Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Pack Your Bags

This might be a good weekend to make some fall travel and conference plans. Or so I was reminded by a call from Erica Waasdorp of the firm A Direct Solution, who is serving as U.S. Ambassador for the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) held annually in The Netherlands.. The IFC is truly one of the […]

Learn More August 22, 2014

The Devil Is In The Detail

OK, we’ve got a tested strategy. We’ve developed a great case. We’ve targeted our appeal carefully. We’re using the latest database-driven capability. We’ve got terrific creative. But we flubbed it! What went wrong? Here’s a flub from KQED, public TV/radio in San Francisco. They were on the right track, but they screwed up the personalization […]

Learn More August 21, 2014

What’s Your Line?

I’m a sucker. Headlines like this always grab my attention: The Best and Worst Words to use in Email Subject Lines — New Research. Confess … which online fundraiser amongst you isn’t poised to click on that article and discover the magic words that will double your open rates? “Belford! You haven’t hotlinked to the […]

Learn More August 20, 2014

I’ll Take My Fundraising Cannibalism On the Rocks

As of yesterday, the high visibility ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ had produced $15.6 million from existing donors, plus 307,598 new donors for The ALS Association. The campaign designed to build awareness and support research for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, goes like this: People make a video of themselves or a friend dumping […]

Learn More August 19, 2014

What Sets Great Fundraisers Apart?

While you were tanning at the beach, you might have missed an interesting series of articles in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. on the theme of “What Sets Great Fundraisers Apart”. Consider these tantalizing story titles: 9 Ways Charities Can Help Fundraisers Succeed … Young Fundraisers Are Ambitious And Impatient But Need Training … and I’m […]

Learn More August 18, 2014

Winning Ideas And Idea Killers

From two marketers I read faithfully, Willis Turner and Seth Godin, here are some ideas on ideas. Willis wrote 3 Deadly Fundraising Words You Probably Don’t Even Realize You’re Saying recently in Fundraising Success. He did a wonderful riff on how the (then!!) Big Three US auto manufacturers steadfastly resisted the idea of putting cup […]

Learn More August 15, 2014