Does evolution exist in the world of non-profits?
For philanthropic and capitalist organizations alike, survival in today’s landscape depends on maintaining the bottom line, while success demands a far higher level of operation. Brian Gallagher, President of United Way, said that right now, “the challenge of operating effectively and efficiently is something we all face.” Whether generated through fundraising or sales, the equation is simple: new donation equals success. According to Gallagher, “IT’S ABOUT RESULTS.”
With the giving season approaching all non-profit organizations (big and small) face the sink or swim gravity of effective fundraising on a daily basis. The ability of each to maintain and grow its involvement in the community is utterly dependent on often volatile fundraising campaign success. With an unstable global situation, a Presidential election close at hand, and a shaky economy, the possibility of less-than-expected results is all too real. Unfortunately, most causes will face extinction because they leave results up to chance.
In the age of the Internet, non-profits should be searching for new ideas, technologies and ways to target potential donors by behaviors, demographics and sociology. Survival will depend on the ability to adapt, not the strength of the balance sheet. Word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, social networking, video and mobile blogging, user generated content, widgets, gadgets, platforms and analytics are just some of the buzzwords for different ways in which nimble organizations can adapt.
Non-profit organizations also face the uphill struggle created by inefficiency and accountability to their donors. The absence of the profit motive has meant that a great number of charities and non-profits are not prudent, but rather find their budgets squandered away in overhead. “The sense of life and death doesn’t exist in the foundation world,” explains Carl J. Schramm, the man who transformed the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation from an Ottoman bureaucracy without a focus on results into a sharp, business-like body. The speed of evolution is increasing as capital pours into the rise of Web 2.0 technology companies, many of which are targeting the non-profit sector.
In the near future, non-profits will find that they must speed their uses of Web 2.0 technologies so that more money is raised and so that more of that money goes to the hands of the people. The playing field has been leveled and those who adapt will evolve to make the difference in more lives. Those who don’t will cease to exist just a few years from now.
A new era of adaptive, nimble, Web 2.0 non-profits are being born by the minute. These organizations will change the competitive landscape of the non-profit world. Being legacy will result in extinction.
Evolution does exist in the world of non-profits.
Written by Ryan Blair, CEO of PathConnect, LLC. PathConnect has partnered with actress Jessica Biel and Jon Biel to create MTDN.com a social giving network with a mission to democratize the giving process.