We're starting off the year by looking forward, and envision a year filled with innovation and collaboration. We asked nonprofit techies from across the country what predictions and hopes they had for the upcoming year, and got an earful of ideas and attitude. Here are our the best responses:

> Nick Allen, Donordigital
"Advocacy groups and groups that respond quickly to news and other events will see the greatest gains online."

"Groups that are putting time and money into their online work will continue to see online revenue increase as a share of total revenue from individual donors."

"Nonprofits that are active online will continue to invest in list-building, advocacy, and fundraising."

"Nonprofits will work harder at search engine marketing, trying to figure out how to use the social networks and blogs, and trying to figure out how to get their online folks to do things offline and vice versa."

 

> Gene Austin, Convio
"We'll see growth in systems integration between online and offline transaction tools."

"The adoption of eCRM software solutions for online marketing will continue to escalate."

"The percentage of funds raised online will double for organizations taking a strategic approach to the Web."

 

> Ed Batista, Attention Data
"Nonprofits will start to understand the value of attention data and begin making use of it to deliver services, measure impact and improve fundraising."

 

> Phil Ferrante-Roseberry, CompuMentor
"We'll see a shakeout in the nonprofit ASP field, including mergers and acquisitions."

"We'll witness more planning and preparation around the use of social networking tools, such as those used during Hurricane Katrina."

 

> Sheeraz Haji, GetActive Software
"Fundraising online will grow to over 50% of non-major donations for charitable and public interest organizations."

"2006 will be the year of integration, reporting and analytics."

"2006 will see a convergence in online and offline fundraising."

 

> Steve Heye, YMCA of the USA
"There'll be more of a focus on business tactics and processes, as technology becomes more of a commodity."

"Growth in the use of web-based software by nonprofits, resulting in lower hardware costs."

 

> Beth Kanter, Independent Nonprofit Technology Consultant
"Nonprofits will continue to adopt Web 2.0 tools such as Wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, and social tagging."

 

> Lynn Labieniec, Beaconfire
"There's be an increase in nonprofits who look to Web technology to serve their programs."

 

> Jeff Patrick, Common Knowledge
"Software vendors will address the issue of identity validation in online action alerts, so legislators will take online advocacy more seriously."

"We'll see more streaming media (video) used in nonprofit email marketing campaigns, because it increases response rates."

"The battle between the large on-demand ASP vendors will rage on in 2006."

 

> Henry Sohn, CiviCRM
"Open source solutions will enjoy greater adoption by more nonprofit organizations than ever."

"Building an online community and establishing a web presence will be easier than ever as technologies become more powerful, easier to use and implement, and cheaper to deploy and maintain."

 

> Jillaine Smith, Strategic Communications Consultant
"Nonprofit tech assistance providers will continue to broaden their services beyond technology towards a larger framework of organizational effectiveness and program success."

 

> Jon Stahl, One Northwest
"The Web 2.0 bubble will burst"

"This will be the year of of open-source content management systems."

 

> Katrin Verclas, Aspiration
"We'll see an increasing use of mobile phones on nonprofit work, civic actions, and campaigns."

 

> Ken Weber, Network For Good
"New online technology products with strong features and affordable costs will stir up the nonprofit tech tools marketplace."