We join with our Circulation Manager in wishing you a Happy New Year accompanied by all our best wishes that your Resolutions make it through the next 365 days.

Which brings us to last of The Agitator’s Top Ten for 2015. Yes, we’re carrying these last two into this first day of 2016 because we’re hoping you’ll take them into account when drawing up your Resolution List for 2016.

The first deals with storm clouds that began gathering over the U.K. fundraising scene in May, then quickly erupted into a cloudburst of angst, anger, recrimination and calls for reform. The wise (and of course that’s you and every Agitator reader) will quickly realize this set of issues is not unique to the U.K.

The second post, specifically focused on U.S. fundraising, but similar implications around most of the globe, is an annual tally of how well nonprofits are doing when it comes to holding on to their donors.

While it’s somewhat of a downer to end one year and begin the next with the realization that our sector could and should be doing much, much better where our donors are concerned, we feel it’s a fitting platform on which to begin agitating for 2016.

Roger and Tom

REPEAT: TAKE THIS TO YOUR BOARD & CEO TODAY   In mid-May the British tabloids along with media as august as The Guardian and The BBC unleashed a firestorm of hysteria over the ‘aggressive’ practices of UK charities. Practices that allegedly triggered the suicide of a 92-year-old donor named Olive Cooke.

The fallout continued throughout the year — and continues to this day — with politicians including Prime Minister David Cameron and members of the professional fundraising establishment calling for reforms.

A much needed wake-up alarm indeed! A claxon call signaling the urgent need for re-examination and change.

The Agitator frowns on anything resembling a ‘we-told-you- so’ attitude. But, in fact over the past three years through our own posts and those of fellow travellers like Ken Burnett and Giles Pegram there was no shortage of advance notice.

(You’ll find plenty of  background — both predictive and admonitory — in these other 2015 Agitator posts here, here, here, here. And plenty of Agitator coverage on the post-Olive Cooke fallout here, here and here.)

Now that we’ve all hopefully gotten beyond the whistling past the graveyard phase of avoidance and denial, we can concentrate on exactly what types of reforms and changes in mindset are required to truly serve our donors and our sector.

We’ll start on that come Monday morning.

Once again the bottom line in terms of donors and dollars for the period covered in this Report were nothing short of depressing:

• Every 100 donors gained in 2014 was offset by 103 donors lost through attrition. A net loss of 3% among the 8,025 organizations surveyed.

• Every $100 gained in 2014 was offset by $95 in gift attrition.

• Median donor retention rate among the U.S. groups surveyed was 43%; no change from 2013’s rate. And the median gift or dollar retention rate increased a paltry point from 46% in 2013 to 47% in 2014.

You can bet The Agitator will once again be pushing the Retention Rock up the hill in 2016.

So, here’s to a challenging and change-oriented 2016. We’re glad you’re with us as we begin our 10^th year.

Roger and Tom