Award Winning Blog - Agitator

No Money On The First Date

Marketing maven Seth Godin wrote The First Transaction, an interesting post about the need for cultivation to precede any ask for money. It’s a short post, so I’m reproducing most of it here … "Digital transactions are essentially free for you to provide. I can give you permission to teach me something. I can watch […]

Learn More December 15, 2009

$10 Million Gets My Attention

Regular readers know I urge "restraint" with respect to social media fundraising … in the sense that I believe there are higher priorities if your goal is to raise money today. But I received a message recently from Mandy O’Neill at Charity Dynamics, an interactive marketing agency, describing some of their success with fundraising — […]

Learn More December 14, 2009

When Silence Is Golden

I noticed this brief post on Social Media’s SmartBlog. It makes a hugely important point about social media. "It’s tempting to focus on social media as a pulpit for your own ideas. Who will you connect with? What will you say to them? How will you build those relationships into something tangible? But the fact […]

Learn More December 11, 2009

Only “C” For This Fundraising Video

An Agitator reader commended this fundraising video … "I loved this video appeal from the Jewish Federation in Philadelphia. It is simple and lovely, probably low budget." http://www.jewishphilly.org/page.aspx?ID=204926 I’m afraid I have to disagree. I’m always saying "more emotion" in fundraising. Certainly this video (more like a slide show) tries to touch our heartstrings … […]

Learn More December 10, 2009

Grist Online Fundraising

Last week, I received an email fundraising pitch from Grist, the environmental e-magazine … A Beacon In The Smog. I thought it was very well put together … 1. It used video (you know I like that!). 2. It’s style and tone was totally consistent with the Grist brand — used humor nicely. 3. Most […]

Learn More December 9, 2009

Finding Red Balloons

Here’s a fascinating Defense Department experiment that nonprofits can learn from. DoD offered a $40,000 prize to whomever was first to locate ten red balloons placed in various locations around the US … some in very obvious places, some not so obvious. The balloons were eight meters in diameter. The winning team, from MIT, found […]

Learn More December 8, 2009