Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Fundraising GPS: Steering On The Past Or Future? Or Both?

Fundraisers, unlike practitioners in most other sectors, generally navigate their way forward by steering through the rear view mirror. Today, we’re offering Agitator readers two rear view mirror views … and one through-the-windshield view. Two recent reports on 2012 US giving have just hit our desk. Plus one sophisticated forecast for 2013. I regret to […]

Learn More February 5, 2013

Telephoning Works

After last week’s focus on sexy social media, it is with some trepidation that I turn this week to — dare I say it?! — mundane telephone fundraising. So yesterday. At first I wasn’t going to do this. We received an email from Rebecca Patterson at Pell & Bales, who offered a three-part series on […]

Learn More February 4, 2013

Marketers from Mars

I just read this report from ExactTarget — Marketers from Mars — which underscored for me how marketers, including fundraisers, can get too far out in front of their audiences. The report makes many comparisons about marketers’ use of social media versus consumers. For example … 90% of marketers own smartphones; only 51% of consumers […]

Learn More February 1, 2013

Nielsen’s “Social Media Report – 2012”

Market research firm Nielsen has just released what should be one of the more authoritative reviews of consumer use of social media —The-Social-Media-Report-2012. Very comprehensive information that you’ll find helpful as you plan the level of effort your organization should be making with media like mobile and social nets. Some factoids: 17% of US consumer […]

Learn More January 31, 2013

You Don’t Own Me!

A very pithy post by Seth Godin this week … Owning vs. renting You don’t own attention or trust or shelf space. You don’t even own tomorrow’s plans. It’s all for rent, with a cancellation clause that can kick in at any time. The moment you start treating the rental like a right, it disappears. […]

Learn More January 30, 2013

Before You Quit, Rate Your Nonprofit CEO

Hold your horses. In a moment we’ll give you a chance to vent confidentially with an Agitator Survey on CEOs, Boards and other horrors in your fundraising life. But first, the serious and disturbing reasons behind the Agitator Survey. Over the past decade the number of nonprofits has shot up by 47% to a whopping […]

Learn More January 29, 2013