Читать книгу Achieving Excellence in Fundraising - Группа авторов - Страница 131

The nonprofit sector has grown significantly since the Filer Commission's report, in the United States and globally. Growth of the sector has occurred alongside the adoption of an increasingly complex use of media and technology for communication and an expansion of educational programs.

The growth of community foundations globally provides an interesting example for the increasingly multifaceted communications required of nonprofits. Community foundations raise money in their communities, support nonprofit organizations, and integrate local citizens on their boards. Strategic communication and engagement with all forms of media widen their networks of relationships, engage stakeholders, and increase public awareness of their multiple roles and activities (Esposito and Besana 2018). In 2014, there were an estimated 1,800 community foundations worldwide with over 1,000 in the United States and Canada, and 670 in Europe (Community Foundation Atlas 2014). Often connected to thematic or local community foundations are giving circles – groups of individuals who come together to support their community through funding, volunteering, and networking. Leveraging the power of the digital age, giving circles and related initiatives like Philanthropy Together (2020), are increasing not only donations but the numbers of individuals engaged in collective giving. The Philanthropy Together collective, which promotes the democratization and increase in diversity in giving circles across the United States and globally, is enhancing the ability of these groups to gather, discuss, decide, give, and engage. By the year 2020, the network had brought together 2,000 giving circles that donated $1.29 billion.

Media channels, both traditional (newspapers and radio) and digital (websites, social media platforms, podcasts, and digital downloads) are enmeshed in the daily practices and routines of nonprofit professionals, including fundraising and volunteer recruitment (Burger 2019). These practices, linked to the professionalization of the sector, require specific communication and digital literacy skill sets that are needed in all nonprofit organizations (see Chapters 16 and 24). The term digital literacy refers to “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills” (American Library Association 2020). It is considered the next core function of any nonprofit organization alongside financial and program management (Bernholz 2017).

The size and scope of philanthropy education and research has grown significantly in the last two decades. The number of institutions offering programs has nearly doubled in just the past 15 years (Seton Hall University 2020). In 2020, there were 342 colleges and universities offering nonprofit management courses, which included 86 programs with noncredit courses, 78 continuing education programs, 252 graduate degree programs, and 82 programs with online courses. Scholarly activity about the nonprofit field has existed for nearly a century and has accelerated since 1990. Top research themes include theories of volunteering, social capital, and civic engagement. The frequent disconnect between academic research and practice calls for more collaboration between academics and practitioners and a search for new explanations of the functioning of the sector (Ma and Konrath 2018). Fundraising theory is one method to bridge this gap (see Chapter 4).

The COVID‐19 pandemic accelerated the widespread use of digital platforms across the nonprofit sector for fundraising purposes. Fundraisers need to understand the difference between commercial and nonprofit entities that provide these digital platforms (Bernholz 2020b). The abrupt change to a virtual format highlighted issues of data privacy for donors and beneficiaries as well as the importance of digital access. Fundraisers increasingly must have essential – if not advanced – skills in digital fundraising perhaps acquired through academic programs in the field.