GrantStation
and CharityFinders
are proud to offer you a free webinar on "e-Strategy
for Your Nonprofit"
This webinar shows how any nonprofit can develop
and execute an Internet strategy to further
its mission. We’ll examine how nonprofits
are using the Internet, how they’d like
to be using the Internet, and how they should
be using the Internet (but may be unaware of)
– and how to bridge that significant gap
easily and quickly. We’ll select one participant,
and we’ll analyze their existing website,
make recommendations on how it (and everyone
else’s websites) can incorporate new,
strategic features, and finally, we’ll
actually build them a working, e-philanthropy
prototype site in just minutes.
Please
click here to see dates/times and to register. |
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What Features Should Your Website Include?
Part Two
If you are thinking of building an interactive, e-philanthropy
site, remember the two strategic objectives of your site:
- Inform the website visitor about your organization and
its mission.
- Get the website visitor to support your nonprofit (not
just read about it).
In case there is any doubt that the second objective is
the more important one, consider the following two scenarios:
- You might have ten million website visitors a month
visiting your website, reading every single word and looking
at every picture, but not taking any action as a result.
- Instead of ten million you might have ten website visitors
per month hitting your site, and spending only 30 seconds
each on it—but all of them are doing something to
support you: donating, volunteering, buying tickets to
an event, etc.
Virtually every nonprofit manager prefers scenario two
to scenario one. The point is that you want a site which
not only has a lot for the user to see, but a lot for the
user to do as well. Here are suggestions on some of the
features your site should offer people to see and do:
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- Offer creative options, including:
- Payment via credit card or e-check.
- One-time versus recurring (e.g., monthly, quarterly,
yearly, etc.).
- Pre-set donation amounts (e.g., $10, $25, $100,
other).
- Ability to target donations to fund a specific
program or service (or designate the funds as unrestricted).
- Ability to specify in whose name the donation
should be made.
- Opt-in sign-up for your e-mail list.
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- Enable people to register
and pay for your fundraising, training, or other types
of events.
- Collect event-specific information,
such as meal choice.
- Provide interactive maps.
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- Enable easy sign-up for one-time or ongoing volunteer
positions.
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- Offer several convenient ways for donors to make
in-kind donations, including:
- Offering an in-kind item (or service).
- Fulfilling an in-kind request.
- Offering an in-kind item for sale in your e-store
(where you keep the proceeds).
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- Enable donors to easily donate investments.
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- Enable donors to easily make planned gifts.
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- Permit anyone who donates, volunteers, etc. to
rate your nonprofit and post comments about it.
Users may view this feedback and, ideally, contact
those who have given their permission.
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- Ask your donors, volunteers, staff, etc. to refer
their friends and family to your nonprofit, perhaps
even providing them incentives to do so.
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- Draw traffic to your site
by offering free electronic greeting cards.
- Enable the sender to optionally attach a donation
to your nonprofit.
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- List current job openings. Permit easy online
applications, including the ability to attach a
cover letter or résumé.
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- Permit members to pay or renew their dues online.
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- On your home page, ask website visitors to respond
to a one-question poll on an issue of topical relevance,
and immediately view the results-to-date.
Real-time polls can be a powerful way of immediately
engaging your website visitors.
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- Sell promotional items (e.g., branded with your
logo), in-kind gifts (that you’re not using),
books, CDs, videos, white papers, and much more.
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- Ask users to sign on-line petitions.
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- Enable website visitors to select an issue of
importance, and send a letter to their elected representatives.
They can customize the text, recipients, and signature.
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Your website can be a powerful strategic tool to achieve
tangible and intangible results that further your mission.
What’s more, tools are available to implement a powerful
e-philanthropy site inexpensively, easily, and quickly.
For information about what kind of website your nonprofit should consider, read Part One.
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