This document provides an overview of CanadaHelps, an online charitable foundation that provides technology to help donors and charities. CanadaHelps is a cost-effective way for charities to raise funds online and a one-stop shop for donors. It has facilitated over $130 million in online giving since 2004, with 60% average annual growth. The document then discusses various social media and web tools that charities can use as part of a "Philanthropy 2.0" approach, including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Flickr and custom giving pages. It provides tips for using each tool effectively and debunks some common myths about social media.

1. MYCHARITYCONNECTS ON THE ROAD
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2. CanadaHelps.org
What is CanadaHelps?
A public charitable foundation that provides accessible and affordable online
technology to both donors and charities.
For Charities
A cost-effective way to raise funds online.
For Donors
A one-stop-shop for giving.
CanadaHelps is a charity helping charities.

3. Total giving through CanadaHelps,
to date:
$130,000,000 and counting
60%
average annual growth of
online giving in $ through
CanadaHelps since 2004

4. Philanthropy 2.0

5. What We’ll Cover
• Web 1.0 & Web 2.0 • Case Study: Apathy is Boring
• Web 2.0 Tools • Debunking Web 2.0 Myths
o Facebook • Keep in Mind
o Twitter
o Blogs
o YouTube
o Flickr
o Giving Pages

6. Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

7. Web 1.0
• The ability to disseminate information
electronically: to display and promote an
organization, person, or idea on the
internet
• To be good at Web 1.0, your website has to
have good design and content
• Web 1.0 facilitates one-way transactions
• Examples:
• traditional websites, Donate Now buttons,
email newsletters, banner ads, etc.

12. Web 1.0 Tips
• Solid and intuitive website design
• Website usability
• Short and simple messaging
• Compelling stories and e-
newsletters
• Fresh and up-to-date information

13. Web 2.0
• Richer user experience
• interaction, engagement,
conversation, collaboration,
connections
• Encourages & allows for two-way
communication
• users now being talked WITH
instead of AT
• User-generated content

14. Social Networking
3
• The practice of expanding 1
one’s network by making 4
connections through You
individuals. 5
2
• Allows members to interact,
6
discuss, share quickly & easily
• Powerful force for advocacy
and fundraising
• Concept of networking is
nothing new – it’s just now
done online!

15. The Difference Between Web 1.0 & Web 2.0
Few Many
Many Many
Web 1.0 was about publishing and transactions.
Web 2.0 is about networks and community.

16. The Value of Social Media/Web 2.0
Listen & Share Build
learn your story trust
Find supporters, raise funds,
change the world!

17. Fundraising 1.0
•Prospects
Fundraising & Revenue Programs
Major & Direct Response/ Services &
Events Online
Annual
Planned Gifts Members
Telephone
E-mail?
Mail
In-Person

18. Fundraising 2.0
Prospects
Fundraising & Revenue Programs
Major & Direct Response/ Services &
Events
Annual
Planned Gifts Members
Online (website, social media)
Telephone
Mail
In-Person

20. Some Web 2.0 Tools

21. • A free, online social networking website
• Connect with people through online communities
• Facebook Page is your organization’s home base on
Facebook

22. Features of Facebook
• Large network of users (over 400 million)
– 12.6 million users in Canada!
• Designed to connect people
• Facebook is free & easy to use
• A new online presence for your organization
• New tools are always being added

23. Cautions
• Information is shared
• Limited control over other users’ opinions
• Maintenance required

24. Use Facebook To…
• Connect with your supporters
• Share your stories
• Build your brand
Connect
• Fundraise
Fundraise Share
Brand

27. Facebook Tips
• Update your Page!
• Encourage activity
– Ask questions, encourage fans to share content, give
fans opportunities to interact with each other
• Brand your Page
• Add a variety of content
• Promote your Page
• Keep your tone casual, “real”

28. Twitter
• Free micro-blogging tool that lets you share short (up to
140 characters) updates with people
• Similar to instant messaging, but opens up conversations
to a wider audience
Twitter = Instant Messaging + Blogging
•Source: www.johnhaydon.com

