1. e-Fundraising
When dealing
with third party Internet-based service providers (IBSP) all nonprofits
should create pertinent guidelines and procedures to follow. Here are
a few guidelines that you should follow.
The following are
just a few of the many suggestions from the Alexandria, Va.-based
Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP):
- Specify fair
and reasonable time-limited termination provisions which the charity
may exercise should it find that the IBSP is not meeting the needs
of the charity.
- The IBSP must
clarify whether they are a for-profit or nonprofit organization.
- The IBSP should
clearly indicate whether the donor is entitled to a charitable
deduction, and accurately describe the limits (if any) on such
deductions, based on applicable laws.
- The purpose
of the site should be clearly explained by the IBSP, along with
its relationship with the charities it is representing and how
donors can use the site.
- All charities
should know whether or not the IBSP adheres to the AFP Code of
Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice and whether
appropriate employees are members of AFP.
 2.
Static Cling Kills
It happens
all the time -- leaving the local shopping mall and heading out on
the highway only to find a pastel-colored flyer tucked beneath your
windshield wiper. If these pollution pieces annoy you, then what do
you think someone feels when they head to the Web for information on
your organization only to find a rudimentary, static site awaiting
them?
Here are some ways
to jazz up your nonprofit's Web site:
- Provide easily
accessible contact information. It shouldn't take 12 mouse clicks
to find your organization's address, telephone number and email
addresses.
- Engage the
user. Utilize message boards, chat rooms and provide timely responses
to questions submitted via the Internet.
- Freshen it
up. Rotate content regularly. A user should never take the "one
and done" mentality when visiting your site. Give them a reason
to become a regular visitor.
- Be creative.
Flash animation, photos, games and sound files keep eyes and ears
parked at your site.
- Provide links
to other sites of interest and be sure to update or eliminate dead
links.
3.
National Versus Local Efforts
Organizations
with affiliates or chapters often stumble upon that gray area of online
fundraising. When your Web site can reach a national audience, it's
only a matter of time until questions arise regarding territory infringement.
An organization
can head these disputes off by formulating online boundaries. A few
ideas include:
- Provide space
for the donor to specify to which affiliate they which to donate.
This eliminates confusion when Sally from Sheboygan, Wisc., wants
to make a memorial gift to the cancer affiliate in Dallas that
helped her mother.
- When participating
in auctions, clearly state where the proceeds of the event are
going.
- Institute donor
domicile. Each gift will be directed to the chapter closest to
the donor's ZIP code unless otherwise specified by the donor.
- Disallow online
fundraising altogether. The Girl Scouts of the USA do not permit
girls to sell cookies over the Internet and that stance has eliminated
any territory infringement complaints.
4.
Cyber money is just as green
It used
to be that only sex generated money on the Web. Well, some nonprofits
gone wild have sultry success stories to tell.
The World Wildlife
Fund’s ClickReward program, “Miles for the Wild,” raised
$23,000 its first year, 1999. Donors received two “ClickMiles” per
dollar. The next year, the program was swinging from the trees: $465,000
in online contributions. Sure, there was a one-to-one match for donations
of $200 or more that raised $400,000. But, the progress was worth
a Tarzan yell.
The Marine Toys
for Tots Foundation launched a campaign online that raised more than
$200,000. Donors got frequent flyer miles by clicking through to
donate. Its first year also was 1999, generating $70,000. The following
year the organization doubled donations -- soliciting the 400 donors
from the previous year as well as a new list of 5 million names.
Need more evidence
of the value of online campaigns?
- World Vision
put its gift catalog online. A coordinated program for telephone
and online. Orders of medicines and dairy goats for needy people
around the world raised $1.6 million during the Christmas 2000
season.
- Cabrini Mission
Foundation generated $160,000 to thwart the spread of HIV/AIDS
in Swaziland, Africa. Another online campaign raised $50,000 for
Cabrini without a single email solicitation. Donors were attracted
to the site through educational information.
- Emails worked
for nonprofit radio station WBEZ in Chicago to raise $135,000.
It held an online pledge drive through an email sent by radio personality
Ira Glass, host of “This American Life.”
