Nevada Cancer Institute

Areas for improvement
But what about donors? Nonprofit Web sites need to consider them, as well. We have a few suggestions for how NVCI (and perhaps you) can better engage and cultivate would-be and actual donors online. When donors come to your Web site, they should never have to hunt for how to give. Donors who start on NVCI’s homepage have to dig through a dozen or so information blurbs to locate the “Ways to Give” call out. Instead, NVCI could offer a compelling line about donating within interactive stories on the homepage and link the story directly to the donation form.

NVCI features an entire section for donors and volunteers called “How to Help,” but it took us some time to find it. This section definitely is a good start, and we think listing the development staff by name reflects the warmth and accessibility of the organization through the site. NVCI could follow some of its own (programs-side) lessons and offer donor profiles, testimonials and stories. And for the donation process itself, it might investigate something a bit more simplified than the three-step process currently in place. We were happy to see the various options for tribute (in honor and memory of) gifts.

NVCI’s tagline is “Hope thrives in the desert,” and it features the tagline prominently throughout the site. We find this sentiment describes our experience exploring its Web site as well. Not only does it present a place of hope and warmth, but also the clear navigation feels like an oasis of clarity in an online desert that often can feel muddled and confused. FS

Sarah Durham is founder and principal and Farra Trompeter is vice president of client relationships and strategy at New York-based consultancy Big Duck.