FundClass April 1999

FundClass Archives:

Using the Internet for Fundraising

Edited Digest of FundClass Topic #16, April 1999

Facilitated by Gary Grant

Gary Grant received his BA in history from the University of Chicago in 1987. With the exception of three years spent earning a J.D. from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (1994), Gary has worked in Development at the University of Chicago ever since his first year as an undergraduate student there. He served in Asst. and Assoc. Director positions and worked for 10 years at the School of Social Service Administration (the social work grad. school) eventually becoming its Assoc. Dean for External Affairs where he was responsible for completing a $10 million capital campaign. Currently, he is a Senior Development Officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center (serving both its hospitals and the biological sciences division). In 1998, Gary co-authored two books, the Social Worker's Internet Handbook and the Non Profit Internet Handbook, White Hat Communications and he has taught workshops mostly for social workers and community organizations since 1996. Gary is a Vice President of the Hyde Park/Kenwood Community Conference (his local cmty org) and manages a community website on its behalf.

Introduction by Gary Grant

Greetings and welcome. I'm happy to have been invited to present on the topic: Using the Internet in Fundraising. So much of the buzz about the Internet seems to focus on its implications in the for-profit sector. Will the Microsoft anti-trust suit save Netscape? Will Ebay stocks continue to soar? Will Amazon.com kill the local neighborhood bookstore?

But what about the non-profit world? Aside from the question of how businesses use the internet to attract more consumers and higher profits, how can we use the Internet to attract more involvement and philanthropy to our organizations? What practical uses are there for fundraisers, grantseekers, prospect researchers, and so on.

This class discussion will address both the narrow practical questions
--e.g. what are the URL's that can help me each day?
As well as the broader, more complex issues
--e.g. how can my organization carry its mission to the Internet?

One premise to understand from the beginning is that organizations differ in ways that impact how they and their development staff can use the internet. Just as Barnes & Noble use the Internet in a very different way from the Amoco Oil Company, so too will a College, a Cultural/Arts institution, and an Advocacy organization each use the Internet differently.

Part 1

Considering The Internet As A Tool For Soliciting Gifts

It is possible to send e-mail solicitations. There are companies now that generate e-mailing lists of tens of thousands of people. But this is NOT something I would recommend doing either to a generic list *nor* to your own constituency. Whenever you undertake an Internet activity, its important to appreciate that there is a "culture" and an "etiquette (or Netiquette)" in cyberspace. Right now, this culture is not accepting of solicitations and if done in a way that feels invasive, it can trigger a backlash against the sender.

What is safe, is to include on your organization's homepage either or both a request for support and information helpful to donors (such as planned gift information). The disclaimer here, however, is that you should not expect a lot of return from this--at least not yet. While I know of no studies about it, I would be fairly certain that the rate of giving (even as measured against the number of "hits" (or visitors) to the site would be far below any direct mail campaigns. So the advice here is to go ahead and do it since its almost free of cost (but don't spend a lot of time on your solicitation website).

There are exceptions. For example, the ACLU has had some success in attracting support through its website--the reason why is the Telecommunication Act of 1996 which created a massive concern among users of the Internet, many of whom became more interested in that organization's efforts to protect privacy and free speech rights.

Similarly, an organization like the Red Cross might have much more success than most--especially in a time when there is a disaster that is getting media attention. Then people wishing to give are likely to go online specifically to find out how to do so.

But most organizations are not likely to motivate giving simply by making an attractive website. Most must do something more...

Doing Something More

If you go to the Pampers website (http://www.pampers.com/), you would expect to find a nice sales pitch about why this brand of diapers is the one you should use on your infant. But instead you find a lot more--the Pampers Parenting Institute, as the site is called, provides access to everything from child development experts to health and safety information. They do this because the company understands that by appropriately expanding its role in order to provide something of value to people online, it can potentially draw some attention to its product.

With television, the programs capture people's attention so that the commercials can do their work. But on the Internet, few will come to you unless you really understand (a) what the audience you are attracting wants; (b) what your organization can give online; and (c) what competing places they can go online for this.

One way to do something more, is to have an organizational e-mail newsletter. Membership-based organizations can capture new names and new interest as well as heightening the connection with existing members by sending a relevant and regular e-mail. Even if deleted before read, such a piece can make people feel more connected and more likely to support than the organization they only hear from once or twice a year (and then only for money).

A newsletter like this, can include a regular statement at the end--or an interestingly woven in request for support. Linking the successes announced to funding can help make it seem more relevant.

Doing something more at your website is a little harder because it can be very time-consuming to take on a major project with a website. For example, there is so much adoption information online, that any single adoption agency hoping to be "the one-stop gateway to all online about adoption" would be unlikely to succeed.

But if you think realistically, you can offer a site that provides visitors with something of real value. Finding your niche will require spending a significant amount of time researching what exists online in your area of work as well as thinking about what you can offer online, perhaps that no one else could.

Relationship Building

It's helpful to think of the Internet as a tool for building stronger relationships with your constitutency or donor publics (and not just as a way to get your message out to many cheaply). The Internet is two-way. Its benefits are often in the human-to-human connection that it allows. For example, many people who are unlikely to call or write your executive director with a question or comment, might not hesitate to drop an e-mail--and how exciting it is to actually get a response this way and really feel like you matter to the organization. How exciting it is to see your own name listed on a website as a valued member or leader.

In working with alumni for a social work school, we found it enormously helpful to have online discussions (much like this class), between alumni, students, and faculty. Graduates who had never had any access to the school since graduating (we had participants ranging from Japan to rural Tennessee), could suddenly (and conveniently) engage in a conversation with faculty and current students about something of mutual interest.

This kind of program gave us the ability to interact with one-third of our constituency which in the past could get no more than mailings and phone calls. Our analysis had shown that only those 2/3rd living in staffed cities and who could attend programs gave significantly to the school, so the potential for increased fundraising here was great.

Of course one limitation is that not all of that constituency we were trying to reach out to had e-mail or shared their address with us. Depending on how large your group is, you may want to move more or less cautiously with this kind of interactivity.

