Social Giving IRL (In Real Life) for Nonprofits

By Steve Boland
Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ)


The Internet is full of acronyms. Some were born of necessity from Twitter’s limited character count, but others are created by the unique nature of ubiquitous, virtual networks. There was never a need to talk about IRL before the Internet, because almost all personal communications were In Real Life. The ease and low cost of all this virtual communication means a great deal of messaging—including social fundraising—happens asynchronously (a $50 word for “whenever people happen to get to it”).

People, however, are still people. People schedule events. People go to stores. Sharing an experience in real time and space means a lot for many. Donors get more excited for—and more moved by—things that happen with other people in the same space. Ask any nonprofit that ever had an auctioneer at a gala or scheduled a fun run.

Not all social giving IRL has to be tied to hosting a gala or 5K. People gather in places for lots of other reasons, and those are opportunities for the right charities with the right tools. The growth rate of U.S. adults with Internet-enabled phones (already surpassed two-thirds of the population) is huge; most donors can now give wherever they are rather than waiting to get to a desktop screen somewhere. New tools are just now coming into the market, with more players and ideas likely to join soon.


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