Chris Anderson, father of the “long tail” theorem regarding the web’s impact, has come up with another theorem — “Crowd accelerated innovation.”

Here’s how Seth Godin summarizes it in a recent post: “Online video radically changes the reach and speed of the improvement cycle. Things like dance, snowboarding and TED talks keep getting better, and faster, because artists see the best and improve on it. Even more than that, it requires you to top what’s out there, or you’ll be ignored.” [Ed: italics added.]

But better, watch Anderson’s compelling video presentation of his online video theory. Anderson’s basic point … online video, because of both its dissemination advantages (speed, universal reach, yet narrowcast appeal to tiny passionate segments) and its far stronger impact (than print or images alone) on its human viewer, can terrifically — and quickly — raise the bar in all sorts of pursuits, from breakdancing to cell biology research.

Why not nonprofit fundraising?

For starters, fundraisers would need to start sharing stories and illustrations of their successful innovations on video. Of course, the key words are “sharing” and “on video”!

And if they started doing that, the question would become where to share them. They could simply be thrown up on YouTube, hoping a devoted audience would find them.

But maybe some central repository would be better. SOFII would be my candidate for that. SOFII already showcases scores of exemplary fundraising mail packages, print ads, and presentations. So it would be a logical evolution.

What say you, SOFII? And more critically, what say you, fundraisers?

Tom

This article was posted in: charities, communications, creativity, direct marketing, Don't Miss these Posts, fundraising, innovation, nonprofit management, nonprofits, online publishing, online video, Seth Godin, social networking.
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