If you want to create some interactivity for your constitutency, here are some options and some rough numbers to consider. The technology is often available for free online. These numbers are based on my very non-scientific observations and there are no guarantees.

a) For a listserve to work, I estimate that at least 200 people are necessary for there to be any dialogue (90-95% will read but not respond, "lurkers"). Over 600 is probably too many as they will create a flood of discussion. (Now, I may have to modify my thinking, given that this list, now over 600, is still running very smoothly--but keep the figure as a guide for now. Participant traits, subject volatility, and so on can sharply increase the rate of posting). Note that a "listserve" is a brand name that is becoming the common way to refer to any software that manages a group of people on e-mail so that any one "member" or "subscriber" can communicate to all in an ongoing discussion.

b) A newsletter (regular e-mail from an organization to its members, but not among members) can be pretty much unlimited, although replies may be too many for staff to handle. They should be automated so that you don't have to maintain the address list personally which can be surprisingly time-consuming.

c) A chat room requires an enormous number of visitors to generate enough traffic for there to be chat. Perhaps on the order of 1000 visits a day is needed before you could hope to have a successful chat room. The room itself should not have more than 5-10 people at any given time or the discussion cannot stay on topic. Scheduled discussions may work better.

These are not exhaustive. There may be online forms of stewardship and recognition for major donors (e.g. a banner on your main page celebrating a critical major gift). There may be ways to link volunteer projects or a way for volunteers to support your online activities.

Another idea that has had great success for me was to create a mentoring website where alumni could describe themselves and where students could go to find alumni willing to help advise them. This was enormously popular with the students and extraordinarily rewarding for the alumni. The activity resulted in several students finding jobs out of state in its first year.

In many of these cases, it may be worth creating a partnership with similar organizations in order to pool interactive activities. Competition among non-profits online can, I think, be a very destructive thing.

This conludes the first part of this class. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts about
* What you do to create a closer connection with your constituency?
* What are your thoughts about a role online your organization could play in order to attract support?
* What are the risks you fear and the opportunities you think are out there?
* And of course, any other thoughts.

Part 2

In the next part, I plan to cover three different ways of using the internet in fundraising. First, I will discuss prospect research, which for me at least, is the most common daily way I use the internet. Second, I will provide a methodology and some specific direction on how to use the internet for grant seeking. Third, I will mention briefly how to use the internet for your professional advancement and job seeking.

Prospect Research

I have to confess--I really enjoy the astonishment from the non-net savvy when, after just a few minutes, I can come back with all kinds of useful information about a new major gift prospect.

While the Internet may not do away with the need for good prospect researchers, it can put some important information at your fingertips.

Using the internet for prospect research is beginning to really feel like an art more than a science. I wish there was an easy formula--but unless you want to spend a whole afternoon at it, you have to anticipate what you are seeking.

Below are some of the common sources I use for prospect research and a description of how they might be used:

1) Infoseek (http://www.infoseek.com)
This, or any other similar search engine, can be a good place to start. I met a potential supporter recently and though I had no idea of his capacity, out of curiosity I typed his name into a search engine and found out he recently named the library at his alma mater in the past five years.

Now, if your prospect's name is John Smith, don't bother with the search engines. A common name is obviously going to return thousands of sites that are impractical to explore--without some other key words (e.g. "John Smith" +Megacorp) is fine if you also know that he is the CEO of Megacorp. But a Xavier Thistlehammerstein is probably ok to try, even without knowing any other information.

General search engines will tend to find many common news sites, corporate websites, personal homepages, etc. I have come up with speeches prospects have delivered, news stories discussing their wealth, and so on.

2) Hoovers (http://hoovweb.hoovers.com/) This site is a great place to go for information on Corporations or to find if an individual is an officer of a corporation. A paying subscriber can get fully detailed profiles on each company, but even for free there is significant information.

If the individual you are researching is in another profession, you can track down some details at professional sites. For example, almost every lawyer can be found at West Legal Directory (http://directory.findlaw.com/) or at Martindale Hubbel's site (http://www.martindale.com/xp/Martindale/home.xml)

3) Forbes Toolbox
(http://www.forbes.com/tool/html/toolbox.htm) This is most useful if you just want to focus on finding some of the richest individuals and companies.

4) Yahoo Newspapers
(http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Newspapers/)
If you or your prospect lives somewhere that has a newspaper with an online edition--it may be possible to do a check in the local papers. The Chicago Tribune, for example, allows one to search the last several years for any name. It then gives a small sample of what each story is about and allows you to purchase the full article by credit card for less than $2. Its inexpensive and immediate. I hope more of the newspapers in the country provide such a flexible resource.

I've also used Yahoo for other things. I have one potential donor considering a gift of over $1 million--but wants to wait to see how a certain stock does. By bookmarking the specific Yahoo stock quotes page, we can easily keep tabs on its progress so that we appropriately time the follow-up.

For more on prospect research, try "The Association of Prospect Researchers for Advancement" (August 2001: link no longer exists).

For those inclined to pay for their prospect research sites, there are also powerful research benefits of Handsnet.org, Lexis/Nexis and there are a number of services now which use web-based interfaces to access their traditional prospect research databases.

Not being a true prospect researcher--are there others out there with recommendations about these?

Grant Seeking

I like to say that there are two kinds of grantseekers online: The Hunters and the Gatherers. Each approach depends on the kind of organization you work for.

A hunting approach begins with a specific project. The grantseeker goes online to see if there are any foundations, corporations, or agencies which might be potential funders. She hunts broadly, targeting a few finds and taking her shot at them with a letter of intent.

A gathering approach tends to focus around the organization's specific mission. The fundraiser collects/bookmarks a few key foundations or gov't funding agencies (say 5 to 20) that most closely match his organization's mission. The "Request for Proposals" sections are then visited regularly in order to get the earliest possible jump on proposals.

Many of us will use some degree of both methods, and much of it depends on our organization. A colleague of mine worked for a Housing agency. He was very much a gatherer, visiting just a handful of sites regularly. In the meantime, I worked for a Social Work school covering so wide a gamut of topics that it was impossible to gather any key ones. I tended to hunt when I needed a grant supported.

One good aid for either hunting or gathering is the Informant (http://informant.dartmouth.edu/). This is a tool that allows you to automate a search of either specific sites or the wider internet. It delivers regular e-mail telling you of changes and new sites.

Finding Foundations

More and more foundations are online by now. The same is true for most government agencies and even a good number of corporate foundations.

For foundations, start with the Foundation Center (http://fdncenter.org/) where you can use the quick foundation finder for some basic information.

