BIG’s Blog: Think About This!

Recently, I watched an interview on Charlie Rose with Larry Page, founder and CEO of Google.

I know a lot of my blog readers in nonprofit fundraising struggle with the concept of’ “How do I get people on the Web to become donors?” And that QUESTION either paralyzes them or gets them taking baby steps on the Web, such as building a new website or putting up a Facebook page.

I understand your question… really, I do. But if you are going to “sit tight” with your current plan and mode of fundraising while you “wait” for clarity to come or “take baby steps,” then very soon there is going to be a huge price to pay.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page are the two co-founders of Google. They are arguably two of the smartest people on the planet. Below are two quotes from Larry Page from the Charlie Rose interview that you have to read and internalize if you think you can “sit tight” and wait for clarity.

“Everybody in the world is going to have a mobile device hooked to the Internet.”

“The pace of change is changing. It is getting much faster.”

Do you see how those two quotes are interrelated?

Remember when we had to go to the library to the reference section to look up stuff?  Now that happens on Google in seconds. And we can take information and study, analyze, or crunch it right at our computer with programs that are either on the computer or running in the cloud. The point is we do everything quicker.

That means that people are already going to the Internet to “check you out.” What will they see? Are you ready to engage them in conversation? Answer questions? What if they call after 5 pm in the afternoon?

Does your mode of fundraising still look the way it did 40 years ago? Okay, so you’ve added PCs, but the functions are still the same, aren’t they?

What’s your plan for speeding up changing your organization to keep up with all those connected people?

In 1997 Google didn’t exist. That’s right, a mere 15 years ago, Google as a company did not exist. Then they changed the world.

But here is the real deal: everyday, your organization’s work and mission is CHANGING THE WORLD. And that “change” may be more important to one person than all the technological changes that Google has ever made.

But, if your organization’s financial oxygen dries up because your historically successful fundraising program doesn’t develop a “new plan” to take advantage of the online, real-time, always-on Internet. . .


-Mike

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