Award-Winning Blog


Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

Who’s the fairest of them all? Ever wonder how your organization is doing compared to other nonprofits in your community? Or how are you doing compared to other groups in your sector? Until now, you could get the answer by calling around town, checking with colleagues. Or, if interested in national trends in your sector […]

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What’s in your leaky bucket(s)?

Our friends over at Bloomerang have a good post up here that argues we shouldn’t put all our donors into one bucket, sending “the file” undifferentiated communications.  Absolutely right on. They also list out 20 segments that, for starters, you can use to differentiate your file.  Great!  And it’s only a start. And there’s been […]

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Happy Thanksgiving!

We are grateful for the time you give The Agitator. We are grateful for your thoughts and Comments. We are grateful for the work you do for Others. We are grateful for YOU. Happy Thanksgiving! Roger and Tom P.S. And if you’re one of our non-U.S. readers, thanks for giving us a few days off! We’ll […]

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Don’t Ask … Thank

As the Thanksgiving break approaches in the U.S., doubtless thousands of fundraisers are frantically making their final preparations for #GivingTuesday, which occurs next Tuesday, the 29th. As faithful Agitator readers know, this is not an occasion high on my personal priority list! However, in the spirit of service to our fundraising community, I will bite […]

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One Bucket Or Many?

Anyone who’s followed The Agitator’s campaign to get fundraisers interested in donor retention is familiar with this leaky bucket illustration … Donald Trump himself couldn’t come up with a better shorthand for illustrating the foolishness of adding new donors, only to allow existing donors (and pretty quickly the new ones) to trickle away. But wait, as […]

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Get ‘Em While The Grief Is Hot – Part 2

Want to stand out in the flood of emails, direct mail and other post-election communications? Just pick up the phone and talk to your donors, members and supporters. A great use of the phone in this ’emergency’ climate is the Telephone Town Hall. A wonderful opportunity for everyone to gather and experience the camaraderie of […]

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