Award Winning Blog - Agitator

AGITATOR WEEKEND: Fundraising Vital Signs

The Agitator’s Week In Review. This week brought an end to the seemingly never-ending presidential campaigns marked by highs and lows, necessary and unnecessary divisions, indelible characters and high drama. But in the end, grassroots engagement, and fundraising ‘firsts’ made possible by the brilliant use of technology-backed-by-philosophy combined to yield a record-shattering turnout that contributed […]

Learn More November 8, 2008

Fundraising Vital Signs 1 – Responses

Last week, with our “Vital Signs – 1” survey, we asked readers of The Agitator to share their prognostications regarding the fundraising outlook for the balance of 2008.We received 126 completed surveys, and 55 individual fundraisers offered to join a panel to report further assessments as the year plays out. Three-of-four respondents work in a […]

Learn More November 7, 2008

What a Difference Four Decades Make!

Roger’s piece yesterday on Obama’s historic victory got me reminiscing about my own formative political experience, which happens to date to 1968, when the Vietnam war and racial tensions were the driving, divisive factors in the presidential election.So, if you’ll indulge me a bit … before we resume our routine coverage of fundraising!In that year, […]

Learn More November 6, 2008

The Morning After

Yesterday morning as I stood in the autumn sunshine of our little New England town of Chilmark, Massachusetts waiting to vote I couldn’t help but marvel at how far we as a nation have come on fundamental issues like race and how long it’s taken us to get here. It’s now been 40 years since the […]

Learn More November 5, 2008

Obama Wins!

OK, what else are you thinking about today?!Anyway, this is a prediction, not a result.Of all the polls out there, I’m sticking with my favorite research operation, the Pew Research Center.Their last poll of the campaign calls it 52% – 46% in Obama’s favor. According to Pew’s data, if you are female, under-50, urban and […]

Learn More November 4, 2008

Obama: Technology Meets Psychology

If Obama loses the election tomorrow, which now appears inconceivable, it will not be because of inferior grassroots organizing.We’ve read tons about the Obama campaign’s adroit use of the internet to marshall money and people power.But as this excellent article in Wired points out, the real magic in Obama’s approach has been to integrate state-of-the-art […]

Learn More November 3, 2008