Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Show This To Your Board, Or Go Sit On Your Thumb

Last week, Roger did a good job of rattling the cage with his post, What Is The Watchdog Watching? He basically said: P*** on the obsession with fundraising overhead. But that was just a warm-up. Watch this TED presentation — The way we think about charity is dead wrong — by Dan Pallotta, an extraordinary […]

Learn More March 18, 2013

What Is The Watchdog Watching?

This week the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that members of the Direct Marketing Association are working on an official protest against the watchdog Charity Navigator. At issue is Charity Navigator’s decision to challenge a longstanding accounting practice to count some of the money nonprofits spend in the course of fundraising as ‘program costs’ rather than […]

Learn More March 15, 2013

Flat Earth Fundraising: 15 Fundraising Mistakes To Avoid

Here’s a classic marketing question: When do I imitate versus when do I innovate? As much as Roger and I bemoan a lack of innovation today in fundraising, without question there are plenty of ‘lessons learned’ that all fundraisers should seriously consider before launching into change for change sake. Another way of putting it is […]

Learn More March 14, 2013

Flat Earth Fundraising: The High Cost Of Mistreating Suppliers

Some nonprofit fundraisers squeeze so hard on price that it’s enough to make a Hong Kong jeweler cry. Others treat their suppliers and consultants like some hired hand, there to do their bidding no matter how stupid and short-sighted. Still others — the successful and innovative (surprise!) – have mastered the art of building lasting, […]

Learn More March 13, 2013

Do You Close The Bathroom Door Even When You’re The Only Person Home?

With that question, as part of a personality quiz to prospective readers of the magazine Psychology Today, the late, great copywriter Bill Jayme dramatically increased the circulation of that magazine. The right question — those that get to the heart of consumer and donor attitudes — are not only key to acquisition, they’re even more […]

Learn More March 12, 2013

So What?

Good answers are impossible without good questions. And in the era of ‘big data’, integrated marketing, and CRM (by whatever name), knowing the right questions to ask is even tougher yet important to sort out, lest one become paralyzed by data. In her article in Fundraising Success — Are We Focused on the Wrong Metrics […]

Learn More March 11, 2013