The Agitator

We have an interesting discussion underway on The Agitator regarding the utility of social media today for nonprofit fundraising. "Go slow" seems to be the prevailing sentiment. I urge you to flick through this week’s posts and comments if you haven’t yet done so. But ...  Read more

Two days ago, I urged Agitator readers to check out this report on Engagement, which proffers evidence that the most financially successful commercial brands are also the most adroit users of online social media. And I suggested that this same relationship might hold for nonprofits. I love a good ...  Read more

Here is ENGAGEMENTdb, a study of the top 100 global brands (as rated by Business Week/Interbrand) and their use of social media, done by two firms that specialize in the space, Wetpaint and Altimeter Group. I’ll jump right to the conclusion: "… the most valuable brands in the ...  Read more

For some nonprofits, fundraising can be quite sensitive to the headlines … a natural disaster here, a Supreme Court nomination there. I once had a client castigate me, rightfully, for "sitting on" an urgent appeal opportunity until Monday, triggered by an event that occurred the ...  Read more

Sounds like something you don’t want to do, right? Wrong! Seeing data is pretty cool. The Foundation Center last week launched "Philanthropy In/Sight", a data visualization platform designed for grantmakers or anyone seeking to understand the impact of philanthropy throughout the ...  Read more

Need some out-of-the-box fundraising advice? It’s summertime … you must have some interns lying about … ask them! As reported by Forbes, Morgan Stanley’s media research department recently asked one of its 15-year-old interns to write a paper describing his ...  Read more

The UK-based Management Centre recently scored 57 nonprofits on their ability to innovate … a seven step process as conceptualized by the Centre: Ideation — idea generation Integration — cross-pollination of ideas Information — external scanning & sourcing Selection ...  Read more

Here, from Stephen Baker at Business Week, is a superb article on the psychology, sociology and anthropology of "digital friendships" — you know, all those online relationships you have on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc, etc. I liked this passage: "Now we’re ...  Read more

Joe Keenan of e-Marketing & Commerce muses here on the future evolution of social networks, relying on the prognostications of Forrester Research. He notes that 42% of social netters maintain profiles on two or more social sites, and points to applications that will make identity ...  Read more

Here are the responses to date of our one-question survey regarding Twitter : Which statement about Twitter to you most agree with? Twitter is a killer app and will become hugely important to nonprofit communications and fundraising going forward — 38% Twitter will be only marginally ...  Read more