Award Winning Blog - Agitator

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

Pontificating Versus Ranting

A recent email to The Agitator urged Roger and me, among other things, to stop pontificating. Wanting to know precisely the crime we were accused of, I consulted the Oxford Dictionary, where I found this definition: Pontificate: Express one’s opinions in a pompous and dogmatic way. Hmmm, I concluded, she must have been talking about Roger. […]

Learn More March 16, 2015

An A+ For Greenpeace

I received an irresistible email from Greenpeace today. Its subject line was: Is this you Tom? How could you NOT open an email like that? What did they catch me doing?! I’ll wager a very high open rate for these emails. The personalized email develops into a pitch for volunteers to undertaken some undisclosed mission for […]

Learn More March 13, 2015