There are many good foundation website finders--but I don't think any single one is comprehensive yet. Some may be based around topics--like the Community Foundations directory: (http://www.fundsnetservices.com/commfoun.htm),
or you might want to become familiar with your best state or local regional resource such as the Donor Forum of Chicago (http://www.uic.edu/~dbmaint/donors94.html) or the Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania (http://www.telerama.com/~gwp/ (August 2001: link no longer exists))

For finding government funding opportunities, the federal register is online at:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html
or you can use the following tool that searches the federal register and lists all funding announcements: http://ocd.usda.gov/nofa.htm

I also particularly like the nonprofit gateway http://www.nonprofit.gov/resource/support.html#departments
for finding government funding announcements. And of course, you can go directly to the particular agency site in the same way as you would for a foundation.

Background Research: Even if you do find your RFP a traditional way--it is probably a good idea to visit the foundation's website for background information. You may find more there than you get just from their annual report.

Tour: Let's take a quick tour of a foundation site to see what kind of things they offer...

I'll use the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (http://www.rwjf.org/main.html). It has a simple mission--to improve the health and health care of all Americans, but by exploring its site, you can get a deeper sense of the ways it is committed to doing this. The annual report is available online or you can find out the most recent news which includes press releases and requests for proposals.

The site included a lot of links to other media and information sources online--this is both useful and it again provides more background information about the kinds of things the foundation cares about. It couldn't hurt to include in a proposal or letter of intent key information you found through their website that emphasizes how important your project is.

The website is also used to publicize grants made, projects and their outcomes, and the reports from funded research.

Finally, the site includes links to affiliated projects online--in this case, there is a link to "Last Acts"--a project revolving around the care people receive at the end of life. Keep in mind that foundations--like your organization--may use the internet to reach out. You may want to consider how it may be appropriate to share in an activity online. For example, in this case, Last Acts is a national coalition. If your organization is or could be involved in the same project, then it may provide an opportunity to work together. This could help build a stronger relationship and a better awareness between your organization and the foundation.

Professional Advancement

This last part addresses the question of how one approaches their job search as a fundraiser online.

The Online Resume

I do recommend developing a personal page for yourself either through your own ISP or through a free online service of which there are many (such as geocities.com). An online resume serves two purposes:

(1) convenience/speed, since potential employers can immediately see and print it out. I was surprised how often in my last job search, this came in handy. It enables employers to dig further too--for example, exploring links to your former employer's websites or e-mailing references. This may give those with online resumes an edge.

(2) it tells employers that you are net savvy...even if they never bother to look at your resume. With this in mind--I tended to include in my cover letters that the resume was available online, even though I included a hard copy--which is admittedly more attractive.

If you would like to see my resume online as an example, its at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2608/resume.html (although I've not updated it with my current employment yet).

Another possibility for your online resume is to have it registered with one of the many job-search sites in the hopes that a desirable employer will find you. I can't see how this would hurt--but I also would not place a lot of hope that this will land your dream job. Also, some job sites will only let you create a resume in their format or just allow posting basic information for their database.

Unfortunately--there are just so many job-search sites out there and until they whittle down to a few comprehensive ones, it can really feel like you're lost in a jungle.

I also suspect that few employers, especially in the nonprofit world--will be likely to search for candidates in this way.

For a quick list of job search sites, see the following page, where I've listed a number under the category "general job search sites":
http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu/linksjobs.html (August 2001: link no longer exists).

Finally, if you want more on how to build an online resume, I still have an old class online at http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu/vclass/ (August 2001: link no longer exists).

Hunting for Positions Online

We are now at a point where you can pretty much focus your entire search for a job online and probably not miss too many opportunities--or can at least keep yourself pretty busy getting resumes out.

The following were some of the key sites I had success with (in order of my preference):

1) http://philanthropy.com/jobs.dir/jobsmain.htm (which includes all job openings posted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy)
2) http://www.nonprofitjobs.org/sjob.cfml
3) http://jobs.pj.org/
4) http://www.nonprofitcareer.com/resource/resourc.htm
5) http://www.essential.org/goodworks/jobs/

In general, it is probably best to focus on these kind of online resources--since they specialize in fundraising and non-profit jobs and are fairly plentiful in offerings because they list positions announced in traditional print form too.

If you do exhaust these, you might go to some of the general "any-category-of-job" sites, like www.monster.com. Some years ago, the general sites were dominated by technology jobs, but they are increasingly broad based now.

You can also check out the newspapers online. Many major papers have searchable job databases. This may come in handy if there is a specific region of the country you are trying to move to.

Finally, if you know exactly what employer you want to work with, you can see if they post their position at their site. Many large nonprofits do this as do Universities (which was a place I focused my search).

If you find a position announcement on that organization's own homepage--it can't hurt to mention this. I think it adds to your application for the job because (a) you clearly sought them out; (b) you demonstrate your internet savvy; and (c) the employer may feel rewarded to have their efforts at recruiting online pay off.

I've heard several stories and have my own too, of e-mailing employers through their posted job announcements to learn that I'd just made it under the wire.

Gary B. Grant

Part 3: Discussion And Feedback

Questions, responses, and information from subscribers to the Fundclass e-mail list.

Responses To Gary's Questions

Laura McCallum <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

My organization, OCFOCF, is a small, local, completely volunteer-run organization that provides recreational and support activities to children with cancer and their families. My husband created and maintains our web site http://www.ocf-ocf.org

Now to the questions:

* What you do to create a closer connection with your constituency?

The primary reason we created our web site was to make it possible for more families to find out about us. For families who "do" Internet, one of the first things they do after they receive a cancer diagnosis is go surfing for information. We made sure to put all the hot words in the hypertext so that search engines would find us. We also have a calendar of events posted for our members.

* What are your thoughts about a role online your organization could play in order to attract support?

We are small and local so we haven't been too ambitious. We do have a links page to various web sites that might be of help to our members. We also link to The Young Professionals Against Cancer, who do fundraising for us. They have info about their fundraisers on their site.

* What are the risks you fear and the opportunities you think are out there?

We quite frequently receive solicitations to sign up with on-line donor services. We are pretty wary of these offers and generally ignore them. We invite people to send donations to our P.O. box.

* And of course, any other thoughts.

We put up the web site without any major expectations. We have two separate contact buttons, one saying "Can we help you?" that goes to the lady that maintains the (snail) mailing list and one saying"Can you help?" that goes to us. Mostly we get inquiries about being counselors at our summer camp. We did get an e-mail asking for a copy of our 501(c)(3) documentation and answers to a couple of questions. I sent them off and didn't think about it again. A month or two later we received a check in the mail from this gentleman for $2000. In other words, for a small organization it can be worthwhile to put up a modest website and just see what happens.

