Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Selma And Fundraising

As I watched the moving news coverage of the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” — the March from Selma to Montgomery — I wondered: how many of today’s fundraisers know where the money came from to make that historic event happen? Probably not very many. And that’s sad because the history of how great social […]

Learn More March 9, 2015

Hidden Donor Frustration Experiences On Your Website

Somewhere in Fundraising Land right now there’s a meeting where folks are debating colors, content, navigation and other visible elements of their website. Unfortunately, few are paying serious attention to spotting and fixing what matters most: the invisible and frustrating traps that visitors and donors will encounter on that website. Neuromarketing guru Roger Dooley calls […]

Learn More March 6, 2015

70 Steps To Getting Your Direct Marketing Right

It’s been awhile since we featured master direct marketer Denny Hatch. Search him in The Agitator archives and you won’t be disappointed. He speaks his mind and he speaks wisely. For those who prefer lists to narrative, Denny’s latest list could well qualify as the mother of all DM lists. Called The Direct Marketer’s Checklist, it’s simply a […]

Learn More March 5, 2015

Design Your Donor In

The commercial marketing space is full of chatter about getting ‘customer insight’ and understanding the ‘customer experience’ with the brand and its products/services (now termed ‘Cx’). The parallel phenomenon in the nonprofit space is all the chatter about being ‘donor-centric’. I don’t use ‘chatter’ to be disparaging. I’m happy whenever I see marketing and our […]

Learn More March 4, 2015

Top 10 Secrets Of Successful Storytelling

Included in my personal pantheon of great copywriters and curmudgeons is the late, great British copywriter George Smith. In his Tiny Essential of Writing for Fundraising, George offered this observation on the importance of being succinct, relevant and engaging when it comes to storytelling … “This”, says George, “is the age of Bullshit. We live in […]

Learn More March 3, 2015

6 Habits Of Fundraising Excellence, Plus 2

Pamela Barden offered 6 Habits of Fundraising Excellence in an article last week in Fundraising Success. I thought it was a great list, but like all lists, it prompted me to think about whether there was anything I might add. First, her list: Curiosity — questioning and challenging Appreciation of people — donors are not […]

Learn More March 2, 2015