The Agitator

It’s not exactly like we were sitting around wondering what to do with our free time (other than reading Chaucer), but when the request came from our colleagues over at DonorTrends to contribute to their new blog named Fundraising Action,  we leaped at the opportunity. We thought about the ...  Read more

Direct mail maven Denny Hatch recently wrote "They Forgot the Importance of ‘YOU’", a column in which he took the Obamas to task for their losing performances in trying to sell Chicago to the International Olympic Committee. Whatever you think of his analysis, Denny reminds ...  Read more

To prepare for some discussions Roger and I will audiotape on social media, online fundraising, and 2010 fundraising strategies, I was browsing through some nonprofit websites. I was struck by the huge differences in web strategy that seemed indicated by the sites I visited. So I decided to write ...  Read more

From Smashing Magazine, here are some excellent "best practices" prepared expressly for nonprofit websites. It’s a great resource for your web development team … even if that team is just you! They also offer their "20 examples of great nonprofit sites" (all ...  Read more

All of our postings to date regarding nonprofits’ use of social media have dealt with the possibilities of these platforms for empowering, engaging and "unleashing" your donors, members and activists. But there’s another side to this. What guidance should you give your staff ...  Read more

Our previous posts this week have been pretty positive about social media, their penetration, and their potential marketing (and for us, that means fundraising) contribution. Here are some additional views. Take a look at them and then give us your opinion in a quick three-question Agitator ...  Read more

Here’s yet another agency white paper on social marketing … this one, from Serengeti Communications, addresses the challenge of measuring social media impact. Everyone from marketing veteran Seth Godin (see his recent Clout post) to the newest hire on your web team (just walk down the ...  Read more

Fluent: The Razorfish Social Influence Marketing Report is one of the most provocative pieces of work I’ve seen on marketing via social media. While it’s a business-building white paper, from one of the biggest and most experienced interactive marketing and technology companies in the ...  Read more

OK, summer is over, you’ve had a week to get back into work mode, and so The Agitator is ready to offer some heavy lifting this week. We’ve been saving up some important stuff on social media. First up is a new report from the Pew internet Project, called The Internet & Civic ...  Read more

Earlier this week we featured a somewhat grumpy "take" on Twitter from Ken Burnett of SOFII. Ken diplomatically pointed out to me that one Laurie Pringle, senior manager of philanthropy at ALS Canada, has commented on his original article, presenting a passionately contrary point of ...  Read more