Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Stop the Direct Mail Testing

Is your direct mail testing on auto-pilot? Are you testing out of habit? We hear a lot of very smart, sophisticated direct marketers working for big non-profit brands tell us this. If you are one of them it is time to get off the merry-go-round and stop testing (with the current approach). These same marketers […]

Learn More September 25, 2014

No Fire, No Risk, No Challenge

Roger appears to be in an agitated — and agitating — mood. Recently he’s written When Founders Leave, which talks about the progressive loss of ‘fire in the belly’ when nonprofits, especially advocacy groups, are taken over by ‘hired gun’ executives and development directors. And a couple of weeks earlier, he wrote In Praise Of […]

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When Founders Leave

Make no mistake. Most fundraisers today have little fire in their bellies compared to the founders of their movements. That’s not their fault. But it is a reminder that movements and causes pretty quickly run out of steam when founders retire, die or otherwise leave the scene. That’s the principal reason most of today’s advocacy […]

Learn More September 24, 2014

[FNAME] Never Works

Axciom is certainly one of the top bananas when it comes to database marketing. These folks breathe data. So I was struck by a short post by David Baker, Axciom’s VP of Digital Product Solutions, in which he actually warns against going overboard with respect to personalizing marketing messages. Here — in [FNAME] Never Works […]

Learn More September 23, 2014

15 Signs Your Fundraising Is Tanking

Fundraising maven Gail Perry, writing in Fundraising Success awhile back, noted some serious signs that might indicate your fundraising is faltering. In 5 Clues Your Fundraising Is Headed Downhill, she offered these indicators: 1. Revolving door in the development office. 2. Laying all the fundraising on one person. 3. Changing fundraising strategy too often. 4. […]

Learn More September 22, 2014

Do I Need Your Attention?

Of course I do. The question seems almost ridiculous on its face. Fundraisers are constantly battling their rivals for the attention of donors … even when a relationship with the given donor already exists. And of course, other fundraisers are not the only marketers competing for the awareness and attention of your donors. Our attention […]

Learn More September 19, 2014