Laura McCallum

Gary Grant <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

You make a very astute observation. I learned it from my own personal experience when I found out my daughter had food allergies (to milk, eggs, and peanuts). With only a little online experience--I instinctively dove to the internet and found tons of useful information, as well as supports, such as message boards which I used to hear from the wisdom of other parents going through the same thing.

Two things many orgs seem to do that I worry about. One is to duplicate existing resources. I see, for example, support groups where there are at least ten or twenty different chat rooms out there--and none of them generate enough traffic to have regular activity. Each one is filled with single visitors throughout the day asking if anyone is home. I feel certain that if all well-meaning organization webmasters would organize and commit to a single room shared by several similar organizations, then it would have the regular activity it needs. Only after it filled beyond capacity would a second room be needed. The same holds true for all sorts of online content which when duplicated leaves the visitor not knowing where to get the "right" info or the most timely.

The second thing I worry about are "links lists" (i.e. a page dedicated to linking to other websites on related topics). Yours is a nice concise list, which I think is great. But there is this strange battle I see for who can make the biggest and most comprehensive links list. Not only is that a hopeless task (how can any non-profit compete with Yahoo which does this full time and in a thorough way or with search engines which are really how people are going to navigate the web), but it's not even a service to visitors. As I know from writing web reviews from my books--it takes a long long time to visit sites and have a good look around. Links lists leave a great burden to the visitor to find out what each resource has of value.

So one thing I try to encourage is to add value to your links page.

1) Tell the visitor right up front what they will find when they click to a particular site--and perhaps direct them to the specific areas within the site that you think are especially useful. e.g. why should I click on a link on your links list? Perhaps because your website has told me that it has excellent, up-to-date current news at (http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/cancer_news/).

2) Evaluate for the visitor. After looking at several news sources, are there perhaps 1-3 that you think are pretty much the best, comprehensive, most up-to-date?

3) Organize links by resources--not sites or organizations. e.g. here are cancer news sources, cancer message boards, educational information, advocacy tools for encouraging government funding, etc. Perhaps there will be resources you describe that I, as the visitor, had not thought to even look for.

Gary Grant

Channing Hillway <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

The duplication thing may sort itself out. Given time, it certainly will as individuals discover the most active chat room, for example, and frequent it over the others. The greater problem, in my view, would be someone trying to regulate who does what over the net. NPOs in a local area may be able to reach agreement regarding local chat rooms, who will operate one to serve all, etc. But some outside agency trying to lay down rules over the entire internet will become a disaster, firstly because it will be an attempt to manage the unmanageable. That usually results in a very destructive attempt to control by authoritarian means, even in democratic societies, which is only abandoned after much damage has already been done. The specific suggestions you have made here have merit and should be considered by anyone setting up a web site.

Channing Hillway, Ph.D.

Establishing Credibility

Teri-Lyn <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

I do have one concern. Is it required for all Non-Profit organizations to post their Tax Exemption Numbers on the Internet in order to request for any contribution?

Teri-Lyn
Heartland Deaf Center, Inc.

Gary Grant <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Teri-Lyn,

I doubt it would be required to post the Exemption number, so long as it can be provided upon request.

But your question raises another important issue that is always worth thinking about--how are donors to know what to trust online?

There are organizations using the web to try to provide donors with information on the charities they support. It could be worth investigating what these resources currently tell people about your organization.

For example, the National Charities Information Bureau (http://www.give.org) is a site that attempts to set standards so that donors know they are giving to a well-run organization.

Another is the Council for Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.org) which has a Philanthropic Advisory Service.

Charities USA (http://www.charitiesusa.com/) lists "pre-screened" organizations it encourages donors to support.

If you are listed in one of these, it could serve as a valuable endorsement of your organization and may make donors feel more comfortable giving through it online.

What does everyone think about this kind of thing in general? Are you worried about how information online about your organization might be inaccurate or may dissuade support for worthwhile organizations? Could this be too much information focusing on issues such as management that are secondary to the valuable work our organizations do? Or do you think that since knowledge is always a good thing, having more informed donors can't hurt?

Will the internet broaden giving or narrow it? One argument for broadening may be that there is easy access to giving more broadly and learning about more orgs. On the other hand, the one-stop shop places online are increasingly popular with those who don't have the time to surf. Will the United Way online (http://www.unitedway.org) become the "amazon.com" of giving?

Gary B. Grant

Gene Weinbeck <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

I agree with this. There is so much fraud and misinformation on the internet that it is important to immediately establish credibility with any visitors.

So, I would add to Gary's good suggestions that when you get listed with these organizations, that you say so in bold print on your home page. Most of these types of organizations have some sort of seal of approval that you can place on your page--generally these buttons will have a link back to the certifying organization so the donor can verify your listing.

In the case of my company, we have two such listings that may also apply to many nonprofits, albeit as a secondary type of certification:

ICRA rates your site as to obscenity, language, etc. Their url is www.icra.org

The Public Eye certifies that your site adheres to a reasonable privacy policy (will not misuse cookies, or sell your name). They can be found at www.thepubliceye.com

The certification process is a simple one - usually just filling out a form and answering some questions. The certifying agency will check you out and then send you a message that certifies you. The two above are free.

Gene Weinbeck

Tom King<This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

Guidestar had an ancient I-99 posted on its site for an organization I worked for. The information was years outdated and reflected a year in which some problems skewed our numbers so we looked a little heavy on admin expenses in that particular year (board trying to avoid fund-raising by hiring a "gun"). Based on that info, I wouldn't have made a donation to us!

Are there any other sites like that out there that we need to pay a fee to to get updated and clear information posted accurately? How many are there and what's it going to cost us to keep updated?

I have a friend who is marketing and community relations director for a large local company. She goes straight to the Internet whenever any organization asks them for money. What she finds there determines whether the organization gets any money or not. The problem most of us have is figuring out how we go about presenting ourselves on the net with our best posh frock on without going broke doing it.

Tom King

Cost Effective Ways To Get Your Site Up And Running

Fanoula Sevastos <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

This may be a question on the periphery of this class-topic but....has anyone found a cost-effective way of getting the site UP in the first place??

