Converging Technologies

That’s why we played with the title of this special report. The original, “Emerging Technologies,” seemed short-sighted, especially given that the newest of the new really has very little track record to report on. This became abundantly clear when I was discussing the issue with the head of an organization that was built on the notion of emerging technologies. I asked her something like, “What’s going on out there?” in terms of fundraising and new technologies. Her response: “I can tell you, but there’s really not much ‘there’ there yet.”

And the point was driven home to me again when I put out a question to my LinkedIn connections asking, “How would you define Fundraising 2.0?”

Sure, most of the tech and software folks focused their answers on innovations in the technology that supports fundraisers, but the majority of the respondents — those who work at nonprofit organizations themselves and those who represent full-service consultancies — talked about the importance of integration of strategies, merging the brand-new with the tried-and-true (something we’ve been talking about in these pages for years, as well).

Two of my connections — a couple of smart alecks with some very salient points — gave me a pretty sound (though, I choose to be believe, friendly) thrashing for even buying into the Fundraising 2.0 hype.

They bear repeating, so here goes:

Jaap Zeekant, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Dutch fundraising magazine Vakblad Fondsenwerving: “Over 30 years in fundraising, and I’m still learning about Fundraising 1.0. So don’t ask me about Fundraising 2.0 — whatever that may be. Please skip all the categorizing; just work on your fundraising skills.”

Mal Warwick, founder and chairman, Mal Warwick Associates: “Huh? Fundraising 2.0? The model for this construct, Web 2.0, had some (very vague and ill-explained) basis in reality as interactivity, especially by means of social-networking sites, suddenly exploded on the scene in a major way. Not so in fundraising. What’s new in our field other than the normal, incremental changes that evolve over time? Am I missing something? If so, please let me know right away.”