The nonprofit of the (near) future will not resemble today’s (yesterday’s). Here are six shifts nonprofits must leverage to forge a sustainable path of long-term growth.
1. A Shift from Macro-Donations to Micro-Donations
The mechanisms for donating money are changing, along with people’s preferences and opportunities. Twenty years ago it was cash or check. Donations can now be sent via iTunes, Paypal, Kickstarter and Square. Giving can happen as a result of a tweet, blog post or Facebook update, in addition to a direct mail letter.
The 2012 Millenial Impact report reveals this shift. Although 70 percent of respondents prefer to give online, most nonprofits do not allocate their fund development efforts around digital, preferring instead to add it as a module or tack-on to their existing and often out-dated efforts.
2. A Shift from Transactions to Interactions
More people expect a relationship with the person or organization to which they give, not just a transaction. Giving is not an obligation, it’s an opportunity. The practice of most nonprofits to send a receipt for a donation highlights this reality. As a donor, would you prefer a receipt over a highly personalized thank-you? What if instead of a receipt, a donor received an @ reply as well as a receipt? How might that change that person’s attitude toward the nonprofit?
Blackbaud’s Social Giving Report revealed 50 percent of those surveyed said their primary motivating for making a donation was because “a friend asked me.” Nonprofits that minimize the role of the organization and maximize peer-to-peer fundraising will thrive in the future.
3. A Shift from Contacts to Users
The people whodonated and volunteered connected to the organizational infrastructure by sharing their contact information. Nonprofits of the future will pull the information their donors and volunteers are already sharing online into a software tool that will fuel highly personalized and timely communications.
Any nonprofit serious about making and building meaningful relationships with their volunteers and donors will use a Social CRM to centralize information, increase access to that information among employees, and manage the vast amount of social data being shared.
See E-Consultancy’s Infographic on Traditional CRM vs. Social CRM for more information.
