Monday, November 30, 2009

Making list of lists on futures of social sector


("Lost Horizon," Photo by tipiro, Flickr, Creative Commons)

It is definitely list time again. Here is a list of lists on the future of the social sector:

On the Foreign Policy blog, Michele Fugiel writes about philanthropy in the year 2048:
"History and culture affect how philanthropy is done and conceived of in different countries. What is interesting is watching the rise of social enterprise in areas where western philanthropy isn’t already entrenched. Like the leapfrog of mobile phone technology over dial-up, we are starting to see how new social innovation practices leapfrog over traditional philanthropy in developing countries."
For an article coming out in December, The Chronicle of Philanthropy used twitter to collect these insights at #nonprofit2010:
"Many more startups in 2010"

"people moving away from big charities, finding smaller charities that live online with better fdbk & giving 2 them instead"
Back in September I had asked twitter/email/blog folks about the most important single issue facing the sector in 2010 and you all generated a list that included:
"Economic recovery will take longer to reach the hardest hit, lowest income folks, and their continued (perhaps even rising) needs for basic services and urgent assistance in 2010 will force the field to innovate new ways to fulfill our persistent role of relieving immediate suffering. New ideas for doing so will spread, like the special "safety net funds" that community foundations have started this year."
Nonprofit local has a list of 20+ predictions, including this from the comments:
"Growth in merger talk and progression: The opportunities seem ever more real and necessary. Linked to this is an uptick in outsourcing or at least the initial steps of combining back office efforts."
Enjoy! And if you know of more lists of predictions, ideas, thoughts, insights on the future of nonprofits, the social sector, philanthropy, social innovation - please add them in the comments and we'll make the list of all lists.

6 comments:

Laura Deaton said...

Hi, Lucy - Thanks for including Nonprofit Local in your list of lists. We're up to 45+ predictions now, and still growing!

http://www.nonprofitlocal.com/modules/wordpress/2009/11/23/dust-off-crystal-ball-gaze-2010/

Carol-Anne Moutinho said...

Hi Lucy. The Twitter Hastag #Assnchat had a discussion today about what their NPO's would do differently in 2010 and generated a lot of interesting ideas.

I also wrote a post recently on my blog on some of the things I think we might see in the NPO landscape of the future - http://www.resources4associations.com/the-arc-blog/2009/11/18/playing-the-not-for-profit-prophet.html

Jeff Hurt wrote a follow up post to this with some additional thoughts - http://jeffhurtblog.com/2009/11/20/predictions-from-nonprofit-prophets/

Thanks for the great post!

Lucy Bernholz said...

Thanks Laura and Carol Anne!
Lucy

Cheryl Mahoney said...

Hi Lucy,

Thanks for this overview on trends to anticipate in the coming year and beyond.

I was especially interested by the discussion of social enterprise in developing countries. I think that's a trend that's exciting and hopeful to see. If the developing world can truly take the most innovative ideas from the developed world, add their own wisdom and initiative...what might be accomplished?

I can't point to another list about the future, but another trend I hope we'll see continuing in 2010 is the rise of volunteering. It's been good to see in 2009, and hopefully hasn't peaked yet!

Best,
Cheryl

Cheryl Mahoney
cmahoney@universalgiving.org
www.universalgiving.org

guglio1001 said...

Hi Lucy,

Thanks for this list! Some time ago I tried to anticipate what skills will be required in the non-profit/development sector of the future thanks to the evolution of the web. Not entirely sure whether it fits in your predictions list
http://bit.ly/aLBpi

Always on competencies for the future, Nancy White recently wrote a piece on the need to develop "triangulation" skills http://www.fullcirc.com/wp/2009/11/29/need-your-feedback-on-my-triangulating-thinking/

Cheers,

Giulio

Lucy Bernholz said...

Sorry I missed this key list from @kanter earlier - Five social media fundraising tips for 2009

http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/11/five-social-media-fundraising-trends-for-2009.html