Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Acquisition: Prospecting Hope For Small Organizations

Sadly, when it comes to direct mail acquisition the deck is stacked against small organizations; especially those with a regional or local mission focus. The main question they face: How to get enough quality/responsive names to build a donor base? Traditionally, there just aren’t that many donor names available for exchange or rental from other […]

Learn More November 12, 2012

Fundraising Needs An Emotional Revolution

Francesco Ambrogetti, fundraising advisor for UNAIDS in Geneva, recently made a strong case for an “emotional revolution” in fundraising in this article written for 101 Fundraising … Cry me a river: WHY and HOW emotions can save fundraising and the nonprofit world. Any fundraiser worth his or her salt knows the driving power of emotions. […]

Learn More November 9, 2012

The Fundraising Long View

Much will be written about the fundraising and communication tactics of the winning Obama campaign and how they apply (or don’t) to nonprofit fundraising (or at least cause fundraising). But it’s the nation’s demographic trends — reported here by Pew Research — that most strike me in terms of impact on future fundraising strategies. And […]

Learn More November 8, 2012

So, How Did They Get Their Money?

OK, it’s over. Time in the US for fundraisers to get back to work. With the election over, ‘all’ you need to compete with now is disaster aftermath and (if you’re an online fundraiser) the unrelenting torrent of retail e-marketing (already underway) that marks the Christmas season and grows each year. But before moving on, […]

Learn More November 7, 2012

Acquisition: Predictive Analytics And The Presidency

History’s most expensive acquisition effort – the $2 billion campaign for the US Presidency – comes to an end today. Hopefully by late tonight, or at least in the next few days, we’ll know which voter acquisition campaign was the most successful. Apart from our personal interests in today’s outcomes, we fundraisers should pay particular […]

Learn More November 6, 2012

Disaster Fundraising: Hurricane Sandy The Perfect Storm

Here’s a quick summary of actions, responses, questions, advice and, perhaps most importantly, the ‘unknowns’ concerning Hurricane Sandy and fundraising. Every fundraiser is affected. Doesn’t matter whether your organization is in disaster relief or not, or where it’s located. This horrific tragedy comes right after a hard-fought political fundraising season, right before the all-important year-end […]

Learn More November 5, 2012