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In her 10th annual industry forecast, philanthropy expert and scholar Lucy Bernholz highlights challenges, big ideas and predictions for the coming year in Philanthropy and Digital Civil Society: Blueprint 2019.

Bernholz, senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and director of the Digital Civil Society Lab, is a highly valued thought leader in the sector and has a long relationship with CMF.

In her 10th edition of the Blueprint, Bernholz dedicated the publication to Rob Collier, former president and CEO of CMF. She writes, “Rob has been a friend, mentor, and luge teammate. His adventurous spirit and commitment to the public good has inspired me in ways too numerous to count.”

In the Blueprint, Bernholz digs into challenges facing the social sector and our civil society, calling attention to the current landscape of tax policies, declining public trust, data governance and what’s needed for the future. 

An excerpt from the Blueprint states:

  • Tax incentives for giving are going to matter differently. Crowdfunding already blurs tax incentives. Standard deduction changes mean most young donors won’t take exemptions.

  • Nonprofits are not as “haloed” as they once were. Trust barometers, data breaches and young people know that there are lots of ways to do good. There may be a new structure that replaces nonprofit status as the seal of trustworthiness and mission focus.

  • Giving happens everywhere, but we’re doing less of it. Giving opportunities are now folded into online gaming platforms and other systems as well as into dating apps. We need to study and understand how people think they’re contributing their time and money. We need to understand how donors behave when they’re surrounded by choices, asked all the time and offered digital options as a default.

Bernholz’s research led her to call for those with influence to diversify their circles and to welcome new insights and new voices that can help shape the future for civil society.

“We need big ideas, big ways of sharing and big ways of allowing dispersed people to collaborate,” Bernholz said.

Beyond those findings, Bernholz once again released her predictions for the new year.

U.S. predictions

  • Aggregate U.S. giving will continue to rise but the total number of givers will continue to decrease.

  • Making sure your organization is in the database of Alexa/Siri/Google Home will replace search engine optimization as a key marketing strategy for nonprofits.

Bernholz predicts that funders will also engage in funding census outreach, noting that many states and communities are working to ensure an accurate and complete count in 2020.  

“The census is a bedrock of our democracy – so much so, that it’s required by the sixth paragraph of the U.S. Constitution,” Bernholz told CMF. “Energy and dollars that are spent to ensure that the count is as accurate as possible in reflecting the breadth and diversity of our nation are investments in a just society that will be leveraged for the next decade.”

Noting the Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA) and CMF partnership where more than 30 CMF members have provided $4.7 million to support the Michigan Nonprofits Count Campaign (NPCC), Bernholz said, “The Michigan philanthropic and nonprofit community is a leading example of this systemic, long-term thinking.”

Global predictions

  • An “Internet of Things” hack involving a nonprofit – drone, car, medical device – will cause significant damage.

  • Cyber insurance will become a budget line item for every nonprofit and foundation.

  • Giving via video game platforms and streaming sites such as Twitch will get mainstream attention.

Bernholz holds herself accountable in the annual report, reflecting on what she got right and wrong about the past year. She was correct on 8 out of her 12 predictions for 2018. Here are a few of the notable predictions that came true:

  • There will be more big-ticket philanthropic partnerships between foundations and individual donors to aggregate capital.

  • Voice-activated giving will make headlines.

  • Tech companies will increase their philanthropy and political giving.

  • Nonprofits everywhere will examine their privacy practices to abide by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Bernholz’s 2019 Blueprint certainly provides a deep dive into some big ideas and she encourages the conversation to continue by using the Blueprint’s included discussion guide with your colleagues.

Want more?

Download Lucy Bernholz’s Philanthropy and Digital Civil Society: Blueprint 2019.

Check out the resources from the Digital Civil Society Lab.

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