What will fundraising communications look like in ten years?
Howard Lake | 12 August 2009 | Blogs
Now that it’s August, supermarkets and charities start selling Christmas cards and the countdown to the end of the year begins! Even Newsnight has joined in this week by starting to look towards the end of the year by reviewing how life in the UK has changed over the past decade with their review of the Noughties.
Their review showed just how much communication has changed this decade and the degree to which it is changing all around us every day right now. It got me thinking what will fundraising communications look like in 10 years from now?
Now it would be a brave person to make any sort of prediction as to what technology we will be using. However I believe it is possible to look at what might be the same as now and what types of communication may have become a distant memory.
Advertisement
It’s a safe bet that face to face communications will still be the bedrock of fundraising communication – people interacting with people will always be the heart of any charity. I’m pretty sure too that phones, whilst they will be a different shape and size in 10 years time, will still be a good part of the mix as to how charities engage with their supporters and beneficiaries. We will still be posting goods around although it might well be via a privatised post office!
I find it hard to still see a role for direct mail and printed communications in ten years time. It even seems strange today to be creating words and images on a computer screen, printing those same words and images on to pieces of paper, moving those pieces of paper physically around the country only for 99% of the recipients to put these pieces of paper straight in the recycling whilst the other 1% often pick up the phone or donate online to respond. Most charities could communicate via email to 60% of their supporters if they made a concerted effort. I’m pretty confident that all of our mass communication as charities will be digital in 10 years time.
It’s also very exciting to imagine who we will be communicating with in 10 years time. Already social media is enabling like minded individuals to unite around charitable causes to campaign, lobby and fundraise on their behalf. People who 10 years ago would have quite simply not been able to find each other are now in communication and taking action together. What will we be doing with whom in 10 years time?
Ok so August maybe is a little early to be thinking about the New Year but it’s fun to imagine the future!
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.