Find out how your organization’s online experience compares to others’.

By Charlie Cumbaa

Nonprofits face increasing competition for support every day. Fortunately, the Internet offers unparalleled opportunities to better differentiate your organization, increase involvement and operate more efficiently. By leveraging the Internet to market your organization, you can build stronger relationships with your constituents — including donors, members, volunteers and employees — to better support your mission both now and in the future.

In general, your Web site should help you:

* Inform and engage your community of potential supporters;
* Build better relationships with your current supporters; and
* Increase your overall donations, event registrations and other types of participation.

Blackbaud recently conducted an assessment in an effort to help nonprofit organizations evaluate their current Internet marketing efforts. With more than 500 respondents, the questions were organized in four main sections:

1. Best Practices — ensuring that a Web site meets the expectations of its visitors and acts as an effective marketing vehicle for the organization.

2. Visit Value — taking a look at a Web site’s “sticky” properties, e.g., if it feels fresh and trustworthy, and offers information and experiences that make a return visit likely.

3. Constituent Relationship Management — making sure that the complete relationship a supporter has with an organization is acknowledged with every interaction, and that transactions can occur on- or offline with the same results.

4. Online Giving — evaluating the Web site’s ability to make the online giving experience as rich and personal as other methods of giving.

In this first look at the assessment, let’s explore the best practices section and look at how nonprofits are using, or not using, these principles.

QUESTION: Is your mission statement clearly stated on your Web site?
RESPONSES: Yes: 85 percent. No: 15 percent.

If your mission statement isn’t listed, is a clear and concise explanation of who you are and what you do easy to find? The best way to attract support is to make what you stand for apparent and then market yourself to people who have an affinity for your mission.

QUESTION: Is your branding consistently represented through all sections of your Web site?
RESPONSES: Yes: 79 percent. No: 21 percent.

It can take hundreds of impressions to cement a logo or other iconic impression into people’s minds. If your logo already is known, take advantage of that fact by displaying it consistently. And if your logo isn’t well known yet, that’s all the more reason to include it. Plus, applying a consistent look and feel makes your organization appear more professional and trustworthy.

QUESTION: Can the person responsible for offline functions (e.g., events, memberships, alumni relations) add or update corresponding content on your Web site?
RESPONSES: Yes: 49 percent. No: 51 percent.

Keeping your Web site content fresh can be almost impossible for a single person, even if that is all he or she does. Because one person can’t possibly be the expert on everything in the organization, by the time information is collected and posted, it could very well be stale again. Consider investing in a tool that makes it easy for the person closest to the information to do the updating — it’s the most efficient way to keep your site up-to-date.

QUESTION: Do you send an e-mail newsletter to supporters?
RESPONSES: Yes: 47 percent. No: 53 percent.

Every organization of every type and size should prepare an e-mail version of the news it distributes to constituents. It’s a convenience 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.

QUESTION: Has your e-mail subscription list grown over the past 12 months?
RESPONSES: Yes: 59 percent. No: 41 percent.

If your e-mail subscription list hasn’t grown in the last 12 months, it’s likely that you’re 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 e-mail list is as simple as providing the option to receive communication via e-mail, but you also might consider offering anonymous electronic news subscriptions that allow marginally interested parties to learn more about you before providing a great deal of personal information.

QUESTION: Is your Web site address printed on all of your marketing materials?
RESPONSES: Yes: 86 percent. No: 14 percent.

Your Web site allows people to get to know you, support you and interact with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without undue burden on your staff. No other marketing vehicle can compare. If you’re not thinking about how to drive traffic to your Web site in everything you do, you should start right away.

While it’s interesting to compare your Internet marketing 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 e-mail 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 e-mail newsletter — especially if you are able to do so before other organizations competing for the same donor dollars.

Charlie Cumbaa is vice president of products and services at Blackbaud Inc.