Award Winning Blog - Agitator

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

AGITATOR WEEKEND: Fundraising Countdown

The Agitator’s Week In Review. It’s countdown time. 72 hours ’til Election Day. 1,464 hours ’til the account books close on December 31. And while the pollsters (or at least most of them) are predicting an Obama victory it’s not nearly as clear how fundraisers will fare in the final 61 days to year’s end. […]

Learn More November 1, 2008

Tell Us Your Vital Signs

Given the challenging economic environment as the books close on calendar 2008, The Agitator would like to take the pulse of fundraisers and share your collective sense of the fundraising outlook for nonprofits over the balance of the year. We have put together this brief eight-question Vital Signs survey to collect your perceptions and predictions.Whether […]

Learn More October 31, 2008

Research On Consumer Marketing Preferences

Here’s a white paper (must register to download) on marketing channel preferences from Ball State University’s Center for Media Design and ExactTarget, a email marketing company. They looked at six target segments and their preferences regarding media for receiving marketing messages. Biggest surprise was the continuing preference among younger consumers (age 18-34) for direct mail […]

Learn More October 30, 2008

I’m Buying Buyology

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a break — at least for a day — from the blogging blizzard (including here on The Agitator) on the woes of fundraising in a recession and the endless achievements of Obama’s online fundraising machine.So when I saw this review of Buyology: Truth and Lies About […]

Learn More October 29, 2008

Fundraising Manifesto

Here is a fundraising “manifesto” brought to our attention by marketing maven Seth Godin.Called In Defense of Raising Money, it’s written by Sasha Dichter, Director of Business Development for the Acumen Fund, one of the more innovative social investment vehicles — a nonprofit venture capital fund — supporting enterprises fighting poverty in the developing world.I’ll […]

Learn More October 28, 2008