Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Fundraising Hypocrisy

If you’re one of our 872 UK Agitator readers this is for you. And also for the other 7,247 Agitators around the globe. Most likely the shoe also fits. Here’s the deal. Over the last few months the UK tabloids busted the fundraising British sector for its overly aggressive tactics in telemarketing and Face –To-Face techniques. […]

Learn More July 28, 2015

The Fundraising Power of Now

A lot of what I’ve learned about the importance of timing in fundraising I learned from selling funeral flowers. Let me explain. My father was a florist– a business that heavily depends on emotion-driven buying impulses — funerals, weddings, Mother’s Day, birthdays and anniversaries – with most transactions completed over the telephone and by credit […]

Learn More July 27, 2015

Worry-Free Weekend for Fundraisers

Some things simply beg to be stolen. And so it was with yesterday’s post by Jeff Brooks over at Future Fundraising Now Here’s to Agitator readers ending a week of agonizing meetings packed with inane or insane suggestions from the CEO, board or colleagues. Put all that aside and ease into your weekend with these […]

Learn More July 24, 2015

Wallowing In Fundraising Delusions

Awhile back, Jeff Brooks cited a number of ‘fundraising delusions’ he read about on Social Velocity. The Social Velocity article opened as follows: “Fundraising is, for the most part, a fundamentally misunderstood activity. There are a lot of misconceptions, among nonprofit leaders, board members — even donors — about effective ways to bring money in […]

Learn More July 23, 2015

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