The document outlines strategies for developing donor-centric websites for nonprofits, emphasizing the importance of understanding donors' needs, setting clear site objectives, and creating engaging content. It highlights trends in charitable giving, the significance of timely donor recognition, and effective communication that addresses donor concerns. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are also discussed as vital metrics to gauge site performance and donor engagement.

1. Daniel Gonzalez, Web Manager Sage Nonprofit Solutions Nonprofit Web Advice

2. Developing a donor-centric website Understand your donor’s needs Set site objectives Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions Set and track key performance indicators

3. Donors and Charitable Giving Trends Despite economic climate – Americans continue to give Give to few organizations and temporarily decrease overall giving In 2010, American individuals, corporations and foundations donated $290.89 billion. Overall giving fell a combined 13% from ‘08 – ’09 Giving by individuals rose 2.7% Individual contributions equaled 73% of total * Source: Giving USA 2011, Exec. Summary

4. Why are these numbers important? Despite economic downturn, giving remains consistent With donors being more selective about charities, competition for limited funds increases Emphasizes the importance of reaching individual donors and the importance of well designed donor-centric websites Registered 501(c)(3) organizations increased an average 3.5% over last three years

5. What is “Donor-Centric” fundraising? Donor-centric fundraising puts donors’ needs for information as the top priority Improved communication through donor recognition in a unique way (Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

6. What Donors Want Prompt, personal gift recognition ( acknowledgment) Confirmation that their donations are being used as intended (information) Measurable, published results (accountability) (Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

7. What Donors Say They Get Prompt but impersonal gift recognition General appeals with few measurable results (Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

8. Why Donor’s Stop Giving Believe the charity is not fulfilling its mandate Disagree with a change in direction of charity Lost interest in the cause Believes that charity no longer needs donor’s support Feels there are more compelling causes out there Believes charity has not kept in touch (Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

9. What Donors Are Saying Nonprofit websites lack inspiration, connection, and opportunity for deeper engagement Cite speed, convenience and CC reward points for giving online Online donating is more efficient and helps charities reduce admin costs Online giving is easier to track over time

10. 5. Don’t want info about other organizations

11. More Things Donors Are Saying Only half believe charity websites make it easy to give online Want year-end tax receipts sent electronically Want electronic updates on charity’s finances Concerned about online security issues Expect to make greater contributions in future

12. What Donor’s Find Valuable Personal stories by people whose lives had been transformed by the charity Volunteer information Reviews and summaries of recent news coverage of the cause or charity

13. Agenda Check Understand your donor’s needs Set site objectives Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions Set and track key performance indicators

14. Setting Site Objectives What is the objective of your site? Information? Donations? Subscriptions? Volunteers? Calls? All the above?

15. Aspects of ‘Donor-centric’ sites Clear description of goals & objectives Info on what the organization is doing with gifts (accountability and transparency) Visible “Call To Action” buttons and links Minimal clicks to completion of the action(s) Success stories and timely news about the charity

16. Donor-centric site Donate Services Success Stories Mission & Testimonies Social Media

17. Online Forms and Donations Goal Results

18. Allow others to raise funds Embed this form

19. Agenda Check Understand your donor’s needs Set site objectives Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions Set and track key performance indicators

20. Visitor interaction with content on a site Visual Impression Initial content Impression Content engagement CTA engagement First 3 seconds – if the page is what they were looking for & if they find it appealing Next 8 seconds – if the content is relevant to what they are interested in Next 60 seconds – they spend being engaged with the content. To see if sufficient content is available for them to make a decision Next Step– if they have made a decision, then they look for their desired next step on the page. Has it been displayed clearly and is easy to locate Yes Yes Yes

21. Have a Content-Rich Site “ Content-rich” means your Web site is full of relevant information that attracts and holds your target audience Maintain and update your content on a regular basis Utilize White Papers, Surveys, Press Releases Blogs, online communities and social media sites are increasingly important in charity promotion Understanding what your audience expects is critical

22. Convey A Clear Message Write for real people, not for search engines Content should help educate, engage and compel potential donors to act Content should be clean, concise and scanable. No keyword stuffing!

23. Keep It Simple Simplify Content Navigation Clear/obvious calls to action Don’t tackle everything at once

24. Create Interlinking Pages It’s important for potential donors to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily whether within your site, via search engine or social media sites Cross-link to other site pages, press releases, videos, blogs, online communities and social media sites Strategically linked pages improve usability and increase search engine rankings

25. Summary of Content and Design Guidelines Site should have clear navigation, hierarchy and links Create an informative site, with clear, scanable content Keep content relevant and fresh Use text, not images to display names, content, or links Make sure <title> elements and alt tags are descriptive Continually check for broken links and correct HTML Provide a usable site map (XML and HTML) (Source: Google WebMaster Guidelines)

26. Agenda Check Understand your donor’s needs Set site objectives Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions Set and track key performance indicators

27. Eliminate Obstacles Remember you have about 3 seconds to get their attention You have less than 60 seconds to get a donor to where they need to be to make a decision Not more than two clicks to get to the core offering Don’t place barriers in the way

28. The Critical Path One click to donation form

29. Effective Forms Giving a clear value proposition can help visitors decide to give their information Remove distractions so donors can focus on the form

30. Agenda Check Understand your donor’s needs Set site objectives Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions Set and track key performance indicators

31. Mind Your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) Select measures that provide visibility into performance of your organization Enable you to take action based on those indicators KPI’s are not raw numbers, but the relationship between them

32. KPI Dashboards

33. KPI Dashboards

34. Determine your KPI’s What is the primary objective? Increase Donations, Improve Donor Engagement, Provide Information What is the Call To Action? Donate, Register, Subscribe, Download, Call What is the value to the visitor or donor for each action? To what metrics is the organization held accountable?

35. KPI Dashboard Best Practices All marketing or optimization activity should impact top-level KPI’s If not, you may be wasting time and money KPI’s should remain consistent and be measured over time Don’t mistake traffic (impressions, visits, hits, etc.) as a measure of site success

36. Examples of Donor-centric KPI’s Avg. Visits Per Visitor = Total Visits / Total Unique Visitors Average Visit Duration Abandonment Rate Average size of gift Recurrence of gift

37. Web Metrics 101 Most hosting companies provide basic metrics, or Google Analytics Valuable to determine site performance over time Lingo can be confusing, numbers can be misinterpreted Dilbert ©2009, United Feature Syndicate, Inc

38. Web Metrics 101 Someone came to your Web site Viewed a page or multiple pages on your site It could be the same person over and over again Good metric to know, but relative Hits, Visits, Visitors, and Unique Visitors

39. Web Metrics 101 Frequency and amount of time visitors spend on site How many pages they view before leaving Loyalty metrics help determine site “stickiness” Page Views, Page View Duration, Bounce Rate, Visibility Time, Session Duration, Depth, and Frequency

40. Web Metrics 101 High ratio = High visitor engagement Clicks, Impressions, Click-Through Rate

41. Take one step at a time 1. Understand Donor 2. Set Objectives 3. Clear Content 4. No Obstacles 5. Mind KPI's

42. Available Resources Idealware, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, provides candid Consumer-Reports-style reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits. TechSoup offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support. NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes, and is a community of peers who share technology solutions across the sector and support each other’s work.

43. Q & A Additional series webcasts: Motivating Donors to Take Real Action Online - 7/25 @ 2 CDT Enhancing Loyalty in an Online Age - 7/27 @ 2PM CDT Online Fundraising 101 - 7/28 @ 11 AM CDT