As you probably feel quite acutely, nonprofits face increasing competition for support every day. Fortunately, the Internet offers unparalleled opportunities to better differentiate your organization. By leveraging the Internet to market your organization, you can build stronger relationships with your constituent community — including donors, members, volunteers, and employees — to better support your mission both now and into the future.
In general, your website should help you:
- Inform and engage your community of potential supporters
- Build better relationships with your current supporters
- Increase your overall donations, event registrations, and other types of participation
Best Practices
Best practices ensure that a website meets the expectations of its visitors and acts as an effective marketing vehicle for the organization.
 Do you send an email newsletter to supporters?
Every organization of every type and size should prepare an email version of the news it distributes to constituents. It's a convenience that donors expect and appreciate, it's easy and inexpensive, and it's perhaps the single most effective way to attract new supporters, thanks to the viral marketing or “pass-along” phenomenon.
 Has your email subscription list grown over the past
12 months?
If your email subscription list hasn’t grown in the last 12 months, it is likely that you are preventing it from doing so. Older constituencies don’t count as a reason for lack of growth; according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the fastest growing group of Internet users is the 50-to-64 age group. These days, growing your email list is as simple as providing the option to receive communication via email, but you may also consider offering anonymous electronic news subscriptions that allow marginally interested parties to learn more about you before providing a great deal of personal information.
Visit Value
Visit value means that a website has “sticky” properties – it feels fresh and trustworthy and offers information and experiences that make a return visit likely.
 Do you offer members-only sections for certain visitors to your website?
If you plan to ask for someone to join a giving club or membership group, a great way to provide extra value is to offer the person dynamic Web content based on that affiliation. For example, if you offer membership, a benefit of membership could be access to special reports, events, photo galleries, and more. Your website can also be used to share documents that are only relevant to certain groups, such as board members, all based on a secure login.
 Can your supporters interact with each other through your website?
The phenomenon of social networking has captivated the next generation of donors. More than 2 million people now have LinkedIn® pages, and that number has grown 172% in the last year alone. More and more people are looking online to find others who share their interests and passions – what more logical place is there for them to commune than through you? By providing a forum for the people who are most passionate about your mission to build relationships with each other, they will simultaneously grow more loyal to you. Plus, you provide yet another reason for them to frequently visit your website, where you can market your events, volunteer opportunities, advocacy campaigns, and requests for donations each time they stop by.
Constituent Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM ensures that the complete relationship a supporter has with an organization is acknowledged with every interaction and that transactions can occur online or offline with the same results.
 Do you allow supporters to make updates to their personal information (address, marital status, contact preference, interests, etc.) on your website?
For a website to be truly interactive, it must receive information as well as give it. These days, people expect a website to catalog certain information about them, in order to enhance their online experiences. But don’t risk offending your constituents by not using the information they provide elsewhere. For example, if you are going to ask for their addresses when they register online, make sure any changes are reflected in the database of record. To the visitor, all doorways into your organization, whether they be virtual or physical, arrive at the same place, so if they “tell” you via the web, make sure your systems are as responsive as if they told you face-to-face.
 Does your website change to provide unique or personalized content if a visitor logs in?
You probably keep an enormous amount of information on your constituents. Age, past giving history, volunteer experience, alma mater – all of these details are only worth storing if they are helping you build stronger relationships and increased levels of support. One of the easiest, most scalable ways to use that information is through your website. When someone logs in to your site, you should use dynamic content drivers to acknowledge them by name and display information that is unique to them based on their demographics and entire online and offline history with your organization.
Online Giving
Online giving is more than a “donate now” button (although a prominently placed link to giving is important). The website should make the online giving experience as rich and personal as other methods of giving.
 Does your organization accept donations online?
According to the Federal Reserve Board, the “debit (card) is becoming the dominant form of payment for most consumers.” Plus, more than 65% of Americans engage in online banking. If your organization accepts donations, it is absolutely expected that you accept credit and debit card donations online.
D oes your website display different gift amount options based on a visitor’s complete giving history?
If you’re going to ask for gifts online, those gifts should acknowledge your repeat donors’ complete giving histories, whether the gifts were made online or through any other medium. This is much more than a nice acknowledgement of a donor’s relationship with you — it’s been proven that targeted asks result in higher gifts. Consider this: The average online gift is $57. But organizations that use the details of their relationships with donors, including their complete online/offline giving histories, to personalize the content delivered during website visits raise an average of $149 per gift!
Take the 25-question Internet Assessment yourself, or see the entire report here.
Keep in mind that while it is interesting to compare your Internet marketing efforts to the composite picture, we encourage you to give more weight to your individual responses. For example, more than half of the organizations that responded still don’t send an email newsletter to supporters, but if you’re one of them, don’t let the statistic lull you into maintaining the status quo. Rather, consider the benefits of adding an email newsletter — especially if you are able to do so before other organizations competing for the same donor dollars.
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