Award Winning Blog

Too Important For Techies – II

Yesterday I wrote a post, Too Important for Techies, saying that online fundraising was in the wrong hands … techies. It stirred up quite a commotion, as you can see by reading the comments following the post. Including my DonorTrends colleague, Ryann Miller, who offers these thoughts. Sort of a plea for us to respect […]

Learn More March 25, 2009

Too Important For Techies

A recent study by Blackbaud’s Target Marketing on online fundraising (Roger commented here) noted that many donors who make their first gift online wind up making their subsequent gifts, if any, via direct mail. Agitator reader Dave Raley has a theory about this. I reproduce his comment below. My own — perhaps too blunt — […]

Learn More March 24, 2009

Truths & Myths About Online Donors

Last Wednesday the headline in a New York Times story proclaimed “Study Shows First-Time Online Donors Do Not Return.” Sort of a ‘dog bites man” headline since, truth be told, neither do first-time direct mail donors. That aside, Stephanie Strom’s NYT piece is worth a read by all fundraisers. And worth far more than a […]

Learn More March 23, 2009

Donor Involvement Yields Fundraising Dividends

The morning’s mail brought this from a loyal Agitator subscriber: “Team Agitator – I am doing some research for a client about how response rates on acquisition are impacted by packages that ask prospects to take an action in addition to giving a gift. E.g. signing or mailing a postcard to an elected official, making […]

Learn More March 20, 2009

Courting New Lovers

So, you want to grow your organization. Who do you listen to for insight into how to expand your audience — your current best donors, or some new audience that you believe represents your growth opportunity? And how do you listen? Here’s an article, via Social Media Insider, with some important cautions. It’s by Catharine […]

Learn More March 19, 2009

A Direct Mail “First”

For the first time since records began in 1945, spending on commercial direct mail has declined. So says a white paper from the Winterberry Group, a strategic consulting firm to direct marketers, as reported here by the Center for Media Research. The report says spending on direct mail fell 3% in 2008, with a further […]

Learn More March 18, 2009