Are nonprofit groups dead?

Is the non-profit dead?

Sure, maybe “dead” is a bit dramatic for the trusty nonprofit organization. But activists doing good inside and outside the box are increasingly wondering: Is this old way of thinking about doing good works still relevant in the tech-savvy, hyper-cyber world of social change we see today?

For starters, it’s clear that whatever you call them, nonprofits aren’t going anywhere. In 2010, there were 1.6 million nonprofit organizations registered with the Internal Revenue Service. Notwithstanding its size, the nonprofit sector hasn’t been averse to the changes that technology bring.

Organizations such as Kiva or Vittana, which facilitate micro-loans for business or college education, connect donors directly with the people to whom they give.

Bulk mail fundraising solicitations are giving way to like “Twestivals” – galas or gimmicks for giving, depending on your perspective – where users of the online micro-blogging site Twitter use the power of their cyber-networks to organize offline fundraising events.

Foundations like Echoing Green or Draper Richards offer grants and training to young change agents they call “social entrepreneuers,” a term that’s suppose to denote the savvy and efficiency of today’s 2.0 charities.

But if doing good is getting more efficient, does the old-fashioned nonprofit have a future?

A panel of distinguished nonprofit leaders recently took up this question at the Aspen Institute, in Aspen, Colo. Alumni of the Aspen Global Leadership Network met for four days in July to brainstorm and debate about the world’s most-pressing challenges. Yours truly was invited to eavesdrop (with expenses paid by the institute) on those debates, under one condition – I can tell you what was said, but I can’t tell you who said it.

So without naming names, I can tell you that there were about 20 nonprofit leaders, from major funders that you’ve probably heard of, if you read this blog, to small community organizations trying to make change neighborhood by neighborhood, both in the United States and around the world.

Here are three ideas on the future of the nonprofit:

Hat-in-hand funding is a thing of the past

For decades, nonprofits looked to donors – private foundations, individual philanthropists, governments – for most of their expenses. The argument, perhaps a good one (at least for awhile), was that there’s simply no money to be made in, say, running a domestic violence shelter or feeding the poor during a famine.

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