Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The 30-Minute Visit

My radar picked up an article the other day titled The Art of Fundraising, written by Gary Laermer of the YMCA of Greater New York and published on Huffington Post. When I got into the piece, I found it was aimed at the development end of the fundraiser spectrum — major donors and corporate gifts. But […]

Learn More August 25, 2015

Sleeping Fundraising Giant Awakens

What advice would you give to Chinese fundraisers intent converting the world’s largest middle class into donors? That was Ken Burnett’s assignment at the First China Fundraising Conference in Beijing last month. The Conference, sponsored by the newly formed China Association of Fundraising Professionals (CAFP) and supported by four major foundations, aimed at putting increased […]

Learn More August 24, 2015

Throwing UK Fundraising Under the Bus

A number of thoughtful and concerned UK Agitator readers weighed in this week expressing a range of emotions from distress to disgust over what some termed the Institute of Fundraising’s (IoF) latest “betrayal” of the sector. On August 18 IoF announced an Update to the Code of Fundraising Practice. In effect the new rules say […]

Learn More August 21, 2015

Hallelujah!

Some Agitator readers might have noticed that I was on vacation recently. However, what some call ‘vacation’, I call ‘field work’ as my visit to the States included very high level strategic and editorial planning with co-editor Craver, as well as some on-the-ground research. I can’t discuss the former … deep corporate secrets and commercial […]

Learn More August 20, 2015

Fundraising Superstitions

Webster defines superstition as: “a belief or way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck : a belief that certain events or things will bring good or bad luck.” We all have our superstitions that help us down the path when we’re a bit nervous about […]

Learn More August 19, 2015

17 Reasons To Fire A Board Member

Without question the greatest barrier to great fundraising is a lousy board. Of course issues like staff quality, the necessary funds for investment, proper organizational structure, etc. etc. are important. But none is more important than a board. Because at the end of the day it is the board that ultimately determines the quality and […]

Learn More August 18, 2015