Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The Big Squeeze

The Big Squeeze has begun, fittingly with a December 1st ‘Giving Tuesday’. December is the month when all ‘good’ fundraisers try to squeeze every last bit of coin they can from current donors, using the most intensive, intrusive and organization-centric techniques possible. December has nothing whatsoever to do with building donor relationships. Rather it’s scorched earth […]

Learn More December 1, 2015

Loss Of A Man Of Skill And Decency

Austin Kiplinger, 97, a giant of the Washington, DC publishing, philanthropic and civic scene, died on November 20th. Others will note his life-long dedication to the advancement of civil rights … his tireless devotion to fundraising and support of the cultural scene in the Nation’s capital … and his enlightened, far-ahead-of-their-times practices where employees […]

Learn More November 30, 2015

On Giving Thanks

In the aftermath of Paris, Beirut and Bamako and with far too many politicians and demagogues working overtime to seize on the public’s anxieties, prejudices and deepest fears, The Agitator is pausing publication for the next two days to give thanks. Tomorrow is official Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. Many of our readers will be ‘enjoying’ […]

Learn More November 25, 2015

Fundraising Tools On Facebook

A new suite of tools to facilitate fundraising on Facebook has just been announced. As with most things Facebook, this offering has received huge publicity, but just in case you’ve missed the news while deep in planning for Giving Tuesday, here are the basics. Fittingly, the suite of tools is called ‘Fundraisers’. Here’s a quick announcement […]

Learn More November 24, 2015

It’s Your Choice

As you crank up for the year-end email blitz (not to mention whatever you’re doing for #GivingTuesday) you might want to bear this in mind: You have less than 3 seconds to capture a reader’s attention; Those 3 seconds translate into just 12 words to motivate the consumer to read more before the message is deleted. […]

Learn More November 23, 2015

Data Dashboard For Online Giving

Kudos to Network for Good for its new ‘data dashboard’ which (for US fundraisers) records a variety of metrics related to online giving — including number of donors, frequency of giving, dollar amounts, day of year, region, and type of cause. The data, based upon millions of donations made through the Network for Good online giving […]

Learn More November 20, 2015