Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Polarization

On the one hand … The Pew Research Center just released a report on Americans' attitudes on social issues, in which they conclude: “Despite talk of 'culture wars' and the high visibility of activist groups on both sides of the cultural divide, there has been no polarization of the public into liberal and conservative camps.” […]

Learn More August 10, 2006

The Decline and Fall of Direct Mail Creativity

The letters are lousy, with the content dictated by lawyers and then created by Neanderthals who dont have a clue what theyre doing and who are psychologically incapable of making an emotional connection with the reader. Hmmm. Just what I was thinking as I leafed through a random pile of direct mail packages that had […]

Learn More August 9, 2006

Three Cheers for the Salvation Army

Awhile back, Guest Agitator Jerry Huntsinger took the Salvation Army to task for having a billion dollar plus “reserve” fund. While not suggesting any wrongdoing, he basically appealed for greater transparency in non-profit financial reporting, and he did wonder how to reconcile asking individuals for coins and dollar bills in the red kettle while such […]

Learn More August 8, 2006

Rate Your Website’s “About Us” Page

How effective is your website's “About Us” page? Is it just an afterthought? Just some organizational boilerplate? This article argues that “About Us” pages should be customer-centric (think: donor or member-centric) rather than company-centric. It even offers a calculator that will score your page on its customer focus. Does your “About Us” page answer these […]

Learn More August 7, 2006

Weekend Quiz #1

Does your organization need to “work” the media? Then you need to know the media habits and preferences of the audiences you're hoping to reach. This News Consumption and Believability Study just released by the Pew Research Center paints a detailed picture of where Americans are getting their news today. If you read it, you […]

Learn More August 6, 2006

Online Communities – Learning from Craigslist

Fast Company provides a stimulating article on building online communities, featuring the wisdom of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. A few years old, but quite timely with the explosion of “social networking” sites like MySpace, Facebook and about 200 others! A useful read for anyone in non-profitworld charged with engaging and empowering members or activists online. […]

Learn More August 5, 2006