Award Winning Blog - Agitator

What Are You Doing Tomorrow?

Beginning with the New Year, Tom and I have been pounding away on the subject of “loyalty." The term means different things to different folks. A key factor is likely to prove to be "involvement." ( We have a series of surveys and other analytic projects in the works which we’ll share with you later. […]

Learn More January 19, 2009

Top Marketing Trends For 2009

Here’s how your compatriots in the corporate marketing world view the year ahead. In a recent survey of senior marketing execs by the Marketing Executives Networking Group, the basic message was "return to the basics." What that means to these marketers is first and foremost: customer retention (76% rated as very important) and satisfaction (79%). […]

Learn More January 16, 2009

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