Tips for Online Success

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Norman Reiss

After sending out email blasts, are you reviewing reports to learn how many of them were actually opened and what links were clicked? See the recently released eNonprofit Benchmarks Study
Have you tried ‘microsites’ – a separate page focused on a specific event or campaign with an strong call to action – see NothingButNets.
Have you created an organization presence on social networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace? See this blog posting on Best Practices for Non-Profits Using Web 2.0 and Idealware’s Should Your Organization Use Social Networking Sites.
Have you looked at Barack Obama’s web site, which has changed the landscape for online fundraising and engagement?
Do you get ideas from other nonprofit organizations that have done especially well in raising money online? According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy (June 12 issue), these five organizations have raised more than 10% of their revenues online: Heifer International (28 percent), Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (27 percent),Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (21 percent), National Multiple Sclerosis Society (15 percent), and Make-a-Wish Foundation (10 percent).
Do you participate in groups, both online and off, to share success (and failure) stories? People in Nten are always willing to help. Don’t forget about for profit groups – I recently discovered the Internet Strategy Forum, which discusses many of the online strategy challenges that we also deal with in nonprofit.
Are you too busy to leave the office occasionally for a conference, such as this week’s Fundraising Day and Social Networking Symposium in New York? If so, you’re missing the opportunity to learn from our colleagues.

Taking ePhilanthropy to the Next Level

Posted on February 20, 2008 by Norman Reiss

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.

Using Social Networking Sites to Attract Constituents

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Norman Reiss

At the quarterly Not-for-Profit Webmaster Round Table meeting this week, I initiated a discussion on social networking, stimulated by Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal article, A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy. In addition to the popular MySpace and Facebook sites, the article mentioned many new ways in which our supporters are finding to raise money for their favorite causes.

David Milner, who has run the webmaster group for several years, raised an interesting question. If pages are created on these new sites and successfully generate interest in the organization, this will hopefully increase traffic to the nonprofit’s main web site. But if the nonprofit maintains the MySpace and Facebook sites while neglecting its own web site, how will this come across to the constituent? I also asked – how does the nonprofit decide which content to put on these sites while making sure there is consistency with its own web site?

The social networking sites present an interesting opportunity for us to engage a new audience. It is likely that visitors will seek out an organization on these new networks before visiting an organization’s main web site. So we’ll need to make sure that our nonprofits have a presence on these new sites while also keeping our own web sites fresh. This will be a challenge, but it’s easier to go where our constituents are than hope that they’ll find our organization web sites.

In addition to MySpace Impact and Facebook’s Causes, other sites mentioned in the article that are attracting interest especially among younger constituents include Change.org, DoSomething, Firstgiving, GiveMeaning, Kiva and SixDegrees.

Tips on Raising Money with Facebook

Posted on August 17, 2007 by Norman Reiss

Carie Lewis, Internet Marketing Manager at the Humane Society recently blogged about her organization’s success in using Facebook on Wild Apricot’s non-profit technology blog. Major points:

Through collaboration with Project Agape, which runs the Facebook Causes application, they’ve had success in connecting with constituents who are active in other nonprofit organizations with similar missions
MySpace or Facebook? Although it’s a bit early to know for sure, so far they’ve had more success with fundraising on Facebook and advocacy on MySpace.
In addition to Facebook Causes, they’ve also participated in applications available at Change.org and Care2

Many specific suggestions in getting the most in engaging constituents through Facebook are in the blog posting, Using Facebook to Spread Your Message.

An interview with Project Agape staff about Causes Facebook is available on the Non-Profit Tech Blog. Causes has raised over $300,000 in only a few months of operation!