The Agitator

No! Donors can be wrong, abusive, over-demanding, distracting. Sean Stannard-Stockton at Tactical Philanthropy has been presiding for a few weeks now over an important, well-articulated and stimulating “debate” amongst fellow bloggers on the issue of donor accountability … in ...  Read more

Where do you stand on this question … Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people? Pew Research recently used this and two related questions to compile an index of public trust. Among all adults, Americans ...  Read more

Hopefully most nonprofits will never face the sort of devastating public confidence breakdown that JetBlue has recently suffered in the commercial world. Still, **** happens. Someone up in the executive suite, down in accounting, or out in the field embezzles some money (e.g., the Red Cross). The ...  Read more

Awhile back we urged nonprofit fundraisers and communicators to pay attention and learn from the online strategies of the presidential candidates. According to an estimate cited in the Wall Street Journal, political spending on online ads and website development for the 2008 cycle might reach $80 ...  Read more

In yet another wonderful piece, “What Orson Welles Can Teach Us About Direct Marketing,” Denny Hatch talks almost wistfully about the intimate power of the (well-crafted) direct mail letter. He quotes at length from freelancer Malcolm Decker. Here's a passage for every direct mail ...  Read more

More and more nonprofits are experimenting with online video, often simply by encouraging supporters to produce home-made testimonials or “why I'm concerned” videos. If your strategy is to place “best” or suitable videos on your own website after staff review, then of ...  Read more

Meet Jim Hannah, age 72, and Don Deitch, age 75. Both spend a lot of time online doing sophisticated stuff. According to Larry Dobrow writing in The Magazine of Online Media, Marketing & Advertising (OMMA), these guys shatter the stereotype of “seniors” being web adverse. Yet online ...  Read more

The coal for the furnace of direct mail fundraising has been list rentals and exchanges. A somewhat incestuous process where Sierra Club rents from NRDC who rents from Environmental Defense who rents from Sierra Club and around and around. Always with the assumption (desperate hope?) that someone ...  Read more

The Agitator regularly scans the search engines to bring our readers the absolutely hottest trends and news in fundraising and nonprofit marketing. So we regularly filter out the important, but regular, stuff (notice we're not giving you links for these) … Family launches fundraising ...  Read more

Fundraising and marketing tips and training are proliferating in the form of online seminars called “webinars.” Many are offered by leading consulting firms and publishers. Some are free; some have fees. Some are full streamed video; others combine a phone conference with an online ...  Read more