Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Cinco de Mayo

Folks of Mexican heritage will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo on Saturday, commemorating Mexico's defeat in 1862 of a French army of occupation. Perhaps by 2062, Cinco de Mayo will be a national holiday in the US, as an observance of the importance of Mexican heritage citizens in America. We suspect many Americans would like […]

Learn More May 5, 2007

Measuring Up: Why Do Donors Give?

We were taken with The Nonprofiteer's recent post, Meditations of the Idle Rich, in which she ruminated about her own motives and behavior as a donor. Speaking of herself, she confessed: “…she doesn't know what, precisely, she's doing with her charity — repaying debts, or enacting ideals, or solving problems, or ameliorating suffering. Needless to […]

Learn More May 4, 2007

Do You Read?

Have you read a book lately about some aspect of your nonprofit marketing or communications or management craft? Or about broader social trends that might influence the future of your cause or charity? Or about the psychology, sociology or even physiology that shapes behaviors like joining and giving? In a post about the value of […]

Learn More May 3, 2007

Aging Progressive Donors Still Rock

The over-60-years-old direct mail donors who have fueled most progressive causes and charities over the years might be passing the torch to Boomers, and even younger online donors. But they'll certainly go out in style, as this music video shows! Turn up your audio and click here to view. Caution to the impressionable: Militant donor […]

Learn More May 2, 2007

So Why Do They Divorce?

A couple of weeks ago Peter Panepento wrote a piece in the Chronicle of Philanthropy titled Bad Consultant Confidential. As the headline promised, it was about client/consultant relationships that didn't work out. My take was that most of the “bad endings” cited arose from “bad beginnings.” That is, either mis-communication out of the box about […]

Learn More May 1, 2007

Idol Gives Back … And It Ain’t Cheese!

Back in March we defended American Idol, the “cheesy” (many say) pop talent show, for tackling extreme poverty. Philanthropy purists and cultural highbrows sniffed at the notion that a crass entertainment program and its grubby corporate sponsors might aspire to do good. Today we're back to give a standing ovation for their tremendously successful program […]

Learn More April 30, 2007