America’s Giving Challenge has kicked off – raise funds for your favorite nonprofit(s) and compete for award monies for top fundraisers.

The Agitator analyzes online strategies for Charity:Water, a ‘model’ for new nonprofits and a more established organization, Habitat for Humanity

Just getting started with raising money online?  The Backyard Philanthropist offers an online fundraising bootcamp.

Need a ‘best practices’ example for how to build an email list?  I recently signed up to receive online communications from YAI, and they use a few good techniques:

• sign up form requires only first name, last name, email address and how subscriber is related to mission of organization (e.g. have disability, have family member with disability, work in field, staff member etc.)
• asking for specific areas of  interests – and explaining why they are asking for this information, providing a way for YAI to use segmentation in choosing who will get each mailing
• sign-up box tells constituents exactly what they will be receiving if they subscribe – YAI news, events and program openings.

(Although I recently received my first YAI enewsletter, I haven’t seen any type of ‘welcome series’ messages as many nonprofits are now starting to utilize – see my post about online giving earlier this year. )

Finally, I attended a few events last week on nonprofit web sites by Charity Dynamics and Empax.   Some takeaways:

• organize site for visitors, not by the organization chart (may seem obvious, but many nonprofits still fall short here)
• include clear calls to action
• provide a variety of ways for visitors to support the organization (but make sure donation button is easily findable)
• redesign or refresh?  Not always an easy choice, but evaluate site every 18-24 months to determine if it’s meeting needs of visitors – do usability testing.