Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Are You Giving Your Donors the Trump Treatment?

For whatever unfathomable reason my brain somehow connected coverage of Donald Trump’s bizarre eulogy at a supporter’s funeral with some of the lousy behavior exhibited by some nonprofits in dealing with their donors. Let me explain. At a memorial service for Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, half of the rabidly vocal pro-Trump commentary duo of Diamond & […]

Learn More January 27, 2023

Should Your Fundraising Match a Chatbot?

Who doesn’t love a good chatbot? Version 1.0 of chatbot world was a lot like comparing Siri to Chat-GPT, it’s Artificial Stupid vs. Artificial Intelligence. But, modern day bots are increasingly more GPT-like, which means they’re more human like, more conversational, more adaptive and more helpful. Consider today’s off the shelf chatbot options allow you […]

Learn More January 25, 2023

Love or Hate AI as Writing Tool?

In 1959 a german computer scientist developed an automated text generator using Kafka’s novel, The Castle for source material. Harold Cohen, a painter, used mechanical devices attached to a computer to create versions of his original art, which he sold in galleries. This was 60 plus years ago. Using computers as writing or creative aids […]

Learn More January 23, 2023

Are You Defining Engagement Downward?

Aah Engagement, a euphemism if there ever was. An English word that once had meaning, twisted and contorted to its lowest common denominator of likes, clicks and superficial, mostly meaningless outcomes. Too many groups jump to the end and cobble together non-financial behaviors (click, like, attend, follow) and call it an “Engagement Score”. Facebook calls […]

Learn More January 20, 2023

How Much Has Donor Trust in Charities Changed in the Past 5 Years?

In this age of “fake news”, “alternative facts” “hyper partisanship” and what seems to be a general erosion of trust why should we even care? And if we care what can we fundraisers do about it? Of course, every fundraiser should care because trust is the lynchpin of a solid and sustainable relationship with a […]

Learn More January 18, 2023

Does Your Job Security Match that of a Roman Emperor?

Being a Roman Emperor came with certain upside – power, money, luxury, debauchery (if into that sort of thing)… With that upside is a high likelihood of suffering a violent death. Fundraising chieftains or those brought in to deliver a new world order won’t be publicly executed but their survival rate likely mirrors that of […]

Learn More January 13, 2023