- The National
Arbor Day Foundation’s 2001 online campaign brought out the
vote -- to name the national tree. The campaign logged $20,230
in gifts as well.
5.
Online guidelines apply
Internet
transactions and related relationships based upon contracts and similar
formal agreements among the parties are likely to be governed by state
or federal laws.
Here are a few
guidelines Alexandria, Va.-based Association of Fundraising Professionals
recommends adhering to when getting into contracts with Internet
Service Providers (ISP).
- A formal agreement
should specify all transaction, after transaction, account management,
and other fees that are charged against a gift to the charity.
- The ISP should
assume liability for assuring the completion of the donation transaction
(i.e. all money intended for the charity -- less any agreed-upon
fees -- will in fact be transmitted in a timely and secure manner).
- A formal agreement
should specify whether or not the ISP is capturing demographic
information or similar data of any kind concurrent with the transaction,
or in post-transaction surveys.
- If information
about donors is being collected, the ISP should clearly and readily
disclose this fact to potential donors and site visitors.
- A formal agreement
should specify which party's privacy policy controls the donation
transaction. Any privacy policy should be credible and effective
and should address such issues as confidentiality, use of information,
secure storage of data, and use of cookies.
6.
Have written agreements with providers
You can’t
use the Internet for fundraising unless you have some type of enabling
service. Here are some guidelines addressing issues raised in the
context of third party Internet Service Providers (ISP).
- The charity
should have a formal agreement with all ISPs that seek to represent
the charity or that will accept donations on behalf of the charity.
- A formal agreement
should make clear which party (the charity or the ISP) is required
to register with appropriate regulators should the activity on
behalf of the charity require registration.
- A formal agreement
should specify who has legal control of the contributions. Is the
ISP simply a conduit, passing on the money, or does it legally
control the money and then passes it on to the charity?
- A formal agreement
should specify on what schedule, and by which means, contributions
will flow to the charity from the ISP. For example, will donations
be sent upon receipt, weekly, quarterly?
- A formal agreement
should specify whether or not the charity will be able to monitor
its account in real time, or if the ISP will supply a periodic
report.
7.
Going places while sitting still
It takes
money to raise money. Field trips online can be a great way to raise
money from foundations or the donating public. But what will keep people
coming back to the site to electronically zip around the world with
your organization again and again?
- Organizations
will need to invest in original content. It's not enough for the
Field Museum in Chicago to show T-rex bones online. Its curriculum
exposes students to the people who find the dig site, prepare the
bones, ascertain how the dinosaur moved and fit the animal into
a context and a family tree.
- Simple things
can make a big difference. An anthropologist sent out daily “Emails
From the Field” during a trip to China. He detailed what
was going on each day and the challenges and rewards of field work.
- Flash technology
can invigorate the learning process beyond the boring point and
click. It can make online exhibits more interactive.
Developing paid
courses online might also make the money needed for content technology
easier to dig up.
8. Passing
along the good word
Everything
you need to know about email marketing can be learned from a 1970s
shampoo commercial. A successful product simply comes after, “I
told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on....”
It's not an ancient
secret that your message is more likely to be heard if it is passed
along by a friend or acquaintance of the recipient. With careful
planning your nonprofit's email marketing can go from deleted spam
to bringing home the bacon with a few modifications.
- Clearly spell
out the message so that the originator of the email was the nonprofit
and the subject line expressed an immediate need for action.
- Pay attention
to avoid any form of deception that is prevalent in other Internet
solicitations in order to separate the serious from the spam.
- Convince your
support base to take up the role of recruiters in order to mobilize
support for the cause.
- Take advantage
of time-sensitive hooks, such as proposed legislation, upcoming
elections or holidays. If it's in the news or the public arena
all the better,
- This type of
marketing has a shelf life. Identify your window of opportunity
and be prepared for it. Consider allowing the donor to add a personal
message to their gift. It can add a level of accountability to
the numbers that are accumulated and reported.
9.
It's 3 a.m., where are your donors?
