Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Does The Agitator Have A Split Personality?

Or more properly, does The Agitator suffer from dissociative identity disorder? Yesterday, in Yawning All The Way To The Bank, Roger wrote persuasively on the importance of fundraisers NOT chasing the latest ‘shiny new thing’. Indeed, he made the case for being boring, particularly with respect to consistency of message. Communications whiz Tom Ahern picked up […]

Learn More March 25, 2016

Yawning All The Way To The Bank

In his post Why Boring Fundraising Is So Exciting, our pal Jeff Brooks riffs off a Nick Ellinger piece in NonProfitPRO warning that although donors’ use of media is changing, this trend DOES NOT signal that direct mail is dead. While it’s fine, in fact wise, to be alert to new channels, the successful fundraiser won’t abandon […]

Learn More March 24, 2016

Donor Age … Does It Matter?

I mean, beyond ‘ripeness’ for soliciting bequests (and even here, one could argue it’s never too early to plant and nurture the seed). I mean in your day-to-day communications to and stewardship of your active donors. My question is triggered by two Abila reports — one released, one teased at the current AFP conference and […]

Learn More March 23, 2016

How To Reduce F2F Attrition In The First 90 Days

Make no mistake. The current F2F model is greatly flawed — and in some places horribly broken. Where once the approach of street fundraisers was eagerly received by the public, today’s solicitors are often tagged ‘chuggers’ and public acceptance is on par with that generally accorded muggers. It doesn’t have to be that way. It’s […]

Learn More March 22, 2016

The Donor And The CIO

Thanks to NonProfit Pro, I was pointed to an article in CIO describing the efforts of the American Cancer Society to develop a 360-degree view of its supporting individuals, be they relay-fundraisers, donors, caregivers and/or survivors. The ‘and/or’ goes to the nub of the matter, as individuals relate to ACS in a variety of capacities […]

Learn More March 21, 2016

Leverage The Political Noise

The Chronicle of Philanthropy just headlined a story, Political Gifts Don’t Hamper Philanthropy, based upon Blackbaud data indicating that charitable donations don’t really diminish in an election year, despite the intensity of political solicitations. But the more interesting story was actually one re-referenced in the article, Elections and Economy Offer Challenges to Fundraisers in 2016, […]

Learn More March 18, 2016