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Innovation Series #1- Are You Up for It?

At the end of the day all marketing efforts live or die by execution and innovation. Fundraising is no exception. A number of readers, most recently Mike Browne have requested we revisit the issue of innovation. So, starting with this post–What’s Your Innovation Quotient—  here’s what The Agitator has had to say. We’ll begin with […]

Learn More August 3, 2015

Wanted: “Retentioneer”

Seems like the hot new job title in Silicon Valley is “Retentioneer.” The term is a combination of “Retention” + “Engineer” = Retentionner.” Tech companies are finally realizing the futility of focusing on growth without fixing the leaky bucket of attrition. In short, they need to fix retention to have any chance of real growth. Sound […]

Learn More July 29, 2015

The Fundraising Power of Now

A lot of what I’ve learned about the importance of timing in fundraising I learned from selling funeral flowers. Let me explain. My father was a florist– a business that heavily depends on emotion-driven buying impulses — funerals, weddings, Mother’s Day, birthdays and anniversaries – with most transactions completed over the telephone and by credit […]

Learn More July 27, 2015

Day Off

It’s Independence Day weekend in the US; today’s the legal holiday. Roger’s off lighting fireworks. I’m engaged in that favorite American 4th of July past-time … watching Wimbledon. Our US fundraising colleagues have a nice three-day window in which to plan the rest of their summer vacations. And to reflect over a beer, wine or gin […]

Learn More July 3, 2015

The Little Engine That Could

We write a lot about the tactics and techniques of big organizations. After all, they have the money to spend on the fundraising advances that we report. But far too often we neglect results. Especially the results of the small, innovative groups. Enter a tiny Dutch enviro group that shook the world of climate change […]

Learn More July 2, 2015

What Is A Nonprofit Website Visitor Worth?

61 cents. How do I know that? I’ve just read the superb M+R Benchmarks 2015 report, supported by the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). M+R studied the online fundraising performance of 84 organisations across the spectrum — environment, poverty, animal welfare, health, culture, international — to give the rest of us a treasury of data and insight. […]

Learn More April 22, 2015

Fall On Your Knees

For our eighth Christmas, and into our ninth year, we invite you to share our favorite Agitator tradition … enjoy this unforgettable rendition of O Holy Night. As we’ve noted before, this performance makes Tom weep, as it takes him back to Midnight Mass and his Catholic grammar school choir days. We guarantee this experience […]

Learn More December 24, 2014

Email Do’s And Don’ts

I seem to have accumulated a number of email related articles in — where else — my email in-box, so here’s a bit of a clean-out. First, a good overview of how your emails are being opened. This study from Campaign Monitor, which looked at 1.8 billion opens (be sure to check out the ‘Read […]

Learn More July 21, 2014

Is Your Fundraising Stuck?

Or is it just you? Yes, your fundraising could be flatlining because the economy is still struggling. Or those dullards over on the program side simply aren’t doing anything exciting enough to energize donors. Or your CEO was just charged with embezzlement. Or some other ‘exogenous’ factor over which you have no control. Or it […]

Learn More June 27, 2014

Passion Assassins

In his post yesterday, Proud To Be A Fundraiser, Roger cited an article by our UK colleague and fellow curmudgeon Ken Burnett, titled Keeping the right fundraisers. Now, given that The Agitator’s niche audience consists entirely of fundraisers of various stripes and capacities, one might think that both of those titles would attract a fair […]

Learn More May 22, 2014

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