Yesterday, with his Scrooge hat on, Tom offered his opinion and advice on how to approach the question of fitting social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) into the fundraising mix.

Tom justified his parsimonious approach to investing in social media on the grounds that the “fundraising team’s job is to protect and nurture our existing donor base; to raise the funds projected for this year; to make prudent investments to grow that base using proven methods and current response data; and to scan the horizon for new opportunities and ways to grow. In that order!”

It’s hard to argue with those priorities.  Unless of course those priorities are mere camouflage for defending and rationalizing status quo behavior.

Of course if anyone is willing to challenge the status quo it’s Tom, so I’m not about to accuse him of defending the ‘old order’ out of nostalgia, fear or complacency.  What concerns me is that his advice to simply “scan the horizon for new opportunities and ways to grow” is far too dismissive of the enormous potential of social media.  And mostly because it ignores the enormous  acceleration of the speed of change that is now occurring.

In recent months The Agitator has chronicled the accelerating growth of social media networks, the rapid adoption of high-speed broadband, the ubiquitous use of online video and the steady and certain growth of online giving.  I believe fundraisers ignore these signs at their peril, especially if the only reason to avoid substantial and well thought through investment is the desire to avoid risk and maintain the status quo.

The fact that a tsunami of contributions has yet to materialize from social media is hardly a predictor of future results.  After all, when I started one of the first direct mail fundraising firms in America the conventional fundraising wisdom was “you don’t get milk from a cow by sending it a letter.”  And the same sort of scolding and skepticism accompanied the advent of telemarketing.  Then yesterday, online e-mail fundraising and, today, social network fundraising.

Of course I’m not advocating wild spending for the mere sake of speculative experimentation (and neither is Tom).  What I am vigorously advocating is that because the now-imaginary potential of social networks is likely to become a powerful reality sooner than most expect,  there is a burning need to plan and test in a serious and disciplined manner. 

Unlike Tom I wasn’t a bit surprised to see that 54% of our Agitator readers see social media yielding significant revenue within 5 years.  And I was delighted to also see from the recent Agitator Survey that nearly 50% of the respondents were going to pay a great deal of attention to major gift activity in the next 12 months.

Why?  Because it’s the major gifts channel where you’re most likely to find the most receptive donors for supporting the research and development investment in social media to assure your organization’s future.

In short, you don’t – and you shouldn’t – have to put current fundraising resources at risk.  Rather you should – I say “must” –turn to those who have already demonstrated a huge commitment to your organization and raise the ‘seed money’ required to prepare for the social media harvest that will surely come.

Roger