Award-Winning Blog


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 […]

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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’ […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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If Only I Knew What You Know

Can you imagine your doctor practicing medicine without a clear understanding of best practices? (“Now let me see, some docs prescribe a 2 day course of penicillin, the guy down the hall says 15 days, but I think 4 days are about right.”) Or … hiring a lawyer who worked only on intuition, ignoring case law […]

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