Award Winning Blog - Agitator

What Your Donor Can Do For You

In this era of donor-centrism, we’re all (rightfully) focused on our donors, the experience we give them, the stories we tell them, the transparency we promise them, and our commitment to listen to them and respect their preferences. All good. But is it exclusively about delivering for them? Is it inappropriate to expect anything from a donor […]

Learn More May 7, 2015

Direct Mail Quick Quiz … And Longer-Term Puzzle

Question: What percentage of nonprofit solicitation mail is tossed without reading? [] 5.6% [] 13.4% [] 31.2 % The answer in a moment. Here at global headquarters, our hunt for the eclectic range of esoteric-to-practical content for voracious Agitator readers never ends. Consequently, this weekend I found myself reading Modes of Delivery and Customer Engagement […]

Learn More May 6, 2015

Are Donors And Nonprofits ‘Misaligned’?

In his four-part series — Raise More, Ask Less — Roger made a plea: listen to your donors and honor their preferences. Even if this suggests hitting them with fewer fundraising appeals. Indeed, Roger offered ‘contrarian’ evidence that asking less can actually yield more money. You can review Roger’s case here — Part 1, Part 2, […]

Learn More May 5, 2015

Big, Hairy Barrier Threatens Fundraising Mega-Opportunities

Ken Burnett has now published Part 3 and Part 4 of his thought-provoking five part series on the Future of Fundraising. Our summary of Parts 1 and 2 found here, asking whether Agitator readers thought the future was ‘bright’ or ‘bleak’, generated lots of great comments. By and large, I’d say reader consensus came down […]

Learn More May 4, 2015

Words vs Video

I love words. I’ve made most of my career out of educating and persuading people through words. And yes, with an occasional photo or graphic to back me up. But now there’s video … but not just video … online video. YouTube just announced that its year-over-year growth in daily visitors is up 40%. And the […]

Learn More May 1, 2015

When The Government Comes Knocking

The finances of the Clinton Foundation have now come under renewed scrutiny with the launch of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid. This is not unexpected in the hard-hitting rough and tumble of high-stakes politics. What is highly worrisome to me — and should be to any nonprofit — is the potential abuse of basic constitutional principles […]

Learn More April 30, 2015