The Agitator

Remember the good ‘ol days of direct mail fundraising, when if you needed names you just went out and rented or exchanged for them by the bucketloads? And if you knew what you were doing, you could get pretty decent ones. Of course in the online fundraising culture, new rules apply. [How we ...  Read more

So said Kim Cubine, a principal at fundraising firm Adams Hussey, in a recent email to The Agitator. Kim, a veteran direct marketing fundraiser, was taking exception to some observations about online fundraising versus direct mail in a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy article. Would you like to ...  Read more

From Pew Internet Research comes a disturbing report on teens (12-17), technology and writing. In my household, with a 14-year-old and two parents paranoid on the subject, this report has landed like a bombshell! While 87% of teens engage in some form of electronic personal communication — ...  Read more

Only if your nonprofit wants to survive in the online era, when there is absolutely NO barrier to entry. Anyone who can build a website can attract a constituency to support precisely what your organization is already doing. Your protection? Your brand … clearly recognized, sharply defined ...  Read more

In The Agitator’s latest DonorTrends survey (completed last month), 62% of Boomers said they had never donated online to a charity, 78% had never donated online to an issue advocacy organization, and 86% had not given online to a political campaign. Still a lot of fields to plow here! [And ...  Read more

Tell me this video , 20Things to Do with Leftover Matzoh, isn’t wonderful! Every nonprofit needs a way to "officially" recognize creativity … including plain ‘ol thinking outside the box. Thanks to BL Ochman for pointing me to this. Tom SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title ...  Read more

Here’s a report from Nielsen that 23% of all mobile phone users (or 58 millon users) have been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days. Half (51% or 28 million) of those who recall seeing mobile advertising in the previous 30 days say they responded in some way. Teens ...  Read more

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently reported a study by the Ethics Resource Center on ethical standards and behavior in nonprofits. Guess what? Nonprofit ethics are pretty miserable … and apparently in decline. This based upon a survey within our own community. Should we expect the ...  Read more

More great data from Convio, compiled from more than 400 nonprofits and millions of online interactions and transactions. Report looks at seven areas: Website traffic — up 34% for groups with more than 250,000 email addresses Registration rates — 3% of unique visitors convert Email ...  Read more

MarketingSherpa says "Yes" when it comes to email subject lines. They say emails with shorter subject lines are more likely to get opened. A somewhat contrarian position. Looking at the fog of visual clutter in e-mailboxes, they note: "White space is eye candy on a crowded screen ...  Read more