Effective Internet Strategy For Your Nonprofit

Effective Internet Strategy for Your Nonprofit
Allan Pressel
August 4, 2010

Use Twitter Hashtag #npweb

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Agenda

1. E-philanthropy: Background & Statistics
2. Internet Strategy: The Gap
a. How are nonprofits using the web today?
b. How would they like to be?
c. How should they be?
3. Q & A (throughout)

© CharityFinders, proprietary & confidential, not for reproduction

Background: E-Philanthropy Quote

“Internet portals are providing an interesting opportunity for people to
contribute and provide their help. Many of the charities themselves
welcome donations through Web sites. So I urge my fellow Americans
to continue contributing through Web sites. Thus far, I'm proud to report
through the Web sites of our charities, Americans have donated $55
million in seven short days.”
President George W. Bush, address to the nation, September 17, 2001


E-Philanthropy Statistics
 2005 – watershed e-philanthropy events
 Tsunami
 Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, etc.
 In 1st 2 weeks, Americans donated $867M to Katrina relief, 1/3 online
 Pakistani earthquake
 U.S. donations = $295B (90% from individuals)
 In 2001, 0.04% of donations were made online
 In 2007, 13% of individual gifts were made online
 By 2010 33% will be given online (source: Chronicle of Philanthropy)
 10% of nonprofits receive over 50% of donations online
 Average 501c3 administrative overhead: 34% (!)
 Online donations are preferable to offline donations
 Offline donations ~ $30 vs. online donations ~ $130 (for the same nonprofit)
 Demographics of online donors are favorable
 Online donations cost less to process
 Lots of Internet users visit nonprofit sites – AND take action
 89% of US households give to charity
 56% of Internet users have visited a nonprofit website recently
 65% of (offline and online) donors were influenced by the web
 Nearly 100% of major donors ($10,000+) were influenced by the web
 40% of nonprofit site visitors take some form of action

PHILANTHROPY OVER THE YEARS
1966-2006 Total Giving Inflation-adjusted dollars
($ in billions)
Current dollars
300

250

200

150

100

50

0
1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006
Recessions in light green: 1969-70; 1973-75; 1980; 1981-82; 1990-91; 2001

Source: Giving USA FoundationTM / Giving USA 2007


Statistics – Barack Obama’s Campaign
“It’s no accident that [nonprofits] are asking about Web sites
like Barack Obama’s. The [old] order is rapidly fading.”
(Tom Watson, a consultant for the Manhattan-based Changing Our World nonprofit consultancy
and the author of CauseWired, a new book about the use of social media in advocacy)

 Raised $605M
 More than double McCain’s fundraising
 Meghan McCain: “Unless the GOP evolves as the party that can successfully
utilize the Web, we'll continue to lose influence"
 3.1M donors
 Mostly small donations ($25 or less)
 90M YouTube video views
 8M volunteers recruited online
 2M Facebook supporters

Lessons for you:  Lots of short, clear e-mails
 Social networking  Little US mail
 Text messaging  Great branding
 Blogs  Focus = solving problems, effecting change
 Outreach groups  Website: Attractive, easy to navigate, short
 Virtual volunteering bits of info

Branding


Nonprofit site visitors take action
40%
35%
30% Donated offline
Petition online
25%
Referred friend
20% Petition offline
Donated online
15%
Volunteered offline
10% Volunteered online
5%
0%

50+% said they would NOT have taken further action if they had not first visited nonprofit’s website
Courtesy: NetworkForGood, The Bridgespan Group, Guidestar


Gap: How are most nonprofits using the Internet today?

 Studies show 70% to 93% of
nonprofits have websites
 They are wrong!
 The smaller the nonprofit, the
more likely to have no Internet
presence, or brochure-ware

These statistics were NOT the result of a scientific study.


Common Internet issues for nonprofits
Nonprofits typically build sites by “custom development”
 Cost: Expensive to build/maintain
 Technology
 Requires technological expertise
 Requires infrastructure
 Time: Time-consuming

 Difficult to maintain  obsolete info on website
 Reliance on third parties  expensive and risky
 Lack of cohesive Internet strategy  lack of prioritization
 No secure server (+ privacy/security policy)  hinders e-
commerce
 Brochure-ware (vs. e-philanthropy)  missed opportunities


Private Website Consultation

I’d like to offer each of you a free private website consultation

 One hour
 Consultation includes:
 CharityFinders’ assessment of your site
 Recommendations
 Building your nonprofit's most-needed functionality
 In person or by webinar
 Include anyone you want (e.g., ED, DD, board members, etc.)
 In one location or several
 We’ll contact you in 1-2 business days to schedule the
consultation


Gap: How would nonprofits like to be using the Internet?