Fanoula Sevastos

Tom King<This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Check out your local web service providers. I got a nice site built for free as a showcase site for a struggling company. The same guy bid me half his usual rate ($1,000 down from $2000 for a similar commercial site) to set up a very extensive website. Hosting was pretty reasonable too. They even did live on-line coverage of our charity golf tournament (a neat extra on last year's golf tournament that got us some local media coverage). Sometimes you can get good deals from the little guys, but also some of the big guys may help you too in exchange for a sponsor plug on your site. All Webtime asked for was a "Designed by..." link to their home page. I've found most of the web design people I talk to are big softies where npo's are concerned and will help when they can. For a simple info page, many will throw in the design work in exchange for using them to do the monthly hosting ($30-$50 per month). My guy even helped me get near to the top of some of the web browser lists in some key categories. Call around. You may be surprised at how cheap it is to get UP and running!

Tom King

Channing Hillway, Ph.D. <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

The first step is to find someone connected with your organization who has -- or has a relative who has -- access to a server where your web site can be hosted for free. That's the way we did it for the Santa Barbara Oratorio Chorale. Take a look at it at http://www.sboc.org/ (August 2001: link no longer exists).

I built the web site in about three hours using text and graphics that were collected for a prototype web site that had some problems. Once you decide what you want to include in your web site, you need someone who will attempt to understand the culture of your organization. Then turn that person loose to develop and design the site and come back to you. You can put up a web site without advertising it and make modifications after a number of your NPO's members have viewed it and offered comments. Bear in mind that everyone should know that all of the comments cannot be followed as directions, but should simply be offered so that the webmaster and one or two of the NPO administrators can consider all angles and make final decisions.

There are some free hosters of web sites and it's necessary to put up with their advertising, etc., to use them. Sometimes local businesses with a web site will allow NPOs to piggyback on their servers.

Anyone, anywhere in the world, when properly equipped, can build your web site for you. My work for the Santa Barbara Oratorio Chorale web site is rather straightforward, focusing more on communicating with simplicity and avoiding overloading a web site the technical gadgets that are likely to turn off their patrons and concert goers. Designing the site to suit the target publics for the site is a concept that is rapidly gaining momentum and sweeping away the misguided notion that one should put everything that one possibly can on a site just because one can do it. Clutter and unnecessary complexity are unnecessary. Effective web sites have a lot in common with great magazine advertising, which widely vary in style according to the variety of publics they are attempting to reach. Contact me directly if you are interested in discussing my rates for designing your web site.

Channing Hillway, Ph.D.

Gary Grant <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

A few points here:

1) Don't be hesitant about learning very basic HTML. Many orgs do this cost effectively by having one brave staff member take it on. I have my own little online class at http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu/olclass.html (August 2001: link no longer exists) which walks you through basic HTML for creating a resume. There are many alternate similar teaching sites. I'm completely self taught myself--and learn most of what I know about web design from viewing source code on a given page that I like and deciphering it.

2) A great way to do it is to have a volunteer build the initial page--working with you on design. Then you agree to maintain it--which requires much less familiarity and comfort with the HTML than building from scratch. You can even write down maintenance proceedures to give it to any staff member.

I like having the control myself on websites. I find that experts in html focus too much on making it glitzy and giving it bells and whistles, but are not adept at thinking through the organization and content issues--nor the marketing/image concerns. At the same time, the experts on those things, may not understand the limitations--nor the potentials of the internet. There really are very few out there, I think, who can grasp both of these things and pull them together.

3) The helper applications, like Frontpage, are getting quite good. I'd been resistant for a while to these things, but am starting to come around as their quality improves. The helper applications are programs that allow you to put the page together in more of a desktop publishing format--and then they translate it into the html you need.

My only warning is to make sure you still feel comfortable going in an tinkering with the html. Its a pain to have to redo an entire page everytime a minor update or correction needs to be made.

Gary B. Grant

Debra Janzen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

My question is: We are small agency in a small retirement town in Arizona. Most of our donors do not have computers or if they do they do not have email or internet access. They really have no desire to surf the net. If they do have email they will be in contact with their grandkids and children. Also, they are reluctant to provide their email address to others.

Debra Janzen

Gary Grant <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Debra,

I think I would admit here that the internet may not be as valuable for some constituencies as others at least in terms of helping interact with supporters or potential supporters.

In fact--while many get enormously excited about the internet, I think it is very wise to move cautiously before investing a lot of time and money into it. It's never too late *if* cultures change and as it continues to gain mainstream use.

On the other hand, there are certainly internal uses for obtaining information, interacting with peers, sharing best practices, etc. that may make it valuable for just about any organization. Projects such as HandsNet (www.handsnet.org) focus on helping org (esp. I think rural orgs) share information with each other.

I would also add a few caveats:

1) Don't always assume that the elderly are all resistant to computers. Statistics I've read seem to suggest they are more net savvy than some presume.

2) Even those that are resistant to going online, may benefit in terms of the services you can provide by obtaining information for them online (I know that's not directly a fundraising thing, but improved services can't hurt).

3) You can more easily create interactivity for your constituency by utilizing existing sites. For example, existing "communities" for seniors could be used to very simply provide a place for connectivity--this would keep the investment of your time and resources minimal. For seniors, you might check out Third Age (www.thirdage.com) or SeniorNet (www.seniornet.com)

I do some of this with my community organization's website (http://www.hydepark.org) where with very little resources, we can use free services and the such to be interactive. For free online you can build (and it took me about 15 minutes to do each of these)--a chat room, a message board, a polling booth, a website counter, even a listserv.

Always with online stuff--try to avoid duplicating what exists out there.

Gary Grant

Debra Janzen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. wrote:

1. Is it ethical to ask your donors to list their email address on your donor envelope?

2. If you have a website besides describing your services do you advertise your fundraising events?

3. Are their others out there finding the same problems regarding seniors and the Internet/e-mail?

Debra Janzen

Gary Grant <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

1. Is it ethical to ask your donors to list their email address on your donor envelope?

I personally see nothing wrong with doing this. It's voluntarily given and so long as you don't share it outside your organization, it should be considered no different than asking for a phone number.

I found in my experience that not everyone volunteers it. While my organization asked in various places, it was not until we offered an "online program" that they came out of the woodwork with e-mail addresses. So the lesson I drew is that you'll be most likely to get your constituency to give their e-mail address if this involves some return benefit in involvement.

2. If you have a website besides describing your services do you advertise your fundraising events?

I think the only reservation here is that listing a time sensitive event may become frustrating. Is it worth the time detailing a special event on a website unless you know that there is a high volume of visitors likely to respond to it.

