Award-Winning Blog


Meet Gary

In this white paper, Your Donor in 3D, fundraising agency Good Works introduces Gary … your typical three-dimensional donor. Their point is that fundraisers need to speak to three aspects of the donor’s awareness — rational, emotional and spiritual. The white paper elaborates on these eight ways to conduct the conversation … 1. Tell stories […]

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Would Your Nonprofit Have The Guts?

To produce this PSA? A few days ago I asked for advice on how to make a nonprofit sexy (since this is advice experts give us on marketing to Boomers). Maybe this isn’t a bad example from the American Jewish World Service! Tom

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Where Do Good Ideas Come From?

The Agitator, of course! Seriously, I heartily recommend a great book I just read over the Thanksgiving holiday … Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, by Steven Johnson. This is no 10-point checklist for winning the Nobel Prize in fundraising; however, it contains numerous insights into the personal, organizational and societal […]

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How Much Fundraising R&D?

Yesterday I summarized Ken Burnett’s recent recommendations regarding “7 things for fundraisers to do now.” Two that I think are especially important relate to fundraising R&D and knowing your data. Regarding R&D, Ken recommends earmarking (‘ring-fencing’ as the Brits say) 10% of your fundraising budget for rigorous testing of new ideas. While of course there’s […]

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7 Things For Fundraisers To Do Now

Fundraiser Ken Burnett wrote this great article for Advancing Philanthropy. Pursuing the theme of “turning talk into action,” he recommends Seven different yet practical things you should be doing, now. Here’s an abbreviated list, but it’s always worth reading Ken in his entirety. Master your data. Make it a pleasure to be your donor. Invest […]

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ClickZ Politics & Advocacy

ClickZ, an online marketing news service, offers a feed focused on online political and advocacy marketing. Agitator readers in the cause world might want to check it out. The latest edition includes an item on how Urban Ministries of Durham (in Durham, North Carolina) is using the mobile app Foursquare to draw attention to homelessness […]

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