No fundraiser concerned with the future should take solace in the fact that your programs may be solid or even thriving today.

Not in this world of change where venerable and seemingly invulnerable mega-enterprises like Coca Cola and McDonalds are posting declining profits … where broadcasters and newspapers are massively losing audience share and advertising revenue to other forms of media … and where the nonprofit sector is hemorrhaging donors and dollars.

Change surrounds us all. No organization is insulated from it. Only a fool — or those about to retire — will ignore the fact that meeting the needs of donors and consumers will be far different a decade from now than it is today.

Figuring that out is the job of the ‘modern fundraiser’, as Tom wrote yesterday.

Fortunately, the nonprofit sector has the time and resources to navigate a safe and sustainable course into the future. The question is, do we have the foresight and discipline to do so?

The principal reason Tom and I harp so much on ‘retention’ is that holding on to today’s donors is far more than a ‘best practice’. It is the financial safety net as organizations figure out the future.

President John F. Kennedy advised: “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”.

And the time for nonprofits to devote discipline and resources to figuring out the future is now — while there is a predictable level of resources still available.

Given the reality that most organizations scarcely have time to execute well on today’s plans, let alone figure out a future 5 or 10 years in the distance, the question becomes, “How on Earth can we realistically do this?”

Here’s one brilliant answer to that question from my favorite public broadcaster WBUR in Boston, as reported by the Nieman Journalism Lab.

The station, one of the largest public broadcasters in the U.S. and the envy of many other stations, has created a project called ‘BizLab’ that will work outside the day-to-day operations to transform its revenue strategy to meet the future of the digital age.

Why, when the station is doing just fine, thank you, is WBUR undertaking this extraordinary and costly effort?

In the words of Charlie Kravetz, the station’s general manager:

“It’s like a car accelerating and humming down the highway and seeing a brick wall at the end of the road. Just because you’re humming along doesn’t mean the brick wall isn’t there.”

Here are the key takeaways on WBUR’s BizLab:

• It will be a strategy and technology incubator focusing exclusively on finding new revenue streams to make WBUR more sustainable.

• The project is funded by a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation with matching funds from the station itself.

• If necessary the station will raise additional funds to operate BizLab for 3 to 5 years.

“We are healthy — we are financially sound now, as a lot of big public radio stations are,” said General Manager Kravetz. “So it’s the exact moment to take advantage.”

Of course, in every nonprofit sector, challenges for the future will vary. But one challenge is constant: how to maintain optimal contact and relationships with the organization’s constituency and donors.

In the case of broadcasters, audiences and donors are sliding away from terrestrial radio to listening to programming via podcasts or audio streams on phone and tablets. As a result, the classic on-air fundraising drive is threatened and may become obsolete.

And so it is with every organization. Fundamental questions about what threats the future poses must be asked, and serious, dedicated exploration taken to find workable alternatives and answers.

I urge you to read the Nieman Foundation Lab story here.

What steps are you taking to plan for the future free of the pressures of day-to-day operations? And do you know of other organizations doing the same?

Roger