There are, however, several ways of advertising an event:

1) You can build into your homepage a sort of "current hot news" box where all you have to do is insert a sentence or two announcing the event. This is the easiest way to handle it. In fact, you can see my very own <http://www.hydepark.org> as an example since I took the liberty of announcing a fundraising event for my daughter's pre-school in such a box (which also links to a full-page thing I did in violation of my own advice)

2) You could put an online calendar and regularly include all your events. This can be really difficult to keep up to date--however, I think it is getting easier. I am exploring some online calendar services that would allow me to easily enter the date and have the calendar generate automatically.

3) You could make the event have its own page. I would do this only if it is a major and regular event. It can be fashioned such that you can plug in the date and detail changes after the event to make it applicable to the following year. I also like to include a photo or two of the previous year's event to give new people a chance to see what the event is like, and also because participants often like to see their pictures online and may even tell friends. (but ask them first!!!)

Which one of these is right for you depends again on the organization and its constituency. Always think "who is my audience for this?" "what message do I want to communicate?"

It may actually be beneficial for creating what I like to call a stronger "philanthropic environment" to have a fundraising event listed. Even if no one responds, every visitor will get the subtle message that in addition to your important mission and valuable services, you also depend on the support of donors.

How about gift recognition online? What does everyone think about posting detailed sites publically acknowledging major gifts? How about annual honor rolls?

Gary Grant

Getting A Domain Name

Virgil H. Huston <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

As a webmaster & web designer who runs four organizational web sites (two are in development) and will run my own business site if I ever get around to doing it, and one who has studied the potential of the internet since the days when only academic institutes had access, let me throw in my two cents.

First, the cautions mentioned are proper. However, the Internet is not an option, it is a necessity. When the telephone was introduced, people were skeptical. Same with the copier. Same with the Fax. In a few years, every business and organization will have a web presence. Those that don't will fall to the wayside. I believe that we must recognize this fact and plan for it. This is especially true for nonprofit fundraising, since people who are prone to give are more heavily represented among the online population.

Get a domain name. You will be sorry if you start out using a free service. It costs $70.00 for two years and whatever your hosting fee is (not expensive if you shop around). I know I will get flamed for saying that any serious organization should have their own domain, but there are tons of reasons to support my position.

One of the fastest growing online demographics is elderly people and retirees. It is a link to their families, access to medical information, and pure entertainment. Don't count this group out. And remember, in a very few years, the bulk of the American population will have internet access of some kind.

The number one thing you can do to develop a loyal following via the internet is an opt-in email list or newsletter. You send people who sign up some useful information every week or so. Many non donors will sign up for the info. At the end of every message, put in an unobtrusive ad to encourage people to join, donate, purchase your products, etc., etc. This works.

The one thing I am most interested in is any studies about offering people the option to donate/join via credit cards. I suspect it will increase donations and am getting ready to try this out. The big question is, is it worth the cost? I suspect it is. If anyone has any more information, I would appreciate hearing about it.

Virgil Huston

Gene Weinbeck <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

For those who do not know, a domain name is the part that follows the @ in internet addresses.

And Virgil is absolutely correct about the importance of this. The two most important reasons are Credibility and Continuity. By continuity I mean that when (not if) you switch internet providers, you will be able to take your domain name (your address) with you - and your constituency will still be able to find you. In fact, they won't know (or care) that you have moved.

How do you get a domain name? It's easy for those in the know, like your internet provider. Find out how much they will charge to register it for you. Better yet, ask if they will donate their time.

Gene Weinbeck

Virgil H. Huston <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

The costs associated with having a domain name are: $70.00 for first two years, then $35.00 a year thereafter. This is billed by Network Solutions (www.internic.net) and is not negotiable. Most hosting companies (the company that rents you server space for your site) will usually register the domain name for you. Most do not charge and I would not deal with a company that charges for this service, assuming you are going to use them as the host. It takes about 5 minutes to register a domain name.

Monthly fees for server space. This can range from $10.00 - 100.00 or more a month. A good average for all the features you are likely to need is $25.00-$35.00. Shop around. Most people do not use their dial up internet provider as their web host company. Check out http://www.tophosts.com and http://www.webhostlist.com for some comparisons.

Setting up a web site:

First, define the purpose(s) of the site, be it information dissemination, membership & donations, attracting clients, selling products, etc., or a combination. Then, design the site to be easy to navigate, fast to download, and search engine friendly. One option is to have the initial design done professionally, then maintain it yourself with a program like Microsoft Front Page, which isn't too hard to learn. If you have a flair for design (you want your site to look professional) and are willing to do a lot of studying and have the time, you could do it all yourself. What previous people have said about design companies giving NGO's a break is very true. I charge about half of the normal rate for design and hosting and chances are you can find a good deal.

Have an opt-in email newsletter that people can sign up for and regularly send informative messages to your list. Include unobtrusive ads for your products, memberships, donations, and services.

Promote your site. The old adage, "if I build it, they will come" no longer applies. You need Meta tags on your pages and you should submit to the big search engines & directories. Getting reciprocal links is another good way to build traffic. Getting companies to show your banner ads for free is another option. A good site for promotion is: http://www.virtualpromote.com

Finally, maintain your site. Keep it fresh. Update often. Nothing is worse that a web site with 1996 information.

Virgil

Rick Schwartz <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

This is an area to exercise utmost caution... it has been my experience that almost all ISPs that register a domain name for a company will keep administrative control over the name... that means that if you want to change to another ISP you may run into difficulty... we had a great domain name at the NPO where I worked that was registered by the first ISP where we were going to set up shop... they went belly-up and the owner fled one step ahead of the county sheriff confiscating everything that wasn't nailed down... the Internet powers-that-be would not let us have control over the name in order to take it to another ISP because we were not the administrator of the name. We eventually would have gotten it but in order to get the site up in a timely fashion we had to settle for a second-best name... but we learned our lesson and kept control over that one... the ISP said it was no problem to work it out that way but they had never had anyone request it before.

You might want to check it out to see who has actual adminsitrative control over your domain name and who gets to make the real decisions about it in case something goes wrong.

Rick Schwartz

Gene Weinbeck <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:
Does anyone know how to verify who is officially listed as the Admin contact? I mean besides asking your ISP...

Gene Weinbeck

Scotte Meredith <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Do a "WHOIS" inquiry at InterNIC.
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois

Scotte Meredith

Rick Schwartz <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Surf to Internic and look up your own domain name... It will tell you who the domain contact points are... usually along with an address and phone number (BTW this is a way to sometimes find out who is *really* behind a website... I have used it in the past to find contact names that were very surprised that I could track them down.)

Rick Schwartz

Are Contributions Made Through The Net Tax-deductible?

