Social Media and the Shifting Power Dynamics of Philanthropy

At the beginning of the month, the NonProfit Times released it's annual "Power and Influence Top 50" - a list of the 50 people driving and shaping the world of philanthropy and civil society. While the list is full of amazing people, there is one type of person conspicuously absent: bloggers.

The list is a virtual who's-who of philanthropy and nonprofit work. Some are honored for their attempts to better train the nonprofit industry, others are noted for the innovation which they've instilled in their foundations. The one major homage to technology comes in the recognition of Holly Ross, director of the awesome NTEN nonprofit technology conference.

But there is something missing there. It's becoming increasingly clear that "nonprofit technology" is not an easily distinct category from "nonprofit work." Social media is young, yes, but it is already showing signs of the dramatic shifts it's creating in the way that average citizens interact with nonprofits.

First, it is changing fundraising. Where as fundraising used to be the solely about getting a big enough list of names that some would respond to your appeal, it's now increasingly about figuring out reasons and platforms for your core supporters to engage their friends and connections. This is what giving platforms like GlobalGiving are all about.

Second, it is changing the actual choices about how people engage with philanthropic endeavors. Sites like Kiva.org give people a fundamentally different option for their dollars, and it's an option that many find is more compelling, personal, and fun than what traditional groups offer.

Third, it is changing the nature of where important conversations are held. Whereas exclusive gatherings were once the only space to talk with though leaders and influential people, blogs have now become a convening point for ongoing conversations about the shifting approaches and priorities of philanthropy and social change more broadly.

Case in point. Sean Stannard-Stockton's Tactical Philanthropy, maybe the single must-read blog for the philanthropically minded, has recently been host to a wildly engaged and intense debate about high-performance vs. high-impact nonprofits. His original post making the distinction unleashed over thirty comments, and the five plus follow-on posts have produced dozens more. The important thing to note though is not just that there are a lot of comments, but that the comments are from leaders of major philanthropic organizations like Charity Navigator and even the author of a book that was questioned in one of the posts.

The point is that Sean has the distribution to unleash a conversation on his blog that previously never would have been held in that sort of public setting, and which frankly, Sean might not have been invited to be a part of. That's not a knock on Sean at all, but simply a recognition that it's no longer the presidents of foundations who get to convene conversations and have a say in how the field is changing.