Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Oldest Profession in Fundraising

As our Canadian readers recover from yesterday’s celebration of their 151st Canada Day and American readers prepare for Wednesday’s 242ndcelebration of Independence Day we thought it appropriate to devote this week to reexamining some fundraising fundamentals that may—or may not—be in need of major change or at least updating. Consequently, tomorrow Nick will explore the […]

Learn More July 2, 2018

I Hate the Big Check Photo

Every nonprofit has a photo like this somewhere: Yes, it’s a photo that your corporate partner can use on their Web site or in their annual report as a way of showing their commitment to the community. And, among a still-sadly-plurality-older-white-male business community, the big check sends the message to other business people in the […]

Learn More June 29, 2018

A tale of two acquisition methods

You have two canvassers recruiting recurring donors for your nonprofit: Jack and Diane. (Names changed to protect innocent and guilty alike; all statistics are real.) Jack brought in 88 donors in your latest canvassing campaign. Diane brought in 72 donors. Traditionally, that’s how canvassers would be measured: Jack brought in 25% more donors; he is […]

Learn More June 28, 2018

I Hate The Way We Fail New Fundraisers

Whenever I’m at a loss to describe a problem I turn to the dog-eared volumes in my fundraising library for help. Currently– like many others– I’m wrestling with the issues of turnover and the levels of skill in our trade. More and more nonprofits (47% more in the past decade) are in need of “fundraisers”. […]

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Why I Hate the Donor Pyramid

All pyramids are lies: They have a dishonest scheme named after them. They will not keep your razor blades sharp or apples fresh. They messed up the four food groups. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs isn’t really true (there are fundamental needs, but there isn’t a hierarchy and people pursue different “level” needs simultaneously). Even the […]

Learn More June 27, 2018

Why I Hate Sugarcoating Issues

I was looking for studies that had been done on what type of images are effective in nonprofit direct marketing. So I headed over to Google Scholar and searched for “use pictures fundraising appeals.” You would have thought I was searching for snuff films. Here are some of the titles of journal articles that faced […]

Learn More June 26, 2018