Anticipate the following over the next 20 years:

 

20% of Canadians will be 65 and over. As early as 2015, seniors could outnumber children.

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All the boomers will have retired by 2031.
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Life expectancy will reach the mid 80s.

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Population growth will be dependent on international immigration.
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The Generation Y workforce will be more mobile than the boomers were. Employee retention will be a challenge.
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By 2031 there will be 2 workers for each retired senior; the ratio used to be 5:1.
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The income gap between the most wealthy and the rest of us will continue to widen. Low income and poverty rates will increase.

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Health care costs will rise dramatically and preoccupy governments.
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Government funding of nonprofits will become more selective, creating pressures on non profits to raise user fees and/or fundraise even more than they do now.

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Competition for donor dollars will continue to grow as more non profits are formed and as people's view of philanthropy extends beyond national borders to a more global outlook on philanthropy.
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Canadians from all income brackets and cultures will use "converged" technology to communicate, maintain relationships, stay informed, voice their own opinions and news, transact business, shop, and have fun.

 

Everyone is on the Internet. All ages, all cultures, folks of all political, social, and economic persuasions. They are on Facebook (350 million people), tweeting on Twitter, blogging, chatting as well as transacting business via secure websites: banking, shopping, and philanthropy.

Online giving is growing at exponetial speed and within 10 years will be the channel through 20% of all donations are made. 

 

Moreover, people will use the Internet to learn about causes, join social networks related to their philanthropic interests, and will use the many online tools to share their their views about charities with others.

 

While email will remain important, current trends indicate that communications will take place more often via text messaging and through social networks like Facebook.

While the bulk of charitable giving will come from a minority of givers (i.e. people with sufficient income to provide larger gifts), we will continue to see growth in micro-donations, viral fundraising, and an increase in crowdsourcing as a means of offering support to charities.

 

Non-Profits, especially those that raise significant funds from the public like United Ways, major health organizations like Cancer and Heart, and others are already expanding their presence on the Internet through more interactive websites, blogs, social networks, community sites, and microblogging (e.g. Twitter). 

While smaller organizations may not be able to compete with the large charities, their strategic presence on the Internet can take advantage of micro-donations as well as use tools that enable more effective communications, collaboration, and service delivery.

 

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