29. Features of Twitter
• It’s built for speed
• It’s simple to use
• It’s public
• It’s highly viral
• Messages can be searched
• It has private messaging
capability

30. Use Twitter To…
• Make connections
• Gather support
• Educate followers
• Add personality to your
organization
• Ask/answer questions
• Communicate quickly
• Show appreciation

33. Twitter Tips
• Balance promotion &
conversation
• Follow people
• Be real
• Use Twitter to monitor
conversations
• Be generous: reply & retweet
• Use a Twitter tool like HootSuite
or TweetDeck to manage tweets

34. Blogs
• Online journals
• Keeps your message fresh and your content personal
• Supports feedback and interaction

36. Blogging Tips
• The best blogs create a sense of
community and commitment to
a cause
• Use your blog to tell your
charity’s story
• Make it personal
• Reply to comments you receive
– listen and learn!

37. Flickr
• Image hosting website
and online community
platform
• Place to manage your
charity’s photos
• Give your cause visual
appeal
• Keeps your content fresh

39. Flickr Tips
• Encourage people to take
photos
• Tag and title strategically
• Interact with users
• Make use of the tools on Flickr
• Create a group for your specific
event or contest

40. YouTube
• Provides a platform for content
and community
• Media outlet + social networking
site
• Nonprofit program now available
in Canada
• YouTube stats:
• User base spans all geographies
with age range from 18 to 55
years
• 51% of users visit weekly
• Over 300 million users worldwide

42. www.youtube.com/canadahelps

43. YouTube Tips
• You don’t have to be Martin Scorsese
• Check out www.animoto.com to
create compelling video quickly and
easily!
• Keep it short and sweet
• Share your video: embed into your
website/blog, email the unique URL to
supporters and friends
• Connect with your viewers. Ask for
feedback!

44. GivingPages
• Micro-giving sites
• Allows individuals to raise funds
for their charity or charities of
choice
• Allows charities to create a
unique space to highlight specific
fundraising campaigns (i.e.
pledge events)
• Anyone can create and manage
one

47. GivingPages Tips
• Give your donors specific ideas, i.e.
wedding registry, birthdays,
host/hostess gifts, in memoriam
• Highlight a specific project or campaign
your charity is running
• Share the unique URL

48. Social Networking Tips
• Start with one tool at a time
• Be find-able!
• Remember it’s a conversation
– listening is just as important
as talking
• Engage, encourage, empower
• Present opportunities to take
action

49. Case Study:

56. Debunking Web 2.0 Myths

57. “It’s time consuming.”
• The initial time investment will pay off
• Social media tools make communicating quick and
easy

58. “It’s only for young people.”
• “Young” is a relative term
• Almost everyone can get online!

59. “It’s hard to do.”
• It’s just a matter of time and practice.
• These tools are designed to be user-friendly!

60. “It’s only a fad.”
• Some tools may be a fad, but the concept behind Web 2.0 is not
• Social networking and engaging your donor base will never go out
of style!

61. “I need to do it because
everyone else is.”
• Focus on Web 1.0 first
• Walk before you run

62. “I will lose all control.”
• Be prepared to give up some control
• Create solid messaging and trust it!

63. Keep in Mind…

64. It’s not as complicated
as it looks.
• Learning new things is always daunting at first

65. There are lots of people who
can help you.
• Get creative when asking for help
• Treat it as a staff learning opportunity

66. Go at your own pace.
• Do what works for you
• You don’t have to do it all

67. You’re still building
relationship and communities.
• Still building relationships with people
• Blend your offline and online communications

68. You don’t have to be good at
the technology.
• Just be good at telling your charity’s story

69. Your
turn

70. STRETCH BREAK

71. Websites 101

72. What makes a great website is focus and clarity of
purpose. A great website is unpretentious. It
doesn’t pretend to be what it is not. It never
wastes your time because it always gets to the
point. A great website helps you to act.
~Gerry McGovern

