Ten Predictions for the Nonprofit Sector in 2013

 A post by James V. Toscano

1. As traditional sources of gifts and grants plateau, nonprofits will increasingly turn to new and alternative sources of revenue, including social entrepreneurship, cause marketing, and for-profit subsidiaries. Pay for performance, in many forms, will be an emerging methodology for payment by government and other funding groups.

2.  The total number of nonprofits will increase year over year, as will the number of mergers and acquisitions among existing nonprofits.

3. Of those retiring Boomers from the business world and others who want to benefit society, some will choose to start B-corporations, which are double and triple bottom line for-profit organizations.

4. Social media will become increasingly important in all aspects of nonprofit operations, from membership to events, from fund-raising to marketing and communication.

5.Social media will also change from a source of new potential donor names to an increasing medium of larger and larger donations from a digital-savvy constituency.

6. The number of donors forming on-line giving networks to ask their friends, co-workers, relatives and other of their constituencies to make “investments” in favored nonprofits will grow significantly.

7. There will be increased emphasis on planned giving by established nonprofits, with the range of the market extended to younger prospects and those with middle class incomes. New ways of setting up planned gifts and new types of planned gifts will emerge.

8. Outcomes and outcomes measurement will continue to be required by many institutional funders, with many not paying for this added function. Sometime during the year, funders will realize that they need comparative data to do more focused giving. Sometime during the year, nonprofits will realize that outcome measurement is an essential part of continuous quality improvement. Soon, all will come to the conclusion that discovered best practices and know-how should be openly shared.

9. Nonprofits will combine in specific substantive, geographic or demographic categories to consolidate information on clients into single more powerful “big data” units, perhaps merging back office and development record functions. Outsourcing will continue to increase in scope and size for larger nonprofits. Overall effectiveness and efficiency will replace overhead as important in measuring success of an organization.

10. Experienced nonprofit executives in management, development and finance will be in further short supply and will be increasingly targeted for recruitment, with a corresponding increase in market compensation.  Credentials will be increasingly important as the management of all aspects of nonprofits further professionalizes. Boards of Directors will continue to delegate more and more policy direction to professional management , playing more of an oversight role and less of direct participation.

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