Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Blackbaud Pruning & Improving Its Orchard

This Sunday Blackbaud’s bbcon 2012 conference opens at the Gaylord National just south of Washington, D.C. Because 33,000+ nonprofits, including thousands of Agitator readers, use Blackbaud products, Tom and I felt this was an appropriate time to review Blackbaud’s progress following its Spring 2012 merger with Convio. Our initial concern over the merger is evidenced […]

Learn More September 28, 2012

Acquisition: Asking The Wrong Question

Our August post on Catch & Release Fishing focused — yet again — on the burning need to get serious about retention. At the time Lisa Sargent worried that our intense focus on retention might be interpreted as damning acquisition in general, and she urged us to do more on the flip side of the […]

Learn More September 27, 2012

The Quadriga Plot Thickens

In its second installment on fundraising this week, CNN, via Anderson Cooper 360, again criticized the fundraising practices of Quadriga Art. This time CNN says eleven charities “have been turned upside down” by millions of dollars of debt to Quadriga. For example, Help the Children in California received $32,000 out of hundreds of thousands raised. […]

Learn More September 26, 2012

CNN Continues Investigation Of Quadriga Art

As Roger anticipated in his post last week, Take This To Your Board and CEO Today, CNN’s investigation of the fundraising practices of Quadriga Art and certain of its clients continues. Last night, CNN aired this segment on Anderson Cooper 360, this time reporting that the Disabled Veterans National Foundation, a Quadriga Art client already […]

Learn More September 24, 2012

Who Are You Writing To?

All the great fundraising copywriters agree on one key piece of advice … construct a very clear archetypal image (demographically, psychographically, culturally) of the individual you are writing to, and then write as though you were speaking to that person face-to-face. Most fundraising copywriters these days probably have in their mind’s eye some version of […]

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The Boomer Brain

Here via Ad Age are some tips from the neuroscientists at Nielsen Neurofocus on communicating to Boomers … you know, the people with 70% of the net worth in America. According to Neurofocus … Color Within the Lines: Boomers can have trouble processing visual presentations that are too complex, and fail to see stuff around […]

Learn More September 21, 2012