1. Raise 2. Lower 3. Attract in-kind
more funds fundraising costs donations

4. Build
9. Motivate people to capacity
support the
organization –
immediately
5. Track donor
demographics

8. More event
attendees, members,
planned gifts, e- 6. Recruit staff
advocacy, etc. & volunteers

…in a way that doesn’t take time and
7. Develop long-term
relationships with donors
$ away from the nonprofit’s mission


How should you be using the Internet?
The Strategic Objectives of Your Site
How does CharityFinders
assess your site?

1. Inform website visitors -- about your organization
and its mission
2. Elicit support


Your website: 7 Key Goals of an Effective Website

You should strive to achieve these goals for your site:
•Findability
•Stickiness
•Loyalty
•Referability
•Maximum conversion rate
•Dynamism
•Positive ROI


7 Key Components of an Effective Site


Site look & feel should be:
•Attractive
•Professional
•Modern
•Well-branded
•Consistent across your site


Navigation should be:
•Simple
•Intuitive
•Enabling user to get from any page to any other page with one click


What should people be able to SEE on your site?
• Home Page (dynamic!) • Testimonials
• Brief description • Photo Album
• Calls to action
• Endorsements/Awards
• Mission Statement
• Donor Hall of Fame
• Services/Programs
• Privacy and Security Policy
• Goals
• Annual Report
• What’s New
• 990
• Accomplishments
• Download Documents
• Brief History
• How We Can Help You
• Issues/Causes
• Staff List/Bios
• Message from E.D.
• Board List/Bios
• Press Releases
• FAQ
• Past Events
• Links •Private/password-protected area(s)
• Urgent Action Alerts oBoard-only area
• Contact Us
oStaff-only area
•Multiple languages

Individual pages should include lots of images:
•Pictures
•Graphics
•Animation
•Audio
•Video


Financial (i.e., fundraising) transactions
• Cash donations • Investment donations
• Events • Planned Giving
• In-kind donations • Bequest Gifts
• Life Income Gifts
• Membership • Charitable Gift Annuity
• E-Store • Charitable Remainder Trust
• Auctions • Life Insurance Gift
• Charitable Lead Trust
• “Thons” • Retirement Plan Gifts
• Affiliate Marketing


Non-financial transactions
• E-mail List Signup • Public Opinion Poll
• Volunteer • Questionnaire
• Employment • Referrals
• E-newsletter • User Feedback
• E-advocacy • Web 2.0 Tools
• Petitions • Discussion/Message Board
• Chat Room
• E-Cards • LISTSERV
• Forms • Podcast
• RSS
• Wiki
• Blog

Your site should be easy to find
•Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
•Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
•Other

Search Engine Optimization (part 1)
1. What are the key search engines?
2. How do they work?
• 200+ ranking factors!
3. What can you do to optimize your search engine standings?
a. Metatags
• Keyword
• Description
b. Choosing and Using Keywords
• Keyword selector tool s
• http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion
• Use keywords/phrases liberally in page title, headings, body
• Use different keywords on different pages
• Keep them updated
c. Links
• Incoming
• Count your links: in Google, type “links: www.yournonprofit.org”
• Choose relevant, reputable sites
• Outgoing


Search Engine Optimization (part 2)
d. Other
• Blog
• Robots.txt
• Search engines prefer HTML
• Search engines prefer text over graphics
• Avoid splash pages
• Don’t use frames
• Be careful with Flash and JavaScript
• Create a site map
• All pages should be easy to navigate to (esp. home page)
• Create focused pages
• Get listed in The Open Directory Project
• www.dmoz.org
• Register with search engines
• Unpaid
• Paid
e. SEO is based on unknown and changing algorithms!


Anyone in your organization (with no training)
should be able to build and maintain a world-class, e-
philanthropy website – quickly.

You should be able to cultivate data from your site activity:
1. Website traffic
•How many people visited your site?
•When?
•How did they find your site?
•Search engines
•Which search engines?
•Which keywords?
•Links from other sites
•Which pages of your site did they visit?
•How long did they spend on your site?
2. Transactions
•Who donated $100 or more last year but nothing this year?


Is All Of This Possible?


Contact Information

Allan Pressel, CEO/founder
Allan@CharityFinders.com
www.CharityFinders.com
1-877-456-3210

641 21st St.
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254


Chris Dumas, Chris@NonprofitWebinars.com, 707-812-1234

Special Thanks To Our Sponsors

Effective Internet Strategy For Your Nonprofit

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