Award Winning Blog - Agitator

If Banks Can Do It …

At least half of the 12 biggest banks in America are developing or have released live chat capabilities on their websites according to a piece in yesterday's iMedia Connection. Well, if big banks –not usually associated with terms like “cutting-edge” or “personal service” — can use live chats to give their customers help with loans […]

Learn More July 11, 2006

Possibly the Best Online Money You’ll Ever Spend

Slowly but surely the hype and hope that has surrounded online fundraising for most of the past decade is giving way to facts, analysis and the development of sound general principles. Nonetheless, there are many, many questions crying out for answers: How does online giving impact long-term donor value and the overall success of fundraising […]

Learn More July 10, 2006

Overreliance On Generosity of the Wealthy

The Business section of today's New York Times leads with a story headlined, “Fighting Diseases with Checkbooks: Rich Donors Can Be a Fickle but Essential Source of Aid for Medical Research.” Writer Andrew Pollack reports on the dangers of relying too heavily on the whimsy of the Big Donor but notes that these gifts for […]

Learn More July 9, 2006

How Would You Know?

The latest issue of Non-Profit Times reports reveals that the #1 factor for donors contributing long term to an organization — selected by 35% of respondents — is that “the organization is well managed and your money is well spent.” OK. Seems like a no-brainer? Our question is: How would your donor know? How well […]

Learn More July 8, 2006

Prez Bush On the Cutting Edge

Reaching his 60th birthday, President Bush reminds us that the leading edge of the Boomer generation (born 1946-1964) is now crossing the 60 year milestone. Pew Research Center has marked the occasion with an important study on the financial attitudes and situation of Boomers as they begin to reckon with retirement. From a fundraising standpoint, […]

Learn More July 7, 2006

Compelling Images … Or Spam?

On the basis of testing they have done, M+R Strategic Services reports that inclusion of images within online e-mail appeals for action or funds does NOT necessarily translate to better response. They point out that anti-spam features built into most e-mail systems increasingly tend to block images, unless users have have elected to change default […]

Learn More July 6, 2006