Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Another Unsustainable Trend

I open the emails I receive from Analytical Ones with great trepidation. These folks are masters of bad news, as The Agitator has previously reported here and here. Their latest message didn’t disappoint me. [Is that the correct thing to say?!] Their apparently endless reservoir of bad news is yet to run dry. Here’s the […]

Learn More February 18, 2014

Presidents Day

With our fellow Americans, Roger and I are celebrating Presidents Day, so we’re just passing along a brief message of caution to those of our readers elsewhere in the world who have shown up at your desks this Monday morning brimming with fresh ideas and enthusiasm. When it comes to celebrating presidents, I’m partial to […]

Learn More February 17, 2014

Fundraising Land Grab

On Valentine’s Day, it’s fitting that The Agitator focus on fundraising’s equivalent of the ‘going steady’ relationship — the sustaining, committed or monthly giving donor. Chuck Longfield, founder of Target Analytics and chief scientist at Blackbaud, is one of my favorite fundraising analysts and observers. He preaches a lot about retention and how monthly giving […]

Learn More February 14, 2014

The Beauty Effect In Fundraising

The February Conference of the Direct Marketing Association’s Nonprofit Federation (DMANF) opens today in Washington, DC. I won’t be able to make it, but have been reading the program. I’m deeply concerned that an essential, if widely unexplored, topic basic to fundraising is missing. There’s plenty about analytics, monthly giving, how to do this and […]

Learn More February 13, 2014

What Motivates People To Give?

A logical argument? Well researched and presented facts? Proof of results? Hyped-up urgency? A promise of recognition? Any of those might suffice. But perhaps you’ll find a better answer in this video … “Giving is the best communication.” Not bad for a commercial! Tom Thanks for the pointer Ken.

Learn More February 12, 2014

It’s Still Email Folks

Just because I posted yesterday on latest Facebook user facts, don’t let that suggest to you that I’m getting all giddy over social media. No, that place in my digital heart belongs to email. And corporate consultancy McKinsey reminds me why in their recent study, Why marketers should keep sending you e-mails, (reported here by BrightWave […]

Learn More February 11, 2014