Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Your Views On The ‘Trick Or Tweak’ Debate?

Could you resist reading an article titled: “Simple tweak could nearly double the amount you give to charity”? And what would be your first expectation of what that ‘tweak’ might be? A matching gift offer? Some design/creative gimmick? A breakthrough premium? Use of a video? A magic word in the email subject line? Well, the […]

Learn More November 18, 2014

Fundraising Data And The Cost Of Embalming An Elephant

Dearly Beloved, I grew up in the death business — flowers, funerals and the high cost of dying — and I’m sure glad those high-priced days are long gone. Today there are many options. Cremation. Low cost, bio-degradable ‘green’ caskets. Consumer funeral societies. All aimed at bringing reality and reasonable costs to the post-death process. […]

Learn More November 17, 2014

State Of The Canadian Nonprofit Web

It’s been 10 years and 5 Harry Potter movies since 2004 and the approach of Canadian nonprofits to their websites hasn’t changed much since. That’s the conclusion of the brilliant 2014 State of the Web Nation, a landmark website benchmarking study of Canadian charities. This detailed study, conducted over the past 11 months and just […]

Learn More November 14, 2014

Wanted: Young Fundraising Writers

We’re long overdue for an intergenerational and intercontinental post. After all, both of us are nearing our sell-by date … The Agitator is edited from New Zealand and the US … and both of us care a bunch about encouraging the next generation of fundraising agitators. To that end we’re delighted to join forces with […]

Learn More November 13, 2014

‘Millennial’ Rants

Here’s a rant from Matt Burghdoff — an Agitator reader, a fundraiser at Donordigital, and a Millennial. Now, I don’t know Matt personally from Adam (or Eve), but if he works at Donordigital he can’t be all bad. However, because he’s a ‘Millennial’, there are certain things I should confidently know about Matt, according to […]

Learn More November 12, 2014

Donor Churn: How To Stop It Before It Starts

Few organizations truly understand why donors leave, let alone know when the donor makes the decision to leave. As a result, millions are spent in the mistaken belief that donor churn (aka ‘attrition’) can be solved through navel-gazing ‘best practices’ labeled with all sorts of nonsensical terms like ‘stewardship’, ‘engagement or loyalty touchpoints’, ‘ask/no ask’. […]

Learn More November 11, 2014