One
of the joys of the Internet is the ability to go shopping any day,
at 2 AM, while decked out in feety pajamas and reclining on your bed.
For-profits understand that web shopping mirrors, in many ways, the
in-store experience and advertising campaigns.
Go to the Old Navy
Web site and you get the same cheeky tone as those perpetual Morgan
Fairchild commercials. The Web opens up business for 24 hours, 7
days a week of opportunities to connect with the public and nonprofits
should prepare for the constant exposure.
- Remember that
first impressions are important. Direct marketing techniques that
have been successful in the past can be used on the Web to engage
viewers.
- All roads should
lead to the donation page.
- Provide different
methods of giving including credit card, check and the option of
requesting a direct mail form.
- Consider branching
off Web pages designed specifically for new audiences (e.g.: kids,
senior citizens).
- Spread your
link around. It's about online marketing as much as fundraising.
- Make it new,
yet seamless. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF allows visitors to download
its Trick-or-Treat collection box that it also makes available
in retail outlets.
10.
Wisely picking your processors
A Web
site can help bring in more donations, but there are several important
points to keep in mind when engaging a third party, or credit card
processor, to handle Web site donations:
- Have them bid
just on pricing, but weight customer service;
- Evaluate the
experience of the systems used. Does the configuration work with
corporate headquarters? Will the company be able to deal with multiple
chapters? How will they link reports to various offices?;
- The more information
you give MasterCard and Visa, the more the interchange can be reduced;
- Set up online
reports to download information into your Excel files;
- Find out the
shortest range of time to receive funds. If you close your books
Monday night, you want to have funds reconciled by Wednesday;
- Personal contact
is important. Trouble getting through to the company is a bad sign;
- Set up a merchant
account with a different bank for online activities so it sorts
out all the fees listed on reports;
- Traditionally,
monthly statement fees range from $5 to $10.
- Companies may
issue a monthly Gateway or a one-time purchase of software products;
- Compare contract
terms in a range of one to three years because the company might
offer a lower price for a length of time
11. That third cousin is not a prospect
Today, it's much
easier for a worker to spend a whole morning instant messaging a
long-lost third cousin, while appearing to be researching on the
Internet. As
a result, an organization needs to develop guidelines for how employees use
its communication system. The
Foundation for Information Technology Education created guidelines for rules,
procedures and employee responsibilities for using company supplied communication
technologies. For
example, one guideline is the proper use of emails sent or received via a
nonprofit's system. Here are some basic guidelines the IT Resource Center
in Chicago set by modifying the FITE's document for itself.
- Purpose: The
purpose of company-supplied communications resources is to conduct
and support company business. Ownership:
Equipment and messages are company property. Usage:
All communications originating from the company and identifiable
as such are to be treated as business documents. Security
and Privacy: Personal passwords; staff are expected to maintain
their company network and account passwords to deter unauthorized
access to company systems through public areas of the company or
by remote access.
- Non-business
Communication: Incidental and occasional personal use of company
equipment is permitted. Such messages become the property of the
business and are subject to the same conditions.
12. Make sure your message
is forwarded
Everything you need to know about email
marketing can be learned from a 1970s shampoo commercial. A successful
product simply comes after, "I told two friends and they told two
friends and so on and so on...."
It's not an ancient secret that your
message is more likely to be heard if it is passed along by a friend
or acquaintance of the recipient. With careful planning your nonprofit's
email marketing can go from deleted spam to bringing home the bacon
with a few modifications.
- Clearly spell out the message so that
the originator of the email was the nonprofit and the subject line
expressed an immediate need for action.
- Pay attention to avoid any form of
deception that is prevalent in other Internet solicitations in
order to separate the serious from the spam.
- Convince your support base to take
up the role of recruiters in order to mobilize support for the
cause.
- Take advantage of time-sensitive hooks,
such as proposed legislation, upcoming elections or holidays. If
it's in the news or the public arena all the better.
- This type of marketing has a shelf
life. Identify your window of opportunity and be prepared for it.
Consider allowing the donor to add a personal message to their
gift. It can add a level of accountability to the numbers that
are accumulated and reported.
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