Steve and I returned from NTEN in Atlanta yesterday and today we join Karen and Ellen at AFP International in Baltimore. It's always good to be out and meeting clients, consultants, future customers and friends. Here I will share some tidbits from NTEN and will follow up with AFP notes in a couple of days.
Attending the Nonprofit Technology Network (www.nten.org) conference is a great way to get and stay up-to-speed on technology trends and best practices - specifically relating to nonprofits. The crowd tends to be young and tech savvy and the whole event is really energetic and uplifting. We were delighted to meet GiftWorks friends and veteran nonprofit gurus there too (especially Ruthellen Rubin, Robert Weiner and Kathy Alme). If there's any way you can make it work, a trip to next year's conference in Washington, DC would be a great investment!
Over lunch, Ruthellen shared some trends she is seeing in the field that were reinforced at NTEN. First, she loves being surrounded by people younger than herself and she makes it a point to do this. It keeps her fresh, engaged and alert for what's coming next. She also happily notes that fundraising is hip for Gen X and Gen Y. These generations want meaningful work, are tech savvy and not afraid to leverage technology for the benefit of a cause they believe in. There really is an opportunity for all nonprofits to attract young, smart people as volunteers or employees for this purpose. She also learned statistics at one of the sessions showing that most young people don't have checkbooks (all debit cards and online banking) or home phones (all mobile phones). So, as you seek to include 20 somethings or even 30 somethings in your annual appeal, you are wise to consider how they give - they probably won't be returning a check in an envelope!
There is more to share, but I'm out of time now...
Did anyone else attend NTEN? What did you learn?
"So, as you seek to include 20 somethings or even 30 somethings in your annual appeal, you are wise to consider how they give - they probably won't be returning a check in an envelope!"
This is very true. However many fund raising organisations still do not like to carry debit/credit card machines and produce them. They don't realise how socially acceptable it is to the younger person, who will never have a cheque book.
budgetingandforecastingsoftware
said on Apr 21 at 10:51AM