Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Can An Atheist Be An Angel?

The answer is YES if you're Bob Wilson. Bob, along with Ted Turner, is one of my favorite philanthropists. Both are iconoclasts who never fail to surprise, even when one appreciates the underlying values that drive their giving. Bob, ranked 12th in 2006 on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's list of most-generous donors, just gave $22.5 […]

Learn More May 29, 2007

Colleges Fail At Online Marketing

Tell us it ain't so! According to Primary Research Group's 2007 Survey of College Marketing Programs, cited here, based upon interviews with 55 American colleges, it appears that college marketers are still at the stone tablet stage. As reported by interactive marketing consultant Hollis Thomases, PRG says that only 47% of colleges use online advertising […]

Learn More May 25, 2007

Raining Cats & Dogs For ASPCA

Responding to our post, Give Your Donors A Voice, Ayumi Stubbs shares with The Agitator the success of the ASPCA with inviting supporters to submit their own content for ASPCA's website: “Last year we started a simple cat photo contest that we promoted to our weekly newsletter subscribers (ASPCA News Alert). Our expectations were low […]

Learn More May 24, 2007

Salvation Army … Fading Brand?

Months ago an Agitator post applauded the Salvation Army in the face of a New York Times article probing whether the organization was losing its way. Critics questioned whether it was appropriate for the Salvation Army to use proceeds of a $1.5 billion bequest from McDonald's heiress Joan Kroc to build community centers that offered […]

Learn More May 23, 2007

The Not-So-Hidden Bonanza

Last week the Journal of Philanthropy carried the summary of a study by Campbell & Company on bequest giving. And once again I found myself asking why arent fundraisers — particularly those good in direct response — falling all over themselves to get in on what the Journal of Planned Giving estimates to be a […]

Learn More May 22, 2007

Give Your Donors A Voice

By now, most nonprofits publish an e-newsletter of some sort. These range from uninspired re-hashing of print newsletters to original e-pubs that take full advantage of the tools that can make online publications far more dynamic and compelling. For example, commercial marketers increasingly are enlisting their customers to create and submit content of their own […]

Learn More May 18, 2007