Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Basic Is Beautiful

Cleaning out my tips file, I came across two pieces of recent advice that are pretty basic, but all the more reason to be reinforced! From Margaret Battistelli Gardner at Fundraising Success, 5 Direct Mail Fundraising Musts: 1. Tell stories, stories, stories. 2. Make sure premiums are tied to your mission. 3. Test, test and […]

Learn More October 9, 2012

Getting Inside Your Donor’s Right Brain

I’ve been really struggling to actually like my Kindle reader. Perhaps I chose the wrong book to get excited about e-readers … my first real attempt is The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, by British neuropsychiatrist Iain McGilchrist. I can assure you, the problem is not […]

Learn More October 8, 2012

“We Are Not Your Grandfather’s Oldsmobile”

A few posts back, we asked readers to suggest additional organizations to be included in the next DonorVoice/Agitator Donor Commitment Study. We received a few dozen suggestions … they’re still coming in. Many thanks. We also received this email from Brad Boyd at the Kiwanis Foundation of Indianapolis, which I’m publishing in its entirety: “Down […]

Learn More October 5, 2012

Planned Giving Research Insights

The Stelter Company has reported on its recent survey research (phone survey targeting age 40+ donors) regarding planned giving. Some findings from their report — What Makes Them Give? (registration required to download): Fully 60% of ‘best prospects’ are age 40-54. 20% of current planned givers say they had been donating to the nonprofit for […]

Learn More October 4, 2012

Contribute To This List … And Help Yourself

The Agitator and DonorVoice have chosen the 50 organizations to be included in our 2nd Annual National Donor Commitment Study. This is a large survey of active U.S. donors in the acquisition market to determine which organizations and charitable sectors have the highest — and lowest — Donor Commitment Scores. The results will be published […]

Learn More October 3, 2012

Acquisition: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Before we wade into the nuts, bolts, techniques, pitfalls and opportunities in our Acquisition Series, we want to once more remind everyone of the climate in which today’s acquisition efforts are conducted. Long before the recent spate of media attention on acquisition costs and practices, there was a growing belief on the part of donors […]

Learn More October 2, 2012