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Keep the following online fundraising tips in mind when building your website:
- Keep up with the content
In order for your
website to be successful, make sure that the content is both useful and
current. Update at least monthly with fresh content or possibly a news
story detailing your achievements.
- Include a succinct mission statement
A
prospective donor needs to know what you do, why you do it, and how you
do it, and why it's a good thing. A clear mission statement on the
first page of your site is a great way to make these things clear.
- Collect e-mail addresses from visitors
E-mail
addresses are an important part of online fundraising, and your website
is a great place to collect those addresses. Make sure that you respect
the privacy of those that give you their e-mail addresses. A way to do
this would be to include a place for a subscription to your monthly
e-newsletter, or a request to be included in your special announcement
and news alerts. You could also use the opportunity to collect other
information from them like their name and address, or interests to make
your solicitations more personal. To learn more about e-mail mailing
lists and e-newsletters see the E-mail & Listservs section.
- Develop and include a privacy statement
A prospective donor needs to feel comfortable with your website, and trust you enough to give you personal information. A
privacy statement should be included on your site, and you should never
share the e-mails you collect with other organizations or companies.
For help with developing your own privacy statement, you can visit TRUSTe, a company that specializes in privacy issues on the Internet. They have model privacy disclosures (in Microsoft Word format) that you can copy and and edit for your own use.
- Cultivate relationships
You can do this by connecting with people through your website, and
inviting their input and feedback. Include contact information for your
program, as well as a way for people to make suggestions. Another way
to make a your website more personable would be to highlight one of
your volunteers each month in a story for the website, or to give
real-life examples of how a donation was used to benefit your program.
- Provide the convenience of online giving
Give
people the option to give to your program online, as well as
information on the more conventional ways of giving, such as writing a
check and sending it via mail, donating services, or other in-kind
gifts. See the article, Adding a Donate Now! Button to Your Website for more information.
- Promote your website
Your website can't be successful unless people know about it, so use every marketing opportunity to plug your website.
- Think integration
It
is important to integrate the online donor information you gather with
your e-newsletter mailing list, as well as with your marketing efforts
and direct mail list. Whether all of this data is stored in one
database or not, it is important for it to seem seamless to your donors
and others on the list. This way you avoid embarrassing and expensive
situations where donors get multiple appeals for their support.
- Be realistic
The payoff for your investment in
online fun draising may not be immediate, but you are prepared for the
future and have one more tool under your belt for raising the funds you
need. |
