Revolution Now: Social media meets nonprofits

According to a recent study on new media from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 75% of non-profits are using some form of social media (blogging, social networking, etc):

Nora Barnes and Eric Mattson at U Mass Dartmouth surveyed the 200 largest nonprofits and found that they are adopting social media at a much faster pace than the business world, with 75 percent using some form of social media like blogs, social networking sites, podcasts, wikis or other formats. Makes a lot of sense, given that these tools are mostly free or low-cost, and yet so effective.

Alternatively, organizations that are staying away or silent are having a conversation something like this one way dinner conversation:

It seems to me that churches, particularly with active youth groups and/or members in the 20-40 age range are moving in this direction too.  Churches like Lifechurch.TV and Granger Community Church are certainly at the leading edge of alot of this change although others are experimenting a host of other social media configurations including Second Life and JustinTV-esque 24/7 UStreams.

Thoughts? What are the ramifications of this change? How long before it will be 90-95?

A video from Granger Community Church in Indiana about community service:

(h/t to consultant and prolific blogger Beth Kanter at Beth’s Non-profit Tech blog and fellow blogger/consultant Nedra Weinreich at Spare Change) (image credit: Robert Scoble and Darren Lightfoot )