Wondering how to build an effective strategy for 2022? We propose Trend-Spotting 2022 in Philanthropy that can help optimize your organization’s decision‑making this coming year.

Anticipated continuing growth in donations

First things first: donations! Investment firms JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs anticipate that the stock market will continue to be bullish.

What does that have to do with donations?

Actually, there is a correlation between philanthropic givings and stock market performance. If the market is up, donations should rise with it. According to Giving USA, donations increased by 6% in 2021.

In parallel, given the considerable growth in securities in recent years, more donations appear to be made in the form of stocks.

Also, donors tend to favour endowment funds, which have kept organizations up and running since the pandemic began.

And let’s not forget the trend toward online giving. Online donations have surged and seem to have become a habit among donors. According to the most recent Canada Helps study, online donations jumped from $240M in 2019 to over $465M in 2021.

Ongoing labour shortage calls for better employers

A labour shortage has markedly affected the economy in general and the philanthropic sector in particular. This trend is expected to continue over the next few years.

This situation is why we recommend that you pay attention to your employee retention strategy. Offering a career plan, attractive working conditions, attentive listening and flexibility will win you a reliable team that doesn’t need to find greener grass on the other side of the fence.

Also, diversity and inclusion are other significant considerations that are becoming increasingly prominent, and could put the labour shortage behind us. Employees from other countries are a real asset in developing corporate culture and nimbleness, as well as employee creativity and curiosity. Cultural diversity is an employee retention factor that brings people together and sparks new ideas.

For 2022, brush off and polish your image as an employer!

Mental health is crucial

We don’t yet know all the effects of prolonged isolation and new work methods brought about by the pandemic. Although, these effects are clearer among adolescents, who are at the stage of developing their personal and relational lives. You do need to care about your employees. Make it a priority to be available, to listen, to pay attention to to signals. Some employees may consider working from home a boon; others who experience it as a stressful, anxiety‑producing demand may be less comfortable with the idea.

The Mouvement Santé mentale Québec [Quebec mental health movement] provides tips on how to network, recharge, take a break and reduce stress. We, too, offer some helpful contact information ; don’t hesitate to share these resources with your team, so that they have this information at hand if they need it.

Co-marketing is booming

What’s co‑marketing? It’s not complicated: two brands or businesses share a single marketing strategy. This joint initiative boosts the visibility of a product or service and can generate significant economic benefits.

Co‑marketing has other advantages. It can lower your costs by sharing market strategy expenditures. By widening your audience, it can allow you to reach more beneficiaries and partners. It can raise your profile, enhance your reputation and promote your cause.

Of course, before signing on for co‑marketing, you’ll need to analyze your needs and expectations. After identifying a potential co‑marketing partner organization, you’ll also need to set out the pros and cons of the idea, paying special attention to your organization’s reputation and image among target audiences.

Web3: see it coming!

Even if, you’ve never heard of Web3, it’s here.

To sum up: when people started using the Internet, they used Web1 to obtain information by browsing from one web page to another.

Web2 is participatory. It has altered the way people perceive and use the Internet. New social media offer tools for day‑to‑day networking, and have transformed browsing habits.

What does Web3 do?

Simply put, people will use the Facebook as a base. This platform is continually being enriched by the creation of individual content. Web3 is intended to render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar: a user who creates content becomes the owner of that content, and can monetize it, or convert it into money, independently of intermediaries like Facebook, Amazon and Apple.

Exactly how is content monetized? This virtual process uses digital currency, also known as cryptocurrency. An Internet user who creates content and puts it online receives a digital coin that constitutes a financial asset.

How might Web3 affect your organization?

We have included Web3 in the Trend-Spotting 2022 in Philanthropy because it could have the following impacts on your organization:

  • Since the Internet will become the central distribution platform, you will need to anticipate new computer resources.
  • You will need to offer more sustained interaction with your beneficiaries, suppliers and partners.
  • Your communication and marketing strategy will need to evolve, using in‑depth analyses of behaviour among your beneficiaries, competitors and online suppliers. Creating and posting content online will no longer provide your organization with adequate visibility. Your online profile and reputation will depend on the number of interactions, comments and new posts on social media.
  • You will need expert human resources to analyse data on your community and develop effective strategies on that basis.

The Trend-Spotting 2022 in Philanthropy will challenge us to focus on offering our teams reasons to stay with us, stimulation to stay sharp, and ways to stay mentally healthy. Not surprisingly, the market continues to evolve, encouraging us to invent new strategies to reach our target groups. While Web3 is only emerging, we need to keep on top of developments if we want our organizations to remain up‑to‑date and do their best in serving our beneficiaries well.