Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Call Them ‘Donors’ … Not ‘Users’

There’s a movement afoot in the tech world to put ‘people’ first — before content, before design, and before software. Hopefully the same thing will catch on in the nonprofit world and ‘donors’ will rule. For example, Facebook recently announced they have begun referring to ‘people’ as people, not users. And before Facebook weighed in, […]

Learn More January 29, 2015

The Risk Not Taken

At the start of the year Steve MacLaughlin, Blackbaud’s Director of Analytics, in his post 5 Things That Won’t Happen in 2015 hit on what I consider the biggest risk facing nonprofits these days — doing nothing. Sure, not so long ago maintaining the status quo — repeating the same activities year after year — […]

Learn More January 28, 2015

Acquisition Addiction

Acquisition addiction is to fundraisers what steroids are to professional cyclists. Its contagious nature stems from the perception that since every one else is doing/using, I’m at a competitive disadvantage if I don’t. Peer pressure at its worst. I’ve just read Are You Addicted to Acquisition?, written by Ece Ünver, on the Fundraising 101 blog. […]

Learn More January 27, 2015

Are You A McDonald’s Or Chipotle Fundraiser?

The Shake Shack Economy, a recent article in The New Yorker, is far more than a terrific business story. It’s a thought-provoking piece about changing demographics and trends and what is possible for companies that take the far lesser worn — but far more profitable — path of category creation (i.e., fast-casual dining) versus the […]

Learn More January 26, 2015

Losing Trust … Building Trust

Global PR giant Edelman has released its 2015 Trust Barometer, which shows “evaporating” trust — worldwide — for media, business, nonprofits and many governments (the institution with already the lowest trust levels). Most Agitator readers will probably first want to know where trust levels stand in your country (27 were studied), and how nonprofits stack […]

Learn More January 23, 2015

Battling The Bullies

In August last year The Agitator ran a three-part series — here, here, and here — on how some politicians and their special interest supporters are attempting to intimidate, discredit and destroy nonprofits they oppose by misapplying fundraising regulations. Particularly outrageous were the actions of Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s Attorney General and his special interest bankrollers […]

Learn More January 22, 2015