Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Do Fundraisers Abuse Emotion?

Last week I posted on the topic of emotion in fundraising, riffing off of Ken Burnett’s piece, Adventures in Emotional Space. Whenever I write about emotion in fundraising, I’m generally urging the need for more of it (in comparison to logic and building the rational case). But of course, we all know about having ‘too much […]

Learn More August 1, 2016

Celebrate!

We’d like to think that all the generations of women and men who worked, volunteered, sacrificed and, yes, donated through all the decades to create last night’s landmark moment in American history are joyously celebrating wherever they are. We sure are! We’ll let the pundits and commentators deal with what Hillary Clinton’s nomination means in […]

Learn More July 29, 2016

Big Can Be Beautiful Too

I can’t let Roger’s paean yesterday to pursuing one’s fundraising career in small nonprofits stand with no countervailing comment. I appreciate all the reasons why small is beautiful … although many times those reasons are given by folks who have no choice but to make the best of ‘small’ and find virtue in it. Yes, […]

Learn More July 28, 2016

Your Fundraising Career Choice

If you had it to do all over again, what size organization would you choose to work in for your career? That was the fundamental question Tony Martignetti, host of Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio asked me in an interview we did for The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s ‘Fundraising Fundamentals’. You can listen to the full interview below. In […]

Learn More July 27, 2016

Only Two Donor Responses: Passion Or Indifference

I suspect that most of The Agitator’s UK readers read the fundraising wisdom of Ken Burnett on a regular basis, and have already caught up with his latest gem, Adventures in emotional space. This post is for all other Agitator readers out in the colonies. We can all use a reminder of the primacy of […]

Learn More July 26, 2016

Starting Over #8 — Plan To Be Generous To Your Donors

Although I doubt it’s intentional, far too many fundraisers spend far too much time and money biting the hands that feed their organization. It happens every day. Poor donor service. Lousy communications. Little or no donor recognition … sometimes not even a simple thank you. Of course this pitiful lack of concern for the donor […]

Learn More July 25, 2016