Award Winning Blog - Agitator

What’s In A Job Title?

We all know that job titles can be either very misleading, sometimes actually disguising — and often overstating — what the person really does with their time (‘Chief Executive’, for example), or on the other hand, helpfully precise (e.g., Production Manager, Direct Mail). To get a sense of the range of people who are reading The Agitator, […]

Learn More March 24, 2015

Be Happy. No Water!

What a difference a day or two makes. On Friday, I was greeted by several sources pointing out that it was World Happiness Day. And who other than the troubador of happiness Pharrell Williams was addressing the United Nations on the subject. There are a variety of ‘world happiness’ measures floating around. If you want […]

Learn More March 23, 2015

The Most Pathetic Story I’ve Heard

No sooner had I finished reading Tom’s post — The Greatest Story Ever Told — than the phone rang with an irritated U.K. reader at the other end. ( I think the Brits refer to this state as ‘in high dudgeon’.) No, he wasn’t complaining about Tom’s post. Rather, in a tone signaling 1/3 incredulity, […]

Learn More March 20, 2015

The Greatest Story Ever Told

How many times have you heard that effective fundraising — moving people in general, making a durable impression — revolves around storytelling. Tapping into the hardwiring in the lizard part of our brain. Dates back to communicating in the cave. And all that. Here, perhaps, is the best ever example of the power of storytelling. If […]

Learn More March 19, 2015

22 Really Useful Customer Retention Stats

Today I stumbled upon an article titled Top 5 Keys to Customer Retention. The article itself was crap, and since it’s my job to protect you from such overwrought drivel, I won’t give you a link to it. That said, the article did include a link leading to some fascinating customer retention stats … 22 […]

Learn More March 18, 2015

Are You Abusing Your Donors?

Over the weekend I read a piece by Gerry Adams on his New Thinking blog that got me wondering whether in the name of ‘donor engagement’, ‘donor experience’ and ‘multi-channel marketing’ many nonprofits are in fact abusing their donors. Let me explain. Using a 2014 Ernst & Young study of 24,000 insurance consumers, Gerry noted that […]

Learn More March 17, 2015