LONDON (AP) — Britain’s 81-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, considered an icon of traditionalism, launched her own special Royal Channel on YouTube Sunday. (source: NYTimes)

You might ask what this has to do with Jewish philanthropy? The answer is everything; when such a conservative establishment as Britain’s Royal family turns to YouTube to deliver the Queen’s Christmas message, it begs the question:

how will you organization best reach its’ target audience in 2008?

Perhaps the answer is the old stand-by of direct mail with a bit of e-mail tossed in (to allow your audience to think you are with it). But more and more we are seeing the need to expand into new horizons to maintain current donors and attract new ones. Maybe the answer for your organization is the status quo; perhaps Facebook, or YouTube, or the mobile web (that’s coming too). If you are not at least considering the various tools of social networking you will miss the boat.

As to online video, the simple fact is that it is following the exact same path e-mail once did!

Consider: YouTube receives 10,000 hours of new video every day.

Why? it’s really cheap.

That’s the good news and the bad news. And some of your Board members may be horrified if they see user generated content on the web. But the fact remains, your donors will be delighted.

And remember, you read it here first: within the non-profit world, It Will Only Get Bigger.