Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Who’s Using The Internet, Anyway?

With pressure to reduce costs, direct response fundraisers will likely turn up the volume on their online solicitation efforts. So, who’s using the internet these days? Here’s the latest internet user profile from Gallup, using as the key barometer the percentage of Americans who use the internet more than one hour per day (though additional […]

Learn More January 15, 2009

Who Is Your Ten Year Donor?

If your nonprofit has been around long enough, you might be lucky enough to have a small percentage of donors who have stuck around for ten years plus. What do you know about these special people? Do you think they were just "born" loyal? Have you ever surveyed or interviewed them? (If so, did you […]

Learn More January 14, 2009

Fundraisers: Don’t Count On Boomers!

When we released our recent DonorTrends white paper, Giving Across the Generations, we noted the reported fall-off in Boomer (1946-1964) giving, compared to older and younger generations. Discussing the phenomenon, we cited a study by Pew Research, which termed Boomers "The Gloomiest Generation." Pew’s study paints a picture where Boomers are quite pessimistic about their […]

Learn More January 13, 2009

Donor Acquisition In A Recession

Awhile back, reporting on results from our Vital Signs survey on fundraisers’ assessment of their near-term fundraising prospects, I expressed surprise that a handful of respondents indicated they would be increasing their new donor acquisition efforts in 2009. What I expected was that most fundraisers would face terrific pressure, based on falling returns and management […]

Learn More January 12, 2009

Read ‘Em And Weep –One More Time!

Last night Target Analytics released the results of their Index of National Fundraising Performance for the 3rd Quarter of 2008. While this benchmarking system always lags reality, it also makes clear the bad cards fundraisers were dealt in the recession of 2007-2008.The last time we reported on The Index, the number of donors was declining, […]

Learn More January 9, 2009

Fundraising Resolution # 1

Over the holidays I slogged through a river of prognostications flowing into 2009. Of course virtually everyone agrees that 2009 will be anything but normal. With what will probably be the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression many fundraisers and nonprofit leaders face the double whammy of rising demand for services and declining […]

Learn More January 7, 2009