Magic Crystal Ball: What will happen to nonprofits?
Gertrude Kasebier, The Magic Crystal, c. 1904
Have you ever had a strange job that you don’t usually talk about?
Have you ever called a psychic on the phone?
Here’s a secret-I used to be a telephone psychic! It was fun. People would call me up and ask me to tell them their future. So I would use tarot cards, or destiny cards, or astrology to provide some amusement for them. The line said that it was only for entertainment purposes, and that people should not solicit psychic advice on major life decisions. So you know, you’d think that people would just call for fun. But actually, whether or not you believe in psychic powers, people do expect answers. And they expect you to know everything, and give them a direction. It’s a bit frustrating, because sometimes you just want to tell them, “Look, you are in control of your life. There are influences socio-economical, cultural, ideological, astrological, or whatever, but you have power. You can be, do, or have anything you want.” But somehow it’s easier for people to give their power away and try to pretend their life is fated to be one way or another.
So in the spirit of psychic predictions, here’s my view on what’s coming up in the next 10 years for fundraising and nonprofits. Let’s create this future together, shall we?
People are going to start demanding answers.
That means, they’re going to start saying, “Why don’t we trade charity futures?” and “Hey, why is paying for advertising a bad thing?” And “Why am I working for peanuts?” and also, “Why have we still not solved the problem of homelessness, hunger, and domestic violence in America?”
People are going to start demanding results.
That means, people are going to start asking, “What has your nonprofit done in the last 10 years to eradicate the problem you were created to address?” And you are going to need to be able to show them that you have actually worked to solve this problem and have achieved measurable results.
People are going to start demanding better salaries for trying to help others.
People are going to start realizing that this whole “I can get paid $1M for giving children violent videogames but not $1M to help children” thing is BOGUS PURITAN BULL.
If people are successful with the first three, problems are going to start to get solved.
We will root out the corruption. We will collaborate more, and it will be built into our bylaws. The nonprofit sector will be renamed “The Social Profit Sector.” People will start getting paid quite a bit more. Staff will organize unions to make sure that 4% cost of living salary increases are implemented every year. Leaders with actual nonprofit experience will be put in place, instead of board members with MBAs and no nonprofit experience. Nonprofits are going to become more like hybrid nonprofits and social entrepreneurship will start becoming our main model of business, and social profits and for profits will start to look more and more alike.
What do you think the future holds for nonprofits?
If you haven’t given to our kickstarter project yet, here are 3 good reasons why.
Because:
1. You could help thousands, perhaps millions of people that you’ve never met!
2. Building the capacity of thousands of people to fundraise is not an opportunity that just comes along every day!
3. You can be the first in your city to have a game that teaches people in your organization how to fundraise. Imagine the edge you’ll have when all of your volunteers know how to research grants for you, do a mailing, or run an event!
So go on. Thank you so much, for whatever you’re able to give!
July 21st, 2010 at 3:45 pm
The Social Profit Sector… I like that!
Were you really a phone psychic? Because that is awesome. I’m not psychic, but I do know it’d be great if these predictions came to pass.
Great job on your site redesign, by the way! I like that it’s not so dark anymore — looks good!
Cherita Smith recently posted..4 Lessons for Nonprofits from Old Spice
October 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Yes, I really was a phone psychic!
Thanks for your compliments!
Mazarine