Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Who’s Got The Toughest Job?

Yesterday I talked about the OgilvyOne supreme challenge of salesmanship — selling a plain red brick. I’ve been thinking about what might be the equivalent challenge in the nonprofit arena today … is there a cause or charity that’s metaphorically the "red brick?" Dare I ask you if any of you fundraisers or communicators wake […]

Learn More April 2, 2010

Who Is Your Best Salesperson?

As reported in the NY Times, OgilvyOne has launched an international contest on YouTube to identify the "world’s greatest salesperson." Contestants must submit a 1-2 minute video in which they sell a common red brick! The winner gets a three-month fellowship at Ogilvy, during which they will help write a new "Guide to selling in […]

Learn More April 1, 2010

Terrible Fundraising Headline

I love Todd Cohen’s Philanthropy Journal. Excellent range of content. I’m a faithful reader. But I hate this March 26 headline: Fundraising out of sync with giving habits Todd’s story leads as follows: "Technology is changing the way people give, with different generations preferring to give in different ways, and nonprofits should adjust their fundraising […]

Learn More March 31, 2010

More On Checklists

Early in March, we published Checklist Heaven, a post citing direct marketing wiz Denny Hatch on the value of checklists for direct marketers. Denny in turn had been inspired by The Checklist Manifesto, a book written by Atul Gawande. All of this prompted UK’s John Rodd to go buy the book, and write this review, […]

Learn More March 30, 2010

Nonprofit “Customer Service”

As presented in Fast Company, here are some tips on building loyalty via exceptional customer service. They’re offered by Micah Solomon, co-author of Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit. Do nonprofits have "customers" and do they deliver "customer service"? You better believe it! I think every one of Solomon’s seven tips applies … especially when you roll […]

Learn More March 29, 2010

New Generational Giving Data

Convio has produced this valuable white paper on generational giving patterns. It’s based on a 2010 survey of 1500 recent donors to nonprofits. The paper is framed around four segments — Matures, Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y. It’s chock full of data on how different generations give, their giving amounts, how they interact with […]

Learn More March 26, 2010