavy Lifting - Agitator | DonorVoice

Do Neighbors Always Get the Same Direct Mail? - Agitator | DonorVoice

I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed - Agitator | DonorVoice

Quick, Scan That Dude's Head - Agitator | DonorVoice

Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me... - Agitator | DonorVoice

700 X Match to Aid Widow of The Unknown Soldier - Agitator | DonorVoice

Is the Ask for a What or Who? - Agitator | DonorVoice

Do You Fundraise At or With? - Agitator | DonorVoice

Hand Size and Fundraising Success – Agitator | DonorVoice

People Are Different, Does Your Test Design Ignore This? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Boost Your Results with Virtual Engagement – Agitator | DonorVoice

Harris Defeats Trump. Trump Defeats Harris. – Agitator | DonorVoice

Activism’s Double-Edged Sword – Agitator | DonorVoice

Red State, Blue State? Dig Deeper – Agitator | DonorVoice

Is Your Work Necessary or Critical? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Subtract to Boost Donor Engagement? – Agitator | DonorVoice

Activists Aren’t Donors, Even If They Donate – Agitator | DonorVoice

Don’t Make Persuasion Even Harder Than It Already Is – Agitator | DonorVoice

Why Are You Waiting? – Agitator | DonorVoice

From Talk to Action: The ROI of Measuring Donor Experience – Agitator | DonorVoice

What’s Better, Ambiguous or Clear? – Agitator | DonorVoice

What’s Worse, Actual Misinformation or Claims of It? – Agitator | DonorVoice

AI Imagery. Creepy or Credible? – Agitator | DonorVoice

For Fundraisers Who Can’t Stand People – Agitator | DonorVoice

Fireworks – Agitator | DonorVoice

The Secret to Evoking Emotions in Writing: Why ‘Crying’ Beats ‘Sad’ Every Time – Agitator | DonorVoice

Inflation Messaging – Agitator | DonorVoice

All Fundraisers Must Be Brand Builders – Agitator | DonorVoice

The Anatomy of a Successful Call – Agitator | DonorVoice

Beyond One Size Fits All For the Win, Again… – Agitator | DonorVoice

2 Years After Dobbs: The Landscape of Support for Both Sides – Agitator | DonorVoice

Grade Level Belongs In School, Not Copyrighting – Agitator | DonorVoice

Definitely Bold and Underline…or Not – Agitator | DonorVoice

Transaction Costs Are A Killer – Agitator | DonorVoice

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