With the economy booming, the population up in arms about crises such as in tuition, and the government trying to attack and change who gets money for what, nevertheless, 2018 is looking to be a big year for nonprofits. Indeed, there is a lot of money to be made. The obvious question then becomes, how can your nonprofit get a piece of the pie?

To help them in that regard, here are some of the top technological trends that could help nonprofits get ahead of the game, by raising awareness, lowering the bar to getting people to donate and in other ways create a more benevolent fundraising environment.

Virtual Reality

As we’ve long since learned, statistics do not pull on our heartstrings or open our wallets. A single picture of a suffering child can do more to raise donations than any number of shocking statistics.

Of course, the more engaged we are with that imagery, the more effective such appeals will be. Enter Virtual Reality. This technology offers serious fundraising opportunities by allowing people to not just view the situation through their TV screens, but to feel much more like they’re actually there.

This technology, in turn, promises to create more of an emotional connection between the potential donor and the recipient. It will even be possible to give big donors the ability to inspect the goodwill and the opportunities their money has created, without having to actually physically visit the locale. With the opportunity for people to see how much good they are doing, it will be much easier to convince them to continue giving.

Artificial Intelligence  (AI)

The great thing about AI right now is the ability for these algorithms to find patterns that we are simply not aware of. Perhaps the ratings of certain TV shows have positive effects on fundraising efforts. The great thing is that AI, with its incredible processing power can check far more relationships than our minds can. And that offers tremendous opportunities for fundraising efforts.

By analyzing the generally available data and discovering which up and coming groups might suddenly have more money at their disposal or will become more interested in giving to specific causes, it becomes possible to open up entirely new fundraising fields. Sure, these might not be huge or permanent, but as long as AI keeps finding new patterns for us to exploit, that won’t really matter.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

Possibly the IoT’s biggest contribution will be how it can make giving so much easier. By allowing us to connect our devices easily and effectively, it will become possible to respond to an appeal for money on a billboard, TV or the radio through a simple action, like perhaps a swipe on your mobile phone.

Reducing the steps necessary for people to donate will make it far easier for people to “impulse donate” (which is much like impulse buying) small amounts to charities and causes they become aware of. This should create a big uptick in small-scale donations.

The best thing about these types of small-scale donations is that they should be steadier over time. This will allow nonprofits to make better long-term plans.

Blockchain Technology

Finally, we have to consider block chain technology and the advantages it offers. Already it’s revolutionizing the landscape for nonprofits. This is because they allow for the easy transfer of money, the simple securing of documentation, as well as making it exceedingly difficult for corrupt authorities to take money intended for their citizens.

Herein lays the power of blockchains for nonprofits. It offers them ways to create a way to transfer money and products to people easily, cheaply and transparently. In this way, nonprofits will be able to make sure more of the money people donate to them will actually end up where they intend it to go. That will means we help more people and can convince donors that what they’re giving us will actually make a difference.

Last Words

These technologies are going to change the game. They will make it easier for people to donate, easier to find people who are more likely to donate and easier to send the money to the people who need it most.

In that way the neediest people in our societies can actually get the help they need; instead of suffering they can end up thriving. Ultimately, that has to be something we can all get behind.  

 

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Luisa Brenton is a writer in a variety of venues – academic, business, and online marketing content. She is a frequent contributor to alltopreviews.com, a review website that evaluates custom online writing services.

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