70 Nonprofit Trends for 2015

In the past, charities have mainly focused on marketing bequests from wills or trusts, often referred to as “the bread and butter” planned gift and marketed as “easy.” But a bequest is not that easy. It usually requires an attorney, and we also know that many people don’t even have a will or any kind of estate plan. When a donor makes a planned gift with a beneficiary designation, all it takes is a phone, a form and a pen! They simply call their plan provider and ask for a change of beneficiary form. They use a pen to fill out the form, then call the charity to inform them of their wonderful gift!

SOFTWARE/TECHNOLOGY
Miriam Kagan, senior fundraising principal, Kimbia
1. Transition from integrated platforms to best-of-breed point solutions. While all-in-one-place models still rule for many, the leaders are finding that solutions that try to do everything for everyone may not do anything well. As the cloud makes data movement easier and removes barriers of having to store data in one place, the industry will begin to evaluate point solutions (both from nonprofit and commercial providers) to create a connected ecosystem that cherry-picks platforms that do one thing well and can still talk to the CRM. Having invested heavily in data, many will now want to leverage that data using the best platforms to fundraise, engage with constituents, deliver mission, etc.

Richard Perry, founding partner, and Jeff Schreifels, senior partner, Veritus Group
2. The rise of virtual nonprofits as cause-driven entrepreneurs find that they can do good without the burden of traditional infrastructure, buildings and employees.

SPECIAL EVENTS
Jeff Shuck, CEO, Plenty
1. Look to organic events for inspiration. Very often, the largest and most successful programs started not at headquarters but from volunteers in the field. The Ice Bucket Challenge was the latest in a long line of campaigns that surfaced directly from constituents. If your organization is searching for new ideas on experience, acquisition or retention, you’ll likely find inspiration at the local level.