Anita Shirley <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

This might have been covered already, but didn't the IRS rule that contributions made to nonprofits by way of the internet were not tax deductible?

Anita Shirley

Kurt Hansen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

I've been following this issue very closely for the past 1.5 years and have never seen any mention that donations made to 501(c)(3)'s via the Internet were NOT tax deductible. They are tax deductible. However, sometimes the donation is not made directly to a 501(c)(3)'s account but to a for-profit company who then forwards the money on to the charity after taking out a fee. Whether this is tax-deductible for the donor is questionable, but the spirit of the law suggests that it is. That is, the tax-deductibility is based upon it being for a charitable purpose, not because it is given to a 501(c)(3). However, if the receipt is not from a 501(c)(3) or a religious institution, you'd have a hard time convincing the IRS that it is for a charitable purpose.

Here is an excellent site for scads of up-to-date regulatory information about 501(c)(3)'s being on the Web: http://www.muridae.com/publicaccess/

Kurt Hansen

Michael Storm <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

Please take a moment to review our Website http://www.givetocharity.com

Our innovative service can enable your Website to accept secure online donations. No startup fee, monthly fee, secure certificate, programming costs, or technical expertise needed! GiveToCharity.com is the largest online donation processor, join the hundreds of nonprofit organizations using our proven solution.

Respectfully,
Michael Storm

Marketing Your Organization's Site

Bob Nelson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

My name is Bob Nelson and I'm the executive Director of a California non-profit organization - Dimensional Health Services. We provide low fee sliding scale counseling and psychotherapy services to the greater San Diego County area. We do so from a "whole person" approach believing you have to care for and nurture body, mind, and spirit in order to be truly healthy.

We are totally funded by private donations right now, (many of them out of my pocket) and we are writing grants. We are setting up a website and I want to know what I might include, key words, links etc. that might reach those on the internet who are inclined to "give" to a non profit mental health agency. Maybe people who have been helped before or have a family member who has been helped. Or just some philanthorpist who wants to do a good deed. Any ideas would really help my website guy...

Bob Nelson

Rick Wchwartz <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Web marketing is a new discipline that is still finding its way. Like everything else worth knowing it is going to take a willful effort to climb up the learning curve and master it.

There are many "instant" experts who will be glad to give (or sell) you advice about how to best market a website... unfortunately the advice is oftentimes not worth very much (and certainly not worth paying for).

There is a site at http://selfpromotion.com/ that has tons of great advice that I have found to be most professional, and helpful. The author really knows how to separate fluff from substance, and he has valuable links to quality web marketing sites. I have been studying web marketing for five years now and can say that this is one of the better sites.

If you use his services it will cost a couple of dollars... if you just use his advice you get it for free... I am not responsible for the marketing for our corporate website but when my boss is in town tomorrow I plan on sitting him down in front of the computer and showing him this site so he can see how it should be done.

Rick Schwartz

Gary Grant <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

This is definitely on topic. I might rephrase it more broadly as how can you market your orgs website, but in ways I like the pointed question--how can this generate funding support?

Here are a few key points on this topic:

1) It is commonly believed that you can increase traffic to your site by putting in "metatags" (which are keywords that are written into the page's code--but do not appear when it's actually viewed). The reasoning is that the search engines will be more likely to find your page if people search for those terms.

The reality is (and I say this with less than 100% confidence)--putting in metatags will not likely be of much value--especially for attracting supporters.

Search engines use a complex algorithm to find websites and metatags are only a part of it. They will certainly not guarantee that your site appears even in the top 100 using any common search terms. And the important terms should appear in the actual page anyway, which tends to be more important.

Some people will put a word in a metatag many times over--again hoping this will preference it with the search engines. But once more, I doubt if this works--I've not seen it have any effect. And even if it did work, it would be similar to being the AAA Mental Health Agency just to be first in the phone book.

2) Another way that people get in good with the search engines is to register with them. This means visiting each search engine and submitting your site to them. This is more likely, I think, to work, although again, I'd not necessarily spend a lot of time on it. I would also warn against the services you may see online which advertise that they will automatically do this for you with hundreds of search engines. I am not sure that these are reputable places making these offers.

I will add that many times I've created sites that without doing a single thing appear in search engines if I test them a week or so later.

3) More and more, the search engines are improving and getting smarter too. For example, google.com and some others are using the hit rate to favor sites that already have high traffic. Thus popular sites are more likely to come to the top. I think this will be a trend.

4) Registering with Yahoo.com is probably a good idea. Because it is a directory--and really the only single comprehensive general directory--and also because it is something more tangible and permanent, meaning that you can see when and where you are listed. (note that even if you manage to get listed first in a directory, there is no guarantee you will be there the next day).

Most organizations will also have some major sites that do this kind of directory organizing narrowly for their field. You might consider SWAN (http://www.sc.edu/swan/) as one major one relating to your area (although of course that's only going to attract similar professionals).

5) Ultimately, however, traffic just for the sake of traffic is a losing game. Its marketing without substance. Visitors are not likely (I don't think) to support just because they pass through your site (despite the value of what your organization does.) The best way to generate traffic--AND appreciation, is to do something with your site that visitors value and/or which keeps them coming back over and over again.

This means thinking about who the constituency is that you want to visit your site. Providing them with valuable content online, and then figuring out how to communicate to them that your site may be of interest.

I think the two most effective ways of advertising your site are:

A) In print form--whatever your constituency reads.

B) At related (and already popular) sites, which if you ask, will link to yours so long as it is complimentary and not in conflict or competition.

Gary Grant

Virgil H. Huston <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Some comments:

1) It is commonly believed that you can increase traffic to your site by putting in "metatags" (which are keywords that are written into the page's code--but do not appear when its actually viewed). The reasoning is that the search engines will be more likely to find your page if people search for those terms.

This reasoning is true for search engines that make use of meta tags (keywords & description).

The reality is (and I say this with less than 100% confidence)--putting in metatags will not likely be of much value--especially for attracting supporters.

I don't agree with the above. If you have good keywords (keywords should be repeated in the visible page text as much as possible), it will help. You gear your keywords for the audience you want to attract. Often that is people who need your services. Often, these people will also be potential donors.

DO NOT repeat keywords. You can use varients and common mispellings of the word. Repeating keywords is considered spamming by many search engines and can get your web site banned. In addition, many free web sites are not indexed by search engines no matter what you do.

You MUST register with the search engines. Many will never find you if you don't. This is essential, but only required for the top ten or so engines, plus any specialty directories you can find related to your topic. I highly recommend doing this manually and not with an automated program. The top ten search engines & directories account for almost all of the traffic from this source.

