A recent article in Forbes.com looks at The New Activist Givers. They are a new generation of high-powered philanthropists who are ...
... not only activist but also mindful of "return on investment." Imagine a 1960s flower-power protest organized by flinty-eyed hedge fund managers. They first showed up in numbers during the dot-com boom of the 1990s, and many of them believed their "venture philanthropy" or "social entrepreneurialism," were inventions of the "New Economy."
Be ready to start seeing this characteristic not only among the moneyed donors, but across the board: Donors who are not satisfied with merely writing a check, but want to influence the work, or at least have proof that their giving is accomplishing their goals.
As The Agitator says, commenting on this same article, don't whine! It won't do you any good.
Get a step ahead of these donors. Have donor-ready reports about your projects that connect donor involvement with success (or at least progress). You might also find that appeals that borrow from the conventions of the financial prospectus can work with them.
Be ready, because their demands are very different from the common donor of today.
(Thanks to AFP Blog: Recent News of Note for the tip.)
Technorati Tags: fundraising, boomers, philanthropy
Comments