Heartening predictions for Transformational Giving devotees in fundraising guru Mal Warwick’s May 2009 newsletter:

• Large charities clinging to enormous donorfiles will lose ground to those that emphasize donor quality over quantity.
• Major donor or foundation consortia will flourish, issuing Requests for Proposal (RFPs) to nonprofits and businesses alike to tackle specific problems.
• Small donors will flock to mutual-fund-like investment vehicles, by-passing individual nonprofits to address broader issues.

This is more than a ‘donor-centric’ future, by the way–much more than just a call to treat donors well. The tables are turning: champions are more and more comfortable acting to impact causes independent of nonprofits, and they’re increasingly beset not by compassion fatigue but by institutional fatigue–that is, they’re tired of nonprofits instisting that the road to impacting the cause goes through them.

Increasingly, a nonprofit earns its status as a respected expert and coach one champion at a time. It’s a great day that we need not fear: after all, it’s how Jesus worked, and it’s the environment in which Paul ministered. The only thing we need to toss off are the secular fundraising weights that beset us.

Teach a champion today how to better impact the cause they love–therein lies your path to success in development.