I will add that many times I've created sites that without doing a single thing appear in search engines if I test them a week or so later.

This is only the case for a very few search engines.

Registering with Yahoo is Essential. It is still the number one source of traffic from searches. It is not a search engine. It is a directory and you will not get in unless you register. It is quite difficult to get into Yahoo, as every applicant is screened by a real human. You may have to submit multiple times before you get in.

Good suggestion. Look for the specialty directories in your area and submit to them all.

Virgil

E-commerce As A Fundraising Tool

David Epstein <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

I wanted to know if on-line shopping as a fund raising tool was going to be covered in this series? It is an excellent way for non-profits to raise money.

Since this is a large part of our business (we build, market and maintain 14 page malls with about 50 merchants for non profits/schools), we were interested in people's views.

David Epstein

Karen Clausel <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

I hope we will cover e-tailing or e-commerce as well. Non-profits which have items to sell (books/reports/crafts/campsites) need a way to sell on-line. The other way, one which several npo's I'm associated with are using Amazon and malls that provide affinity or rebate type programs.

Gary Grant <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

This is something I have less experience with. Others should feel free to let us know what they have found in e-commerce for nonprofits.

The "associates" programs at places like Amazon.com do seem promising. An associates program involves any person or organization linking from their site to a particular store online--and to particular items in the store. If a visitor happens to buy via your site, you get a small commission.

For example, suppose your organization works with families and children. You might become an amazon.com associate and build at your site a list of recommended parenting books with links to buying them from amazon.com. You might author a review of each book or provide your own rating scale. In theory, this provides the visitor with value because they have a better idea which of the many books on topic to purchase AND it provides amazon.com with value because they don't have the time to do this kind of qualitative organizing.

To see an example of this that I've used, check out the Food Allergy Survivors Together (F.A.S.T.) site which has such a page at (http://www.angelfire.com/mi/FAST/resources.html)

The idea is good. And in practice it's relatively easy. However, it takes a commitment of time to build and maintain. In the above example--books may get old, reviews take time, etc. I would only recommend jumping into it if you think you already strong traffic through your site. If you have a lot of volunteers, they can get involved in this kind of activity too.

There are lots of other ways to get involved in e-commerce or forms of e-commerce.

1) Setting up your own online store to sell items is not that difficult. Anyone can put a picture, description and address online. Taking charge cards over the internet will be the only thing you have to get outside help to do.

2) Giving "banner" space for contributions. Banner space is an "clickable" ad on one site for a different commercial site. Personally, I don't think of it as an annoying distraction like many do--I think of it as a necessary part of making the internet economically feasible.

The logic is this--if a high quantity of good resources and information is going to be available to society online, then someone has to make a profit putting it there. Rather than charge the beneficiaries by making them pay for access to the good stuff--which would limit the best parts of the internet to only those who can afford it--why not promote advertising, thereby encouraging companies to push as much information out there as broadly as possible.

Think about television. Would any of us trade public tv for cable only, thereby denying the poor this medium for information and entertainment. Better to live with the commercials.

So, if you have developed a useful and perhaps already highly visible site, then you may make your next corporate solicitations revolve around being represented at the website. It may be a good way to at least pay for the investment in the website itself if not more.

3) Other partnerships with businesses. Perhaps some businesses online would agree to direct a portion of its profits to a nonprofit organization.--sort of a reverse banner would be used. The banner would go on their site instead of yours and point out to visitors that if they buy from this company, a portion supports your organization's important work.

The Charityweb (http://www.charityweb.net/), which one member of this list runs and pointed out to me, is active in utilizing these types of activities. It includes a "revenue-sharing" program with participating companies giving a portion of income through net sales to participating charities.

I believe they also offer assistance in accepting credit cards online for donations or sales.

Gary Grant

David Epstein <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> responded:

Thanks for bringing up E-commerce as a topic in Internet Fund Raising. I believe it will continue to grow and be a great source of revenues for non-profits. Many are using this area already, and I have some good information for you here.

Just to be clear, let me first say that my company is involved in Internet shopping for fund raising. Although I would love to increase our business through this response, I think I can also advise non-profits in some good ways to raise money through e-commerce through other means as well.

In terms of putting an Amazon icon on your site, this can raise some funds. Amazon will pay 5% for most sales, but will pay a 15% commission if you directly link to a book. You would probably do best searching through their inventory a little, and finding books relating to your work. You would then be doing your web site visitors a service, as well as earning a greater commission.

Before you start thinking about how you will spend your riches, there are a few things to consider. First, Amazon will pay you every quarter, with about 30 days of waiting after the quarter. Second, they won't send you a check until you have earned $100. Although they are stating that they have been sending out checks to associates who only earn $10, your agreement with them will have a $100 minimum.

If you have items that you want to sell directly, like books/t-shirts/plant seeds/etc., you can easily put up an order form on your web site. I do recommend this for non-profits, and many are doing this.

If you haven't checked out iGive, you may want to give it a look. You can send your members there to shop, and select your non-profit to receive a percent of the commissions. There has been some bad press about the program, but also some good press. Study and enter with some caution, but it should be considered. I only recommend this for smaller groups (under 5,000 members/supporters). Shoppers do have to register to shop, and they also have to send back receipts. You will lose a lot of potential commissions through that process. http://www.igive.com

For groups with over 5,000 members/supporters, I would look at my product and that of my competitor, GreaterGood. I mention GreaterGood in order to be fair to the list and keep this message from being commercial. I am really trying to give you all the options you have. You can see their site at http://www.greatergood.com. Our product is the Non-Profit Shopping Mall, and information can be found at http://www.nonprofitmatrix.com/browse.asp?ID=130.

Both The Non-Profit Shopping Mall and Greater Good provide a shopping mall for non-profits. Our minimum is 5,000 members/supporters. We build the mall, market and maintain it, and handle the tracking/reporting/payment of commissions. I wouldn't advise a non-profit trying to do this on their own. Our malls are 14 pages and have 40-50 merchants in them. It is a changing environment, and requires constant work.

The Non-Profit Shopping Mall and GreaterGood earn their revenues by dividing the commissions with the non-profit according to different plans. If you have over 5,000 members/supporters, you really should look at the programs. You give the URL of the mall to your supporters, and they go to the malls to shop. They pay the same prices, and you earn money. You make no investment, except adding the URL to things you print like newsletters, etc.

David Epstein