5 Predictions for the Nonprofit Sector in the 2010s

What would a blog post be this week without predictions?  Here are mine. 

They are based on data, conversations with Executive Directors, and buzz.

1.  Sponsorships will become even more difficult to get than they are now.  With the wealth of creative corporate social responsibility programs that are on the horizon, companies will choose more profitable ways to exercise their giving.  Handouts are going to become much less frequent so be prepared.

2.  Everyone will have an App, which means no one will have an app.  Sometime in the next couple of years one or two nonprofits will have a very successful mobile application (probably a game).  Then the mad rush will ensue.  Remember the Yellow Bracelets?  By 2012 most nonprofits will have some sort of mobile app that may or may not be downloaded by its members and ultimately will not create any significant revenue or impact for an organization.    

3.  Orgs will still have to ask for money.  This is the one and only Natural Law of this sector.  My apologies.  It's like predicting gravity.   But the point is there is nothing magical on the horizon that will produce never-ending streams of revenue.  Nothing on Facebook or anywhere else.  Orgs and their supporterswill need to keep asking.  My advice - continue to look for more efficient and scalable ways of asking. 

4.  Social Media will be a vital component of an org's outreach.  There is so much innovation going on in this area.  Nonprofits will surely benefit from more personalized and better timed communications with their donors.  It would be powerful to alert someone in your Facebook group that Nordstroms will donate 10% of their purchase to your org...when they are actually walking past or into a Nordstroms!  That's the right info at the right time.  That's so much better than the monthly e-newsletter.  And trust me there are many more creative and awesome concepts on the horizon.

5.  Direct Bulk Mail will die.  This is as much a hope as it is a prediction.  But I'm sure there are "typewriter-using, fake wood-panel on the wall" orgs that will keep this tree-killing, draconian practice alive till 2020 and then I'll predict and hope it again.

There you go.

Happy New Year!

Comments

[Rebecca Hunter, CFRE]

I'm very interested in others' thoughts. I've been tasked with prognostication for a luncheon presentation to fundraising professionals next month, so your comments will be incorporated as applicable to the region and organizations attending.

[columbus imPRessions]

Great article and I think your predictions are right on! I too hope the not so personal direct bulk mail dies this year. 2010 for nonprofits is about personal connection and the use of social media enables you to personally connect in real time!

[travel]

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