Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Donor vs Fundraiser Fatigue

I might have been on vacation these few past days — The Agitator gives one day off for each year of service — but part of the deal is that I was still required, between gin & tonics, to do my daily scan of other fundraising blogs. One post that caught my attention was Jeff […]

Learn More August 17, 2015

Breakdown In Trust Is A Good Thing

For too long too many nonprofits –especially those focused heavily on direct response –have behaved as though they’re still operating in a by-gone time when donors placed blind trust in nonprofits and their brands. This failure to recognize—not through lip service and jargon but by the way we practice our craft — the vast changes […]

Learn More August 14, 2015

Urgent Alert to U.S. Nonprofits–Immediate Action Needed

If you’re willing to turn over the list of your top donors to the government then you need read no further. However, if you’re not sure, or you’re absolutely certain you’d be unwilling to give up the donor list, then take this post to your CEO and General Counsel. Immediately. Why? Because right now the […]

Learn More August 13, 2015

Lazy Fundraisers

As he dashed out the door for his annual vacation Tom’s last act was to fill The Agitator’s “Grist Mill” Inbox with a ream of suggestions for posts during his absence. Maybe it was the demon of envy in my self-conscious that forced my eyes to settle on one item. After all, this year Tom […]

Learn More August 12, 2015

2015 Half-time Fundraising Score

The Atlas of Giving, the resource that combines both past results along with forecasts of charitable giving in the U.S., recently issued its 2015 Mid-Year Report. The news is good. Giving in the first half of 2015 was “exceptionally (and unexpectedly) strong—up a total of 7.6% to $238.88 billion compared to $222.03 billion for the same period […]

Learn More August 11, 2015

American Cancer Society Flops

If bullshit were the new cure for cancer then the direct marketing staff and consultants of the American Cancer Society should win the Nobel Prize in Medicine hands down. That was pretty much the conclusion of dozens of Agitator readers who phoned, emailed and texted following their attendance at last week’s presentation at the DMANF New […]

Learn More August 10, 2015