This morning I attend a session on "Attracting and Cultivating the Next Generation of Philanthropists" at the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference in San Diego. An interesting generational divide was apparent in the session.

As Sue Acri of Ketchum spoke about the generational attributes of the new generation of philanthropists, the conversation quickly turned to using Facebook and MySpace to engage with constituents. That's when one of the "Baby Boomers" said, "Facebook, MySpace and those things are nice, but how do we bring them into a real relationship?"

To which one of the "Gen Y" members in the room stated. "That is a real relationship."

Another "GenYer" added that these young philanthropists "want to participate, but not in traditional ways. We'll start our own organization if we don't like the way you run yours," he added.  In a follow-up question to this young man he said that he and his peers want to engage in various channels, not just the Internet, but since that is the "best and most efficient way to communicate, I assume that if you can't do that well, you're too bureaucratic for me."

After some time, Sue helped people understand that these channels need to be part of a strategy. Creating a Facebook site to say you have one will not pass the transparency and authenticity test for the next generation - a site is not a strategy.

Another person questioned the amount of resources needed and ROI on regular updates to the Web site or tying to keep a Facebook and MySpace presence real. An older gentleman in the back commented that he was glad he didn't have to show an ROI on his annual report. All interesting perspectives based on generational differences and technological sophistication.

As the session was coming to a close a young women in the back of the room, stood up and said, "These are the same questions about Facebook and MySpace that we asked about the Web several years ago. It ain't going away. We have to meet this audience's expectations if we want to engage them."

As I listened, it appears that the research completed with our partners Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research into the expectations of major donors online and today's insight into the expectations of the next generation of donors is closely linked. Nonprofits still have a great deal of opportunity to engage the next generation and major donors through the Internet - "it ain't going away."

It seems we that what we have here, might just be a "failure to communicate." Is that failure a generational gap or a technical gap? What do you think? I welcome your perspective.