Where in the World Are We Headed?

In 2009, The =mc Global Fundraising Scenarios Project gathered some of the world’s leading experts on fundraising and asked them a simple question: “What will fundraising be like in 2020?”

We gathered the data in three ways:
• We held a series of meetings with regional experts in Washington, D.C.; New York; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Mexico City; Natal, Brazil; London; and Rome.

• We invited more than 100 experts to take part in an online survey identifying the issues they thought were emerging.

• We asked a mix of worldwide fundraising experts — and some emerging gurus to avoid group-think — to write short articles expressing its views on 2020.

Some of this data is on a Web site/wiki we set up at fundraisingscenarios.com; an analysis of this with scenarios will be published in an =mc report in June 2010.

The diversity of answers surprised us. As many people thought online social networking would fizzle out as thought it would take over the world. While many people predicted donors would demand a greater depth of relationship with nonprofits, others thought the donation act would increasingly become an “impulse buy.” Some spoke of the rise of a “super league” of charities able to leverage its greater resource base to become globally dominant. Others predicted that the number of organizations would substantially increase as philanthropy takes root in the global south.

Below are excerpts from a selection of the scenarios. Use them to stimulate your own thinking about the future. How do you think the fundraising landscape will change, and how will you change with it?

Scenario: Tell me again, why do I need you?
“In 2020, more and more of the rising entrepreneurial class, who did not inherit their wealth and are not happy with delegating what they are passionate about to anyone else, will be the donors ‘giving while living.’ They are going to cut the middleman off and negotiate directly with the source, be it in China, India or Indonesia. They will leverage their business and social networks and family contacts on the ground to ensure they have information and input required for addressing a need — be it education, health, sanitation, gender-based support, the arts or the environment.