Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Is It Just Me? (Online Ads Edition)

No, it’s not just you. Fundraising is harder than it once was in several important areas. Today’s topic: online ads are getting more expensive. Back in August, we talked about how Facebook was getting more and more expensive: “Eventually, novelty wears off. Tactics are forbidden. Con men are banned. And the fast give way to […]

Learn More February 13, 2019

Dick Pics and Mince Pie

Some days the competition for readers’ attention is just too steep. Like now, where the story sucking up all the oxygen involves the wealthiest man in the world, a sleazy media company, possibly the President of the United States and the Saudis– and dick pics. Regardless, here at The Agitator we soldier on. This week we’re going to examine the […]

Learn More February 11, 2019

Let Donor Needs Drive

Subject. Verb. Object: Who… does what… to whom? More than 75% of the world’s languages start sentences with the subject, leading some anthropologists to believe we may be hardwired for this. At the least, we are hardwired to think of ourselves as the subject of the sentence. We are all our own protagonists. And when […]

Learn More February 8, 2019

The Easy Money is Gone: Overcoming Barriers to Growth

As I noted in the first post of this series —The Easy Money is Gone— a smaller pie and more mouths to feed is a recipe for disaster. And yet, status quo thinking, and activity dominate within organizations. Fortunately, as reflected in the generous and thoughtful comments to that post there is optimism about the future […]

Learn More February 6, 2019

The Easy Money Is Gone

Last week was an especially brutal one for journalism. Gannett, publisher of USA Today and nearly 100 other daily newspapers and close to 1000 weeklies began slashing journalist jobs. This in a cost-cutting move anticipating that a hedge-fund company was planning to buy the company. Some analysts were blunt in their assessment that the cutbacks are designed […]

Learn More February 4, 2019

The Sex Life of Danes and Quid Pro Donor Information

Hopefully, you’re convinced. You’ve seen you get better results when you know and prime your donors’ identities. And you think that creating content for your donors can be a valuable way of acquiring new constituents. But there’s a question at the back of your mind: will people tell you what you want to know? Will they […]

Learn More February 1, 2019