73. What We’ll Cover
• What is Web Usability and Why is it Important?
• Principles of Web Usability
• Usability Testing
• Website Critique
• Web Stats

74. What is Web Usability and
Why is it Important?

75. Web Usability
• Web usability refers to ease of use and visual design of your
website
• The focus is on your users

76. Why is it Important?
• Good websites…
• Are liked
• Won’t drive people away
• Won’t be distracting
• Convey more information
• Will be more compelling
• Make contributing easier
• Will be visited again

77. 1 in 5
visitors to a nonprofit
website go specifically
to make a donation

78. A visitor who is
satisfied with their
experience with a
nonprofit website is
49%
more likely to give
than one who was
dissatisfied with the
overall experience

79. Return on Investment for Nonprofits
• More engagement from users
• Increase credibility & trust in your organization
• Get more media coverage
• Gain more support for your cause
• Increase donations

80. Principles of Web Usability

81. Present Your Information
in a Clear and Concise Way
• Appearance
• Functionality
• Content

82. Make Text Easy to Read
Can you read this?
How about this one?
cAn yOu rEalLy rEaD tHiS??
This is more like it.
• Use a standard font and proper size
• Use proper contrast
• Use proper caps
• Best readability is dark on light (like black on white)

83. Whitespace
• Empty space
• Too many things may look
intimidating

84. Follow Website Conventions
Banner
Navigation
Navigation
Content Body
Contact & Misc Information
• There are patterns that have become conventions

85. Follow Website Conventions
•Banner
•Navigation
•Navigation
•Content Body
•Contact and Misc. Information

86. Speed
• Make your pages load quickly
• Limit use of large pictures
• Interactive media can slow connection

87. Content
• Web writing is concise
• Keep paragraphs short and use bullet points
• Bold important points, but sparingly

88. Make navigating easy
for users
• Give the correct choices to the
users (make section names self-
explanatory)
• Avoid too much scrolling

89. Self-Explanatory Choices
•Culinary Delights •Cuisine Options •Food Menu •Menu
•Career Services •Employment Opportunities •Job Openings •Jobs
•Organization Information •More Information About Us •About Us
•Give Us Your Time •Volunteer Opportunities •Volunteer
• Don’t use ambiguous headings
• Give your visitors clear choices

90. Avoid Too Much Scrolling
• Keep it narrow
• Sideways scrolling is uncommon

91. Page Organization
•Nice Heading
•Picture
•Here is where the content
would go. It’s a nice place
isn’t it? Neat and organized
content is easy to read. Cool!
• A separate page for each section
• Headlines are key
• Pictures to compliment topic

92. Breadcrumb Navigation
• Give visitors a clue of where they are
• Makes it easier to backtrack

93. Remove Ambiguity Regarding the
Consequences of an Action
• Make it easy to go back to
the home page
• Make mistakes easy to
recover from

94. The Back Button
• “Back” is one of the most used browser functions
• Make sure that it doesn’t break your website when it’s
used

95. Visual Consistency
• First glance is most memorable
• Keep visuals consistent
• Reinforce their sense of security

96. Put the most important
things in the right places
• Have a clear description of
what you do
• Show your Donate Now
button prominently
• Complete contact
information

97. • Homepage should show
your most important parts
• Put your Donate Now
button “above the fold”
• Make it easy for your
supporters to give!

98. Show What You Do Clearly
• Easy to see and
understand
• Make it easy to
remember!

99. Make it Easy to Contact You
•Banner
•Navigation
•Navigation
•Content Body
•Contact Information
• Not necessary to be on the homepage
• But have it easy to find

100. Show How People Can Get Involved
• Donate to your cause
• Volunteer their time or skills
• Share your story with their network
• Make your calls to action very prominent

101. Salvation army example

102. Usability Testing

103. Testing Questions
1. Is it obvious what this site is about?
2. Is it easy to find what I need?
3. Are the most important things visible when I arrive?

