Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Raise More, Ask Less — Part 3

At this point it’s abundantly clear that simple ‘ask more, make more’ is a broken or at least badly dented concept—especially for those organizations that engage in 15 or more appeals/asks with their donors each year. (For those still struggling to get their CEOs or Boards to buy in to a schedule of 3, 4 […]

Learn More April 16, 2015

Raise More, Ask Less — Part 2

Can you really raise more money by asking fewer times? Absolutely. Or so argues Kevin Schulman in his paper aimed at stirring the pot for our Agitator discussion. Download the paper here. There are at least two ways to do this. One fairly simple. The other more effective, but requiring a bit more work and […]

Learn More April 15, 2015

Raise More, Ask Less — Part 1

I’ve been around long enough to know the unmistakable squeal of conventional wisdom being challenged. So, when my St. Patrick’s Day post — Are You Abusing Your Donors? — triggered a barrage of comments and protestations pro and con I knew some nerves had been struck. And it wasn’t because of leprechauns or green beer. It was […]

Learn More April 14, 2015

Greenpeace … Show Us The Money!

This is of course a friendly request (and I stress that), not a demand. Greenpeace has been conducting an exemplar online advocacy campaign — centered on Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling plans — for about the last 30-odd days. The Agitator first wrote about the campaign on March 13. Over this period, the campaign brilliantly grew […]

Learn More April 13, 2015

The Gut-Punch Of Plagiarism

[Editor’s Note: Sorry for the late notice, but here’s a chance TODAY at 1pm eastern to hear Roger in action on Tony Martignetti’s Nonprofit Radio. Listen live. Or listen to the archived version at your leisure.] We at The Agitator are fans of Lisa Sargent. She’s a solid fundraising professional who freely shares her excellent communications […]

Learn More April 10, 2015

Fixing Hidden Leaks #2: Donation Pages And Payment Systems

When it comes to gathering online contributions, all you learned in Monday’s How to Write Good post is worthless if your donation pages and payment systems suck. Never in my pontificating life did I dream I’d be down into the weeds exploring such minutiae. But hey, the life of a fundraising pundit sometimes must involve detail. […]

Learn More April 9, 2015