Award-Winning Blog


The Tragically Hip Prove Energy Matters

Last night, while the billion+ BBC audience (compare that to CNN's 18 million+) heard and saw the headline news of the 10th day of protests in Burma, I decided to check out of real life and and go to a rock concert. So it was off to a performance in Amsterdam by The Tragically Hip, […]

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Test Your News IQ

Have some fun today taking Pew Research Center's annual news IQ. Warning … the average number of correct responses among all Americans was 7 out of 12. Raise the bar to 8 if you're a college grad. The toughest question — though we're sure Agitator readers will do better! — was answered correctly by fewer […]

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What Is Influence?

Here's a Monday mind-stretcher on “influence” — what is it, who has it, can “influencers” be influenced? For many nonprofits, especially those in the advocacy business, communication strategies include an element of targeting “influentials.” As the theory goes, certain individuals carry disproportionate weight in terms of their natural inclination and ability to influence others. If […]

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Checklist For Year-End Appeals

Many organizations raise the greatest proportion of their funds in the critically important year-end giving season — the extraordinary philanthropic window that opens somewhere in October and stays open through the end of the year. Here's a checklist refined over the years at Craver, Mathews, Smith for developing year-end strategies, plans and creative. I've taken […]

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Have You Watched An Online Video Today?

Sorry, but I'm probably going to badger you monthly from here on out with the latest stats on online video watching. As I've written before, I think it is crucial for nonprofits to master this medium for conducting your fundraising, advocacy and educational efforts. According to comScore (all stats for US internet users, July 2007): […]

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Moving Messages

Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry, creators of techPresident (the award-winning* place to follow how presidential candidates are using online media), have written a great piece on how messages move in our new internet-driven media environment. The immediate context of their article is the campaigns, and the candidates failure — as the authors see it — […]

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