Tag Archives: JustGive

Taking ePhilanthropy to the Next Level

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Tonight I attended the kick off event for a new ePhilanthropy book by Ted Hart, James Greenfield and Sheeraz Haji People to People Fundraising as well as an accompanying web site which describes itself as the next generation of ephilanthropy.  Through his previous role as founder of the ePhilanthropy Foundation, Ted has much to offer, especially to nonprofits that are still ‘testing the waters.’  Tonight’s event was sponsored by Craigslist Foundation, which clearly plans to become a major resource for nonprofits through an web site makeover planned in late spring 2008,

Some worthwhile tips from Ted:

  • Donors often go to a nonprofit web site first to evaluate charity, even if they eventually decide to donate offline
  • Social networking is worth doing, but not until a nonprofit has first done the basics: developed a content rich web site and a strategic email marketing plan (after collecting consituents’ email addresses wherever possible)
  • Asking is the key to receiving;  Thanking is the key to receiving again.
  • Inspiring your strongest supporters to encourage others to get involved with your organization is the essence of ‘person to person fundraising’
  • If your organization is a 501(c)3 and you don’t yet offer online donation, you can easily do so through services such as JustGive or NYCharities, both which offer rock bottom credit card processing fees (3%)

Also came across this recent blog posting which highlights best practices for nonprofits using web 2.0 strategies.

Ephilanthropy Strategies for Nonprofits

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I attended a recent event at the Foundation Center to help organizations who are just getting started with online fundraising.  Cristine Cronin, President of NY Charities offered a summary of e-giving strategies:

  1. Use web site as core component of all organization efforts
  2. Integrate offline and online messaging
  3. Use your URL everywhere: stationery, newsletters, business cards, signatures etc.
  4. Put a donations button on every page of your web site
  5. Continually seek more email addresses
  6. Use email marketing for donor / volunteer communications and advocacy
  7. Use enewsletters to keep constituency informed
  8. Encourage core followers to use viral marketing strategies
  9. Promote both online and offline advocacy opportunities

Many large organizations are well aware of these recommendations, but few are consistently able to apply them, especially #2 – making sure that constituents receive a consistent message through online and offline communications.  The overflow attendance at the Foundation Center event demonstrated that many smaller and mid sized nonprofits are still very much behind the curve.  NY Charities and other vendors mentioned at the event such as Network for Goodand JustGive offer easy ways to get started.  There’s no reason for any nonprofit, no matter what it’s size, not to be developing ephilanthropy strategies.