Vistas: Geri Stengel’s Blog: Tips

Last week, I laid out the trends in philanthropy that are forcing foundations and nonprofits to change the way they do business: the economy; the ability and demand to measure impact; generational shifts; and increased emphasis on competition/collaboration.

Donors are different these days. I’m talking about the individual donor, not foundations. And I’m particularly talking about the donors you hit up for more than $10 per month. How do you inspire donations in the $10,000 range?

The social sector is at a tipping point, a place where great changes in process must take place so great social change can happen:

• The economy shifted.
• Funding sources have realigned.
• New funding options – private/public partnerships – are evolving.
• The world itself – water resources, illness, poverty – has changed. Social ills are so massive that massive projects are needed to address them.
• Technology now allows us to solve old problems with new techniques and to reach across borders, across cultures, and across sectors to find solutions and partners.

My recent emphasis on social media for nonprofits is really an emphasis on best practices, guidelines, and why-bother-with-it for small businesses as well.

Small businesses face many of the same problems that nonprofits do:

• small staff
• not much money for marketing
• need to expand customer (for nonprofits, donor) base