Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Fundraisers Fined $24 Million

The Attorney General of New York has just announced a $24.6 million settlement with a veterans charity and its fundraisers. This is the largest financial settlement won by fundraising regulators in U.S. history. CNN broke the news last night on Anderson Cooper 360. You’ll recall it was that network’s investigative team who first surfaced the […]

Learn More July 1, 2014

We Promised Him 10 Minutes

The other day I did a post on Selling Your Board On Direct Response. I don’t know if you noticed, but Agitator reader Mike Cowart added a comment that takes the cake. Mike says: “I was invited to do a board presentation by the CDO of a large hospital foundation. The Board Chairman owned several […]

Learn More June 30, 2014

Is Your Fundraising Stuck?

Or is it just you? Yes, your fundraising could be flatlining because the economy is still struggling. Or those dullards over on the program side simply aren’t doing anything exciting enough to energize donors. Or your CEO was just charged with embezzlement. Or some other ‘exogenous’ factor over which you have no control. Or it […]

Learn More June 27, 2014

Groundhog Day In June

Tom’s post, Selling Your Board on Direct Response, served as a painful reminder that many of our Agitator brothers and sisters are right now ending the agony of the ‘budget season’ in those groups where the fiscal year begins in July. This perennial run-up or countdown to the final draft and ultimate adoption of the […]

Learn More June 26, 2014

When ‘Branding’ Rears Its Ugly Head

Sooner or later someone in your organization, totally devoid of fundraising knowledge (likely the CEO, a board member or the spouse of one) is going to come up with the brilliant idea of changing your organization’s name. Or your logo. Or your tagline. Or your graphics and copy style. Heaven help you. Because if they […]

Learn More June 25, 2014

Play It Again, Sam

In his recent Fundraising Success post, premiere copywriter Willis Turner talks about repetition. As in, when it your fundraising package works, use it again. And again. Until it fails. As he puts it: “…don’t be afraid of repetition unless and until it proves itself a bad idea for your particular organization. There’s too much to […]

Learn More June 24, 2014