You must be serious about fundraising, if you’re reading The Agitator on the first day of the New Year!

So here’s a reprise of a very serious post we published back on December 22, when you might have been out Christmas shopping. Very substantial fundraising advice here, if you’re hoping to get off the mark fast in 2009.

Recession Fundraising — Everything You Wanted To Know

We’ve now posted a series of articles under the umbrella of "recession fundraising." The series includes a comprehensive range of advice and spirited debate from The Agitator and other fundraising pros, as well as insights into how your colleagues view the situation and how they intend to respond in 2009.

We though it might be helpful to consolidate all of this information into one "reference" post for your easy access.

Here’s the lot of it, in chronological order, beginning November 7:

Fundraising Vital Signs 1 — this post reported results from our first pass at surveying how fundraisers assessed the situation at their own nonprofits.

Conscious Consumption — All About Value — showed how commercial marketers were positioning their offers in these tough times.

Roger then cited this excellent paper by Mal Warwick and Dan Doyle: Fundraising in Tough Times: A No Nonsense Guide.

Then we reported the 2nd round of results from our Fundraising Vital Signs survey. These results were discussed in our first Agitator Editors Telebriefing, which you can down load here, together with our own lists of "Fundraising Tips for Tough Times" that Roger and I put together.

Convio Vinay Bhagat argued that, now more than ever, was the time to strengthen your online fundraising presence.

And copywriting maven Jerry Huntsinger offered some "contrarian" advice for fundraising in the face of recession.

The Agitator launched a bit of a debate when AB Data fundraising consultant Jeff Malloch came forward with an important memo chastizing those who focused on cutting back on their direct mail budgets to save money, arguing that this would simply guarantee longer term fundraising under-performance for nonprofits that did so.

Erica O’Brien of Adams Hussey & Associates then weighed in with Direct Mail Is Not Dead … I think you can infer where she’s coming from!

Finally, drawing from our 3rd Fundraising Vital Signs survey, The Agitator offered this list of the steps your fundraising colleagues will be taking in 2009 to address the fundraising challenge head on.

If you can’t find something of value in this material to help you plan your fundraising strategy for 2009, we’ll confess to having failed you miserably!

Tom & Roger