Article
Exploring 2025 Nonprofit Trends
Amy Funk · January 2025 · 2 min read
As we look forward in 2025, one thing is certain – things are going to change. We asked two industry leaders to let us know what they think is on the horizon.
David Devan, Principal at Portage & Practice Decades of leading large opera companies, including the Philadelphia Opera, has taught David one thing. When facing an uncertain future, the answer is to innovate and engage in creative destruction. As funding models and demographics change, it feels risky to invest resources in initiatives that could fail, but standing still is even riskier.
David advocates that nonprofits let go of outdated or stale processes, even when they’re comfortable, because embracing or trying new things needs to be given bandwidth to succeed. For example, Opera Philadelphia boldly chose to set a price of $11 for every seat, backed by philanthropic revenue. The season quickly sold out. Will it succeed in the long run? Only time will tell. But these types of bold choices can re-invigorate an organization.
Patti Tuomey, Ed.D. Visiting Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Non-Profit Institute In her work at University of Nebraska-Lincoln Non-profit Institute, Patti sees large scale transformation as the path forward. Demographic changes happening right now, are impacting board participation and giving trends. Nonprofits need to look at their underlying assumptions, make assessments of their fundraising ROI, and reallocate resources to what’s working best. Both Gen X and Millennial cohorts are less likely to engage in a traditional board model, and that model may need to transform to be effective in the future. Consider making communications as custom as possible, as highly tailored and personal approaches will be more important than ever moving forward.
Key Takeaways:
- With uncertainty and volatility, this is a time to be transformational
- Even pillars of nonprofit arts work, like subscriptions and board service, should be re-examined
- Creating new ways of doing things requires releasing old structures
- All of this work must be centered around your stakeholders in a custom, vibrant way
We hope you enjoyed this look at upcoming trends – we’ve invited both nonprofit leaders to our Arts Insights Roundtable on Tuesday, February 4 at 4:00 PM EST. They’ll share firsthand what they’re seeing in the field, and we’ll have a chance for conversation and questions from the group.
