Tag Archives: web 2.0

Taking ePhilanthropy to the Next Level

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Nonprofit Marketing Tips

Posted on by
Reply

Attended an Nten Webinar this week on Marketing for Non-Profits, led by Robert Rose of CrownPeak Technology, providers of content management software.

Highlights from the presentation:

  • While it is not a good idea to have a lot of ‘private content’ available only to members or subscribers, it is wise to provide premium content in exchange for site visitors providing their email address and other personal information.  Many constituents will ‘register’ in exchange for a useful study or informative enewsletter
  • If you’re going to use web 2.0 tools such as blogs and podcasts, you have to commit to a regular update schedule.  Building an audience requires quality content and takes time to build.
  • Use a variety of tactics to engage constituents;  I find, for example, that while it’s convenient to get RSS updates, I open my email daily but don’t open my RSS readers as frequently.  In addition, subscribers can signup for RSS feeds without providing any information while email newsletters require, at a minimum, email address.
  • It’s more important to analyze who is visiting your web site than how many.

I asked Robert whether it’s still a practical goal to create custom web content for segments of your audience, as I’ve heard many vendors preach.  The reality – it’s usually enough of a challenge for a nonprofit to keep its content up to date for everyone than to develop targeted content for specific groups.  There are some good reasons to integrate CMS with your CRM database (e.g. so subscribers can access their past donation history online and print receipts) but the ability to customize web content isn’t one of them.

Robert also suggested that it is rarely necessary to build custom software, no matter how ‘specific’ your requirements may seem.  I agree. With so many strong CMS packages available, I don’t think there’s any excuse for any nonprofit not to have an updated web site as the foundation of its communications strategy.

Strategies for Successful ePhilanthropy

Posted on by
1

Attended ephilanthropy.org’s eTour this morning which focused on how to use online strategies for fundraising, advocacy and engaging constituents.  Outgoing director Ted Hart offered a summary of ‘ephilanthropy 101,’ followed by Charles Riess (of RSM McGladsey, who hosted event), Blackbaud’s Steven MacLaughlin and Convio’s Bob Evans.

When it was suggested that nonprofits develop a specific online plan, I suggested that an online plan is useless unless it incorporates offline strategies.  However, this becomes difficult when offline and online responsibilities are handled by different departments that aren’t accustomed to working together.

When I retitled my blog, ‘Bridging Development and Technology’ earlier this year, I omitted an important part of the equation – Marketing & Communications.   For an organization to take full advantage of the ephilanthropy techniques described today, it’s important that Marketing/Communications partner with Development while using Technology tools. I am building a new web site at www.nonprofitbridge.com where I will further describe how this can be done.

Another worthwhile point: Every activity should drive traffic to your web site.  In addition to regularly updating content, it’s important for the web site to be a part of any organization initiative to attract and engage constituents.

Finally, it was suggested that organizations clearly list their objectives before selecting products and vendors.  I asked: so why do many nonprofits base their decisions strictly on ‘connections’ or on products they’ve used at other organizations?  After all, any vendor can fit the bill when you don’t know what your requirements are.

There are many ways to join the Web 2.0 world.  As was suggested by more than one speaker today, it’s better to start something and learn from your mistakes than to wait endlessly while you plan the ‘perfect’ solution.

Report from Nonprofit Technology Conference & Penguin Day

Posted on by
Reply

Spent most of last week joining over 1,000 nonprofit techies from across the US as well as other countries at the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington DC.  I also spent the following day at Penguin Day, a celebration of open source software.

As usual, the educational sessions at NTC were great.  Despite the large crowd, the many sessions planned concurrently helped keep the crowd size small – but made it harder to select which session to attend.  Some takeaways:

  • much to my surprise, many sessions focused on the challenges of data integration and using APIs.  I have joined NTen’s affinity group to help further these efforts
  • an interesting summary of how web 2.0 tools (e.g. blogs, wikis, SecondLife etc.) have been ‘smuggled’ in to organizations that originally resisted them
  • a ‘nonprofit soapbox’ that allows nonprofits to take full advantage of open source content management with some technical assistance
  • importance of the IA (information architecture) in web project management
  • open source software has become more mature – and is even more of an attraction for nonprofits, although having a relationship with a consultant or other support network is essential.

I also moderated a session on online registration tools.  Thanks to Mark Becker (Event 360), Cary McQueen Morrow (Center for Arts Management & Technology) & Eric Leland (Leland Design) for joining the panel.