Award Winning Blog - Agitator

The 20:2 Principle

We’ve all heard of the Pareto Principle — the 80:20 rule — in one form or another. In its basic formulation, something like 20% of your customers — or donors, or stores, or products — generate 80% of your income. [I’ve often daydreamed: does 20% of my time generate 80% of my income? Sadly, I’ve […]

Learn More July 22, 2015

Telefundraising Revisted

Five years ago today Tom posted on Telefundraising Works, calling it the “neglected stepchild of fundraising.” That post generated significant and helpful comments on approach and technique. Today, 60 months later, we’d appreciate an update from our readers on what’s what and what’s working with this “neglected stepchild”. Here’re some readers’ comments from 5 years ago: First, from Adrian […]

Learn More July 21, 2015

Board Meeting Emergency Swipe File #2: Investment

On Friday in the post Our Donors Are Dying I mentioned the ‘Agitator Board Meeting Emergency Swipe File’. Handy responses to those eternal and frequent questions about fundraising posed by boards. In response Tom Gaffny requested a copy. So, Tom Belford and I’ve decided to reach into our vault and turn my off-the-cuff (imaginary) label into a reality. Here’s […]

Learn More July 20, 2015

Our Donors Are Dying

It’s mid-year for many organizations and fundraising projections are being adjusted for the second half. For other organizations, it’s the start of a new fiscal year and fundraisers have just finished rationalizing and justifying the numbers in the new budget. Regardless of which stage of the year you’re in, I’m absolutely certain there’s a board […]

Learn More July 17, 2015

Broken! Dangerous Fundraising Machinery

I wonder how many donors give in spite of the fundraising machine, not because of it?! As I read and wrote about the press and public’s outrage over Face-2-Face and telemarketing techniques that’s spilled forth in the UK, I kept asking: “Why or how in the world could a sector this sophisticated have allowed this […]

Learn More July 16, 2015

The High Price Of Failure To Listen

“Roger, please don’t talk to me when I’m not listening.” That was the standard response from a client who expressed surprise each time something blew up and I reminded him that we had discussed the very issue months before. “Don’t talk to me when I’m not listening.” Those words came flooding back as I wrote […]

Learn More July 15, 2015