Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Using Videos For Retention

Here are some suggestions about using videos to encourage retention from Peter Reynolds at For the Record Productions in Toronto, relayed via fundraising firm Hilborn. Actually, Peter believes all the various videos a nonprofit should have in its repertoire can contribute to retaining donors. He sees that repertoire as including a ‘flagship’ video, a video […]

Learn More March 31, 2014

Death Of A Large Presence

In the fundraising marching band of impressive and memorable characters Tom and I have known over the years, Bill Dixon was the Drum Major. A big man, with a booming voice and boisterous laugh, love of life and passionately committed to human dignity and equality, Bill passed away March 22nd at age 81 in Richmond. […]

Learn More March 28, 2014

Order Forms & Landing Pages

As much as The Agitator dwells on strategic concepts like donor commitment and donor-centric communications, there’s no question that fundraisers have got to get basic execution right as well. Here are two examples … 3 Ways to Improve Your Direct Mail Order Form, from Paul Bobnak at Who’s Mailing What, really boils it down: Keep […]

Learn More March 27, 2014

Nonprofit Narcissism

The other day, in a post titled The Fundraisers Lemniscate, Roger included this comment by accomplished fundraiser Tony Elischer: “Fundraising is not about asking for gifts, it is about giving gifts, the gifts of enabling people to express themselves, their values and their beliefs; we help people make sense of this crazy world we live […]

Learn More March 26, 2014

Discover Your Missing Middle

‘Mid-level giving’ is an essential element in any fundraising program. Sadly, in practice it’s one of those buzzwords lots of fundraisers talk about, few understand and even fewer know how or where to begin. This is why a new study, The Missing: Neglecting Middle Donors Is Costing You Millions, released Sunday at the AFP is […]

Learn More March 25, 2014

The Fundraisers’ Lemniscate

There’s no way fundraisers can achieve a brighter future by repeating the same tactics, recycling the same thinking again and again. Tactics and thinking that clearly no longer work the way they did a generation ago. You know the signs: falling acquisition rates, lousy retention, diminishing donor value and commitment. Different times require different thoughts, […]

Learn More March 24, 2014