Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Insight Into Donor-Advised Giving

Hats off to Schwab for providing valuable insight into the giving behavior of their donor-advised fund customers. Schwab has released a report providing giving data both since inception of their fund in 1999 and greater detail on fiscal year 2015. Because donor funds are invested by Schwab, it’s nice to see that, since inception, donor funds held in […]

Learn More October 9, 2015

Mobile Monday

Agitator readers know I’m not a big fan of Giving Tuesday. In fact, I’m considering a counter-insurgency campaign, called ‘Mobile Monday’. I don’t care which Monday … maybe every Monday for the fast learners and early adopters. Many once a year for the digitally-challenged. Why? To put a needed focus on the channel through which […]

Learn More October 8, 2015

Fundraising So Simple Only a Child Can Do It Well

The other day I stumbled across a company that raises big bucks in peer-to-peer fundraising for elementary schools in the US. You’ll find it at Boosterthon.com and their proposition is simple. They provide a fully automated peer-to-peer website where parents and kids can plug in videos and photos. The result is an easy-as-pie fundraising campaign […]

Learn More October 7, 2015

And The Band Played On

As Roger wrote last Friday, commenting on the latest Fundraising Effectiveness Report, the nonprofit sector is losing donors faster than it’s gaining them. I’d put it more bluntly … we’re on a sinking ship. Hey, but it’s only a slow leak. At an annual net loss of ‘only’ 3%, it will take us nearly 35 […]

Learn More October 6, 2015

Fundraising Common Sense

Tom and I are always grateful for Comments by fellow Agitators and we weren’t disappointed to the remarks triggered by the post on the 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report. All the insights were terrific, but I was particularly struck by Michael Rosen’s comment on how quickly some folks seem to dismiss the importance and skill required […]

Learn More October 5, 2015

2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Report: Read It and Weep

The AFP/Urban Institute’s 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report (FEP) is now out. The results are nothing short of depressing. Bottom-line results in terms of donors and dollars for 2014, the period covered by the Report: Every 100 donors gained in 2014 was offset by 103 in lost donors through attrition. A net loss in donors of […]

Learn More October 2, 2015