Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Making First Impressions

Unfortunately, your nonprofit might have literally only one or two interactions with a new donor or member before they tune out and disappear forever. So first impressions indeed matter, whether delivered by mail, telephone or email. In most cases, your second opportunity to make a “first impression” is when you acknowledge the donor's initial gift […]

Learn More August 28, 2007

Video Rules The World

A new study commissioned by IBM reports that, for the first time, people are spending more hours per week in front of their computer screens than watching TV. A lot of these hours are spent increasingly on watching online video. According to comScore, 136 million folks watched over 9 billion video streams in June. 3 […]

Learn More August 27, 2007

Nonprofit Accountability Rules 1 & 2

I noticed in Fundraising Success Advisor this summary of a well-done white paper, Accountability Matters: Without Public Trust, Nonprofits Wouldn't Exist. The paper, downloadable here, was authored by Liz Marenakos at Blackbaud. It deals with the fundamentals of ethical financial management and reporting. To most Agitator readers this is probably pretty basic stuff — audit […]

Learn More August 24, 2007

Do You Have A Facebook Plan?

Facebook is rapidly becoming the social networking site of choice for middle-aged, well-off, professionals. If your nonprofit doesn't yet have a Facebook face, maybe you should be thinking about it. Facebook is adding 150,000 new users a day. Here are two articles to stir your pot. A recent Business Week article titled “Fogeys Flock to […]

Learn More August 23, 2007

Lessons In Copywriting

Beginning with a critique of email spam from the standpoint of effective copywriting, direct mail wiz Denny Hatch winds up reminding us of the most fundamental principles of the copywriting craft. For example: The letter is all about “You” copy — it's a highly emotional, personal message from the writer to the reader that translates […]

Learn More August 22, 2007

Email Boosts Response For Breast Cancer Walks

Traditional media has always been used to support the National Philanthropic Trust's Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 60-mile-walk fundraiser. Typically, TV, radio, billboards and newspapers would be used to build awareness, and direct mail would then “close the sale” in terms of signing-up participants. But mail was beginning to fall off in effectiveness. So the Trust […]

Learn More August 21, 2007