Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Forget The Mistletoe, Concentrate on the Mistrust

OK, you've had plenty of time to revel in the year-end returns and swap stories about the holiday office party. Now it's time to turn over a new leaf for the New Year and pay serious attention to a problem we've been warning about over and over–the problem of donor loyalty and retention. The current […]

Learn More January 8, 2008

Five Trends to Heed and Benefit From in 2008

Tom and I aren't in the crystal ball business, but we do take some pride in spotting significant trends with the potential to help or harm our readers and the causes they serve. Here are our top five trend picks for 2008: 1. Donor acquisition and retention will continue on a downward spiral. An uncertain […]

Learn More January 7, 2008

What Do You Know About Mom?

Moms spend $2.1 trillion annually and control 85% of household spending. In certain categories of nonprofits, we suspect a lot of your donors are moms, for example, child welfare & international child sponsorship organizations, certain health charities, the environment. Here are some observations, based on a six-month online networking project with millions of moms, about […]

Learn More January 4, 2008

Is Anyone Wearing Your Tatoo?

MarketingProfs published an intriguing piece on Dunlop Tires and an offer Dunlop made at a recent trade show … let them tattoo the Dunlop logo on your body and you got a free set of tires. Apparently hundreds of Dunlop enthusiasts are now on a tattoo waiting list. Talk about brand loyalty! This got me […]

Learn More January 3, 2008

I Was Master Of The Philanthropy Universe, Until …

I screwed up bigtime. This is probably how Holden Karnofsky, prime mover of the Give Well blog is feeling today. For a couple of weeks in December, HK was the darling of mainstream media coverage of philanthropy. A brash young hedge fund manager, turned instant philanthropy savant, prodding establishment philanthropies on issues like transparency and […]

Learn More January 1, 2008

Anyone Who Doesn’t Smile …

From our Agitator backlist … Happy Holidays! Presidential candidate Bill Richardson is running two of the best political ads ever in Iowa and on YouTube. These spots communicate his experience and record — easily the match (or better) of any other candidate — in a wonderfully imaginative, memorable and ingratiating manner. Too flip? Nah … […]

Learn More December 31, 2007