Here’s some food for the brain if you have some spare time over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Agitator readers outside the US, set it aside for your next long weekend.

You won’t raise more money tomorrow from reading this report, but it might help you make better sense of the context in which nonprofit fundraising, organizing and communications will be undertaken during the balance of your career.

On the Social Citizens blog, I came across a new study — Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape The Social Sector — that looks at trends the authors believe will reshape the nonprofit sector. Their assertion: “The nonprofit sector is at an inflection point that will fundamentally reshape it long after the recession, when surviving nonprofits find themselves in a new reality — not just economically, but demographically, technologically and socially.”

The trends examined in Convergence are:

1. Demographic shifts that redefine participation
2. Abundant technological advances
3. Networks that enable work to be organized in new ways
4. Rising interest in civic engagement and volunteerism
5. Blurring sectoral boundaries

Each trend is fleshed out in compelling detail, with examples of how specific nonprofits are tapping or responding to each one. The report is based on literature review and interviews with nonprofit practitioners and thought leaders. It was prepared for The James Irvine Foundation by La Piana Consulting.

As usual, I don’t agree with everything in the report. I would like to see a report like this examine explicitly and with depth … just where is the money going to come from that will fuel the nonprofit sector in the "new reality." In Convergence, we hear repeated a now familiar refrain … social media friendraising will, somewhere off in the future, lead to fundraising.

I’m sure it will. But that’s not a responsible fundraising strategy for 99% of nonprofits. Fundraising is not seriously examined in Convergence, but it’s a provocative monograph that I heartily recommend nonetheless.

And if you think these issues are "above your pay grade" (personally, I think every upwardly mobile nonprofit staffer should be thinking about this stuff), pass along Convergence up the chain of command … it will be appreciated.

Tom

P.S. The Agitator is taking a Thanksgiving break. We’ll see you again on Monday, November 30, a few pounds heavier.