Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Why You?

I was reading this article on FundraisingSuccessMag.com about lessons from Haiti fundraising. The article is useful to read in its own right, but one comment in particular caught my eye and set me puzzling in a different direction. The comment, by Amanda Seller of the UN Refugee Agency: “People are so informed that we are […]

Learn More August 11, 2010

Dare To Run The Agitator Gauntlet?

Friday I showed you an online fundraising appeal from environmental group EDF. And I had the temerity to say it was damn good, asking … what’s wrong with this appeal? Whoa! We received a whole bunch of comments on the appeal … most of them critical. Mostly on two accounts … first, the copywriting itself […]

Learn More August 10, 2010

But Will It Make You Happy?

Last week, I wrote about the state of mind of today’s consumer as reported by Business Week in The New Abnormal, and why fundraisers should study basic consumer research. As The New Abnormal said: “Americans are broke and depressed — and also swilling $3 lattes and waiting in lines for iPhones. Welcome to the schizophrenic […]

Learn More August 9, 2010

What’s Wrong With This Online Appeal?

See full email appeal here Nothing is wrong, as best I can tell. Personalized to “Tom” The appeal has urgency … delivered by the message itself and the “progress bar” showing amount raised to date against the campaign deadline. It’s clear what efforts my donation will support (as is the experience behind it). There are […]

Learn More August 6, 2010

What’s Working In Fundraising Today?

Our always-thoughtful fundraising colleague, Lisa Sargent, recently interviewed a dozen plus nonprofit execs re the fundraising issues they’re facing today. She publishes her observations in this report, What’s Working in Donor Fundraising and Development Today? It’s definitely worth a read. These execs, at nonprofits ranging from $2 million to $2 billion in annual revenue, talk […]

Learn More August 5, 2010

The New Abnormal

In case you missed it, BusinessWeek just ran a terrific article, The New Abnormal, on the current state of consumer spending and psychology. The teaser sub-head says it all: “Americans are broke and depressed — and also swilling $3 lattes and waiting in lines for iPhones. Welcome to the schizophrenic economy.” It’s a marvelous article, […]

Learn More August 4, 2010