Every nonprofit should have a website that actually furthers its mission -- not just describes it… Orange County Chapter of the Association for Strategic

Every nonprofit should have a website that actually furthers its mission -- not just describes it…

Orange County Chapter of the Association for Strategic PlanningNovember 12, 2010

Presented by:Allan Pressel, CEO/founder

CharityFinders877-456-3210

[email protected]

© CharityFinders, proprietary & confidential, not for reproduction

1. E-philanthropy/e-commerce: Background & Statistics2. Internet Strategy: The Gap

a. How are organizations using the web today?b. How would they like to be?c. How should they be?

3. Q & A (throughout)


“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


Watershed e-philanthropy events 2005

Tsunami Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, etc. Pakistani earthquake

2008: Hurricanes Gustav and Ike 2010: Haiti earthquake, Pakistani floods, Deepwater oil spill

U.S. donations = $308B (90% from individuals) 2001: 0.04% of donations were made online 2007: 13% of individual gifts were made online 10% of nonprofits receive 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) Online donations cost less to process Demographics of online donors are favorable

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 Nearly 100% of major donors ($10,000+) were influenced by the web 65% of (offline and online) donors were influenced by the web 40% of nonprofit site visitors take some form of action


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: Social networking Text messaging Blogs Outreach groups Virtual volunteering

“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)

Lots of short, clear e-mails Little US mail Great branding Focus = solving problems, effecting

change Website: Attractive, easy to

navigate, short bits of info



0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Donated offline

Petition online

Referred friend

Petition offline

Donated online

Volunteered offline

Volunteered online

Courtesy: NetworkForGood, The Bridgespan Group, Guidestar

50+% said they would NOT have taken further action if they had not first visited nonprofit’s website


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.


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


1. Raise more $

2. Lower costs 3. Attract in-kind donations

4. Build capacity

5. Track user demographics

6. Recruit staff (& volunteers)

7. Long-term relationships w/ constituents

8. More event attendees, members,,

e-advocacy, etc.

9. Motivate people to support/patronize the organization –

immediately

…in a way that doesn’t take time and $ away from the mission


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

2. Elicit business/support

How does CharityFinders assess your site?


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


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 most-needed functionality

In person or by webinar Include anyone you want (e.g., CEO/ED, board

members, etc.) In one location or several We’ll contact you in 1-2 business days to schedule

the consultation



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!)

• Brief description• Calls to action

•Mission Statement•Services/Programs•Goals•What’s New•Accomplishments•Brief History•Issues/Causes•Message from E.D./CEO•Press Releases•Past Events•Urgent Action Alerts

• Testimonials• Photo Album• Endorsements/Awards• Donor Hall of Fame• Privacy and Security

Policy• Annual Report• 990• Download Documents• How We Can Help You• Staff List/Bios• Board List/Bios• FAQ• Links• Contact Us

•Private/password-protected area(s)oBoard-only areaoStaff-only area

•Multiple languages


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


Financial transactions

• Cash donations• Events• In-kind donations• Membership• E-Store• Make a payment• Auctions• “Thons”• Affiliate Marketing

• Investment donations• Planned Giving

• Bequest Gifts• Life Income Gifts• Charitable Gift Annuity• Charitable Remainder Trust• Life Insurance Gift• Charitable Lead Trust• Retirement Plan Gifts


Non-financial transactions

• E-mail List Signup• Volunteer• Employment• E-newsletter• E-advocacy• Petitions• E-Cards• Forms

• Public Opinion Poll• Questionnaire• Referrals• User Feedback• Web 2.0 Tools

• Discussion/Message Board• Chat Room• LISTSERV• Podcast• RSS• Wiki• Blog

Your site should be easy to find

•Search Engine Optimization (SEO)•Search Engine Marketing (SEM)•Other


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

• Description• should be < 150 characters

• Keyword

b. Choosing and Using Keywords• < 10 keywords per page• Use keywords/phrases liberally in page title, headings, body• Use HTML tags to denote headings (e.g., H1, H2, etc.)• Use different keywords on different pages• Keep them updated• You should have a keyword that is in your website address.• You should have a keyword that is in your page title


c. Keyword selector tools• http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion• Google Zeitgeist - www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html• Google AdWords Keyword Tool -

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal• Google Trends - www.google.com/trends• MSN Search Insider - www.imagine-msn.com/insider• Yahoo Buzz Index: http://buzz.yahoo.com

d. Links• Incoming

• Count your link:in Google, type “link:www.yournonprofit.org”• Choose relevant, reputable sites

• Outgoing• Twitter account

• # followers• Tweet/retweets


d. Use blogs• Within your site• Interactivity• Offer RSS feeds• Lots of incoming links• Submit your blog to technorati.com• Submit your blog to bloggrader.com

e. Avoid splash pagesf. Don’t require cookiesg. Use alt text (on every image)h. Robots.txti. Search engines prefer HTMLj. Search engines prefer text over graphicsk. Don’t use framesl. Be careful with Flash and JavaScriptm. Create a site mapn. All pages should be easy to navigate to (esp. home page)o. Create focused pages


q. Get listed in important directories:• The Open Directory Project: www.dmoz.org• Yahoo Directory: http://dir.yahoo.com• ZoomInfo Directory: www.zoominfo.com

r. Use conversion formss. Page titles should be descriptive, and <70 characterst. Purchase your domain name (URL) for as long a period as

possibleu. Get your traffic rank at www.alexa.comv. Your site should display with or without the “www”

• set up a permanent “301” redirect

w. Keep your site updated frequentlyx. Register with search engines

• Unpaid• Paid

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/bought $100 or more last year but nothing this year?



Allan Pressel, CEO/founder

[email protected]

www.CharityFinders.com

1-877-456-3210

641 21st St.Hermosa Beach, CA 90254