The Agitator

August approaches, and many of us will take time to re-charge our batteries in the weeks ahead. Here is the most inspiring story I've read in ages. Read it and you will be energized and motivated to do better, try harder and take on bigger challenges. You'll feel more optimistic. You ...  Read more

Attention planned giving fundraisers! Washington's abuzz. But it's only fair that you non-Washingtonians should get a bite at the apple. The biggest transfer of wealth in the history of the Washington region will occur over the next 50 years as current retirees and Boomers expected to ...  Read more

On the HuffingtonPost blog today, Washington insider Marty Kaplan laments the fact that the Network of Spiritual Progressives must buy its way into the NYTimes with an ad costing $154,000 or more. He writes: “What's odd is the monopoly on elite attention that the prestige press seems ...  Read more

When's the last time you had a great conversation with your cabbie about “carbon sequestration.” NOT! And that's the problem with today's knowledgeable, authoritative, but politically weak environmental groups. In a must read article in this week's Nation ...  Read more

Prompted by a report that the Wall Street Journal is reviewing its distribution options, Scott Donaton muses in Ad Age about the prospect of a major newspaper bowing to the inevitable, abandoning print altogether and going 100% online. Think it will happen? We do. Moreover, it's a potential ...  Read more

According to Business Week, Ed Robinson spent $10,000 to create a humorous 12-second “viral video” and e-mailed it to five of his friends with his website address. Three months later his site had received 500,000 visits. Wouldn't we all like to score with a creative hit like ...  Read more

“The generation that grew up with Super Mario is entering the workplace, entering politics, so they see games as just another good tool to use to communicate” says Henry Jenkins, an MIT professor quoted in Sunday's New York Times. The Times piece, “Saving the World, One ...  Read more

According to Philanthropy Today, Bob Wilson, a truly dedicated environmentalist, has announced his intention to give $100 million each to Environmental Defense, The Nature Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Monuments Fund, with the proviso that each group match his gift ...  Read more

Once again the Pew Internet Project has produced a research masterpiece with its just-released study, Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers. In addition to reporting all the valuable demographic data (12 million blog creators, 57 million blog readers), Pew drilled into the ...  Read more

I'll never forget the phone call I received from Richard Viguerie, often called the 'funding father' of the New Right, on election night 1980. A dozen liberal Senate candidates, and presidential candidate John Anderson– campaigns that Craver, Mathews, Smith & Company had ...  Read more