Dave, the rest of my original post makes it clear that I don’t think email’s going away anytime soon–it’ll continue to be a very good way to send proactive (read: nagging, guilt-inducing) appeals to that subset of your audience that actually wants to be on your list.

But as more and more people opt out of lists, nonprofits are going to have to make more effective use of RSS, tags, and other “push” channels that don’t rely on email. There are people out there who will never subscribe to your list, but they’ll be happy to give if you reach them in the right way at the right moment.

People need to be asked for money and not in a passive way like on a visit to a site (and I’ve seen even fewer online fundraising appeals as I’ve come to rely on my newsreader). Even though nobody likes guilt and nagging from their favorite nonprofits, it’s still an effective method of fundraising.