104. DIY Usability Testing
Step 1: Find Testers
• Find 3-5 people who have some time to have a look at your
website
• Testers should not already be familiar with your site or
your organization
• Testers should be representative of your usual website
users

105. DIY Usability Testing
Step 2: Using your site
• Ask testers to comment as they navigate your site
(to give you insight about their choices)
• Ask testers to accomplish your main calls of action
 Sign up for your newsletter
 Click your Donate Now! Button
 Find and apply for volunteer opportunities
 Other ways they can get involved (buy tickets,
buy products, join a group etc…)
 Find general information about your
organization’s mission and mandate, financials
 Contact your organization

106. DIY Usability Testing
Step 3: Observe
• Take note of:
• How long each step takes to complete
• Tester confusion at any point
• Frustration
• Ease of use
• Work with your web team to have the main
issues and frustrations address
• … repeat your usability testing whenever you
make major changes to your site

107. Survey Your Users
• Make a checklist that rates your website
• Free online surveys (www.surveymonkey.com)
• Put a link on your site
• Put it in your newsletter
• Try to get everyone to do it

108. Check Out Other Charity Websites
• See what they are doing right (or wrong)
• May give some insight and inspiration

109. Website Critique

110. Original CIELAP Website

111. Modified CIELAP Website
•Now clickable
•Picture and shortened
summary
•More prominent with shorter
names
•Added a picture
•Donate Now! Button
•Trimmed content

112. Original True North Website

113. Modified True North Website
•Donate Now!
button
•Moved what the
organization is about and
spaced them out for easier
reading
•Resized Image to align with
the homepage and also to load
more quickly
•Fixed
Section

114. Web Stats

115. Why Are Web Stats Important?
1. Understand your users
2. Know what people do on your site
3. Provides tangible feedback about your site
4. Leaves the guessing out of what works

116. Looking At Web Stats
• Web stats can be confusing
• Knowing where and what to look for helps
• Here’s what you can take a look at now

117. Visitors
• Gain insights about the visitors of your website
1. Unique visitors
2. First time vs. repeat visitors
3. Visitor loyalty
4. Length of visit
5. Browsers
6. Geographic profile & language

118. Content
• Top content
• Top landing pages
• Top exit pages

119. Traffic Sources
• Direct traffic: typed your address in a browser
• Referring sites:
• Know your top referring sites
• Are your ads working?
• Search Engines
• Keywords

120. Google Analytics
• Free service
• Comprehensive feature set
• Go to http://www.google.com/analytics/

121. Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
• Best seller
• Easy to read
• Great content
• Lots of examples
• Great section on Do-It-
Yourself Usability Testing and
Resources

122. Your
turn

123. • Free resources
• Demos
• Webinars
• Conference!
• Workshops
www.MyCharityConnects.org

124. CONFERENCE 2.010
JUNE 7 – 8 | MaRS CENTRE, TORONTO
• Two days packed with great information about all that the
online world has to offer charities and non-profits
• Learn all about using the internet to fulfill your mission
• Get familiar with the stuff you don’t know, moving on the stuff
you do, and correctly evaluate the stuff you’ve done
• Part of Net Change Week, and in collaboration with SiG@MaRS
Register Today!

125. Free Webinar Series
• May 5: Monthly Giving: A Tool for Sustainable
Fundraising
• May 19: When Communities Come Together to Give:
What Haiti Taught Us About Online Fundraising
• June 16: Measuring the Impact of Social Media

126. Follow us on Twitter: @canadahelps
kirstin@canadahelps.org

127. &
The Kitchener and Waterloo
Community Foundation

128. Credits & Sources
• CanadaHelps
• Network for Good, October 2009
• Blackbaud Index of National Fundraising Performance, April 2009
• ForeSee Results - Nonprofit Website Survey, Spring 2009
• Chronicle of Philanthropy, May 2009
• DonorTrends, 2005
• "The State of Online Fundraising", Blackbaud, September 2009