A Few Predictions for Nonprofit Development Technology in 2012

Submitted on Fri, 1/6/2012 - 1:17pm
Like what you read?

Stay current with nonprofit technology

Will 2012 be pretty much like 2011?

By Robert Weiner
President, Robert L. Weiner Consulting


When NTEN asked whether I’d be willing to predict tech trends for in 2012, I, of course, asked my Magic 8 Ball™. It replied:

Based on that, plus 27 years in the field, I foresee that 2012 will be pretty much like 2011.

A board member will tell a nonprofit that they should buy system “A” because (pick one):

  • it’s cloud-based
  • it’s not cloud-based
  • it’s the cheapest
  • it’s the “best”
  • an international charity (which is 1000 times the size of the nonprofit in question) uses it
  • he read about it in an in-flight magazine.

A nonprofit will struggle with a 10-year-old homegrown database created by a former volunteer’s 15-year-old.

A development director will tell support staff to get ready to accept mobile gifts. Why? Because everyone else is doing it. There will be no strategy about how to how to get the word out about the campaign; what impact the campaign might have on current donors; how the campaign will be integrated with other campaigns; how donors will be identified, thanked, or resolicited; or what constitutes success. Ditto for a social media campaign.

A nonprofit will allow the same person to open the mail, tally the donations, enter those gifts in the database, and make the bank deposit, and will be surprised when funds go missing.

Nonprofits will continue to think that technology alone will solve their problems – create clean data, produce accurate reports, fix broken business processes – without their having to make investments in the people who manage and use the technology.

For most organizations, email and direct mail will still bring in more money than social media and mobile giving combined. And major and planned gifts will outstrip them all. There will be notable exceptions, of course, and some will see them as the new norm.

Robert Weiner is an independent consultant specializing in helping fundraisers make informed, strategic decisions about information technology. He has consulted with a wide variety of organizations, ranging from volunteer and grassroots organizations to UC Berkeley, Earthjustice, The Nature Conservancy, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Komen for the Cure. He is the co-host of TechSoup’s Technology for Fundraising forum and a frequent speaker on donor management systems and best practices in Development Operations. His web site is www.rlweiner.com