Award Winning Blog - Agitator

All That Work … For 49,421 Donors!

Good day, it’s Tom the grouch again. Just browsing through the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s 2017 report, a marvellous gift from Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, eTapestry and Neon. The report examines year-to-year fundraising results (2015-16) from the 10,829 clients using the software of these firms. Recently our sector has been losing more donors than gained each year. In […]

Learn More May 2, 2017

Easy Retention Win: Correct Donor Addresses

Today we’re adding TrueNCOA to The Agitator Toolbox. This easy-to-use tool enables you to quickly update the addresses on your file for just $20 regardless of the size of your file. Most organizations spend far too much for address correction services. With no hidden fees, no record minimums, and no record maximums, TrueNCOA uses an ‘all-you-can-eat approach’ […]

Learn More May 1, 2017

Dust Off Your Typewriter!

As soon as I wrote that subject line, I shuddered with the thought: I wonder how many Agitator fundraisers have actually ever owned a typwwriter?! A real typewriter (I’ll accept electrics). I’m guessing 20% max. What do you think? Indeed, will you confess to having owned one? I’m on to typewriters having glanced at some of […]

Learn More April 28, 2017

The volume hamster wheel: digital edition

Last week, we talked about three ways to get off the hamster wheel 0f mailing more to get more revenue. Some folks noted that I hadn’t mentioned shifting to digital solicitation as a way of saving those net revenues. This is because email has the same problem of oversolicitation as mail. It pains me to say […]

Learn More April 27, 2017

What Makes A Great Fundraising Event?

Last weekend I visited Savannah, Georgia to celebrate a friend’s birthday and received some insights into event fundraising as a bonus. In a large public square beside my hotel, the Susan B. Komen Foundation was setting up for the local version of their Race for the Cure® — the world’s most successful series of 5K […]

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Volunteers: A Major But Oft-Overlooked Resource

Tom and I began working together 46 years ago at Common Cause, founded by the remarkable, accomplished and extraordinarily prescient John Gardner. Among the values Gardner instilled in both of us was the value of volunteerism and the importance of respect and proper management and accountability for each volunteer who worked at Common Cause. His […]

Learn More April 26, 2017