Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Death Of A Hero

This week our community lost a great and largely unsung hero. Michael MacLeod, co-founder and chair of Public Interest Data, Inc (PIDI), died on Wednesday leaving behind his wife Whitney, his daughter Kafi, and a legion of friends and causes whose lives he touched for the better. I don’t use the term ‘hero’ lightly. In […]

Learn More November 22, 2013

Why Start With ‘Why?’

In this TED talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, Simon Sinek points us to the power of ‘Why?’ In a nutshell, his argument is that most efforts to lead — to persuade or inspire or attract others to follow or invest in what we are urging — begin at the wrong end of the communications […]

Learn More November 21, 2013

Retention: Eliminating Guesswork

The likelihood of boosting retention in your organization will occur only when fundraisers, communications folks, donor service managers, program officers, CEOs and board members — virtually everyone in the organization — understand why donors stay or leave and what steps the organization can take to assure maximum retention. Getting to the point where you can […]

Learn More November 20, 2013

Retention: Right Questions … Wrong Answers

As you can see from Tom’s post yesterday, when it comes to fundraising planning and budgeting, The Agitator clearly believes the most important questions should focus on boosting retention and increasing lifetime value. Tom phrased the ‘Boss’s’ key planning questions this way: “I read The Agitator, so please bore in a bit on retention for […]

Learn More November 19, 2013

Your Boss Wants ‘The Plan’

Fundraisers have pulled the trigger on year-end fundraising, and with fingers crossed for a successful year-end feeding frenzy, most have turned their attention to selling their 2014 budgets to their bosses. What does the boss want to know? [Now, hold your tongue a moment! Back in February we gave Agitator readers a chance to rate […]

Learn More November 18, 2013

Thoughts On National Philanthropy Day

Around the globe today, more than 100 communities and 50,000 people will have participated in events and celebrations marking National Philanthropy Day. These events, much like the one we attended on Tuesday organized by the Miami Chapter of the AFP included award ceremonies, galas, luncheons, seminars and other special activities. Outstanding donors, volunteers, corporations, foundations, […]

Learn More November 15, 2013