Customer Reviews

Nonprofit Internet Strategies: Best Practices for Marketing, Communications, and Fundraising Success

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The book provides a great overview of fundraising, communications and marketing online. Each chapter is a separate essay by an expert in the field. Topics include ePhilanthropy Strategy, Multichannel Marketing, Integrating Online and Offline Databases, Building Online Communities, Reaching & Inspiring Donors Online, Advocacy, Staffing, and ePhilanthropy Regulation and the Law.

The field of ePhilanthropy is evolving and many organizations are seeking answers to implementing online programs. This book offers great perspectives on how nonprofits can take advantage of technology to increase their effectiveness.

(Eve Fisher, Eden Web Consulting, M.S. Technical Communications)

Not Your Father's ePhilanthropy: Online Fundraising Comes of Age - and So Should You

By: Brian Walsh

(originally published on onPhilanthropy.com)

For more than a decade now, ePhilanthropy has been the rage among nonprofit organizations. During the concept's infancy, many thought that fundraising over the Internet would herald a new era of cheap, easy, and profitable fundraising. Nonprofits, the theory went, would be able to dip their toe into the river of the New Economy and swim in the ocean of resulting donations.

Unfortunately, this initial excitement dissipated when many nonprofit organizations did not see the results they expected from their ePhilanthropy efforts. Evidently, many nonprofits thought that by simply adding a "donate now" button to their Website, they were opening themselves up to an unprecedented new fundraising source.

Now that ePhilanthropy has learned from its childhood mistakes and is growing up, it is time for nonprofits to take another look at its potential. A great place to start is the new guidebook, "Nonprofit Internet Strategies: Best Practices for Marketing, Communications, and Fundraising."

Building upon extensive experience in the field, the book uses numerous case studies to examine what different nonprofits' ePhilanthropy strategies got right - and what they got wrong. Recognizing that fundraising, especially online fundraising, can no longer stand apart from the rest of an organization's efforts, "Nonprofit Internet Strategies" lays out clear guidelines for integrating offline activities with an organization's online presence. Branding efforts, marketing strategies, constituent recruitment and retention, communication approaches - they all need to be effectively coordinated within any ePhilanthropy effort.

Edited by fundraising and ePhilanthropy experts Ted Hart, James Greenfield, and Michael Johnston, each chapter of "Nonprofit Internet Strategies" was written by a noted contributor. Since the book has been written for nonprofit professionals by nonprofit professionals, it is easy to read and easy to follow, avoiding overly-technical jargon. There are also helpful screen captures and diagrams to explain key concepts.

ePhilanthropy is still an emerging and evolving field; this book provides clear support for any organization looking for guidance amidst this confusion. Whether you are launching an online giving program, looking to increase your constituency base, hoping to carry important advocacy messages to a wider audience, or simply looking to expand your online presence, this is a helpful new resource.

"Nonprofit Internet Strategies" should not only be a handy everyday reference, but also can serve as a launch pad for further conversation and brainstorming by organizations. It is now clear that, while online fundraising did not immediately produce the windfall initially anticipated, it will continue to be an important, even critical, component of any nonprofit's efforts. By incorporating approaches explained in this book, all nonprofits - whether large and well-established or smaller and short-staffed - can adopt and enhance effective ePhilanthropy programs.

The book's authors provide a good overview of fundraising and technology, and discuss implementation strategies with a fair amount of depth. As a prospect researcher, it is encouraging to see research and data mining covered so well. As someone who has worked in a number of nonprofits of different sizes, the chapter on staffing is the true find. Tim Mill-Groninger not only provides a good model to think through tasks and processes and how to reach effective solutions, he gives a crash course in managing staff and consultants that in a few pages is more helpful than a shelf full of business books. It has application far beyond a nonprofit's development, marketing, and IS needs.

Style-wise, the repetition of "ePhilanthropy" grates and seems awkwardly applied, considering the book's intended readers are the recipients of philanthropy, not primarily those who practice it. Content-wise, I recommend this book highly.

This is an excellent book for nonprofit marketing people to explore. While ePhilanthropy has boomed, it is still underutilized by many nonprofits. The step by step processes of creating a brand and developing an emotional connection with a supportive audience is carefully mapped in this book. Web content, design, and creating online donations are just some of the wonderful examples to create a powerful and sustainable nonprofit presence for grassroot and large organizations.

Frankly, I was feeling a bit out of touch. The most frequently asked questions in my workshops were about Internet fundraising, and I didn't have good answers. My quick fix: reading this book and coming away amazed, astounded, and shocked. First, by all the profitable Internet strategies out there (the book is packed with examples of stuff that works). Second, by the thoroughness of this book. Another reviewer said it was like a textbook. Don't think academic, though; think "everything you need to know between two covers" comprehensive. And practical as soup on a cold day. If I had to limit my library to just six books about fundraising communications, this title would be among them. I haven't had the privilege of hearing co-author Michael Johnston speak, but I have heard both Ted Hart and Jim Greenfield present at conferences. Purely useful, well spoken, based on vast experience.

The Internet is a new form of communications that never existed before. I believe that the changes the Internet and associated technologies such as e-mail will bring to the nonprofit sector is as big as was the printing press or the computer.

It's hard to imagine an organization of any size, be for-profit or non-profit that isn't using a computer to keep track of doners, interested people, maintain the mailing list, and of course word processing and budgeting. There was a challenge that organizations had to face when computers came out, and now there is a challenge in what to do with the Internet.

This is a book intended to give managers an insight into what the Internet can do for their organization. It talks about what can be done using the Internet to give you ideas of how it might fit into your organization. In some areas like connecting your database to the web site, it doesn't get into the technical ways to do it, just the concept.

It's a good way to get started, and it's something that you're going to have to do sooner or later.

Those of us who manage nonprofit organizations have learned to use the Internet as a powerful communications medium. We invite the public to learn about us via our web sites and even to donate to us from a web browser. We've learned that this is just the beginning of the cultivation process, not the end. We've learned how to keep them coming back to the site. More importantly, we've learned to move them into our traditional cultivation processes once they make contact.

Our development officers have become accustomed to following up with those who've knocked on the door of our web site. We know that a donor who makes an on-line donation is often open to going deeper with the organization, and of increasing support -- if asked. We've learned to take these new-found supporters into our fold, and how to encourage more significant contributions from them.

Here's what else we've learned. We've learned to manage information in complex, server-based relational databases -- ours or those provided by firms who do this for us on their hardware. We share information internally via local networks and Intranets, and tie discrete offices together via virtual private network secure tunneling. We use extranets to facilitate strategic alliances with other organizations. To save money, we use voice over IP to replace traditional telephone circuits. We've even gone wireless.

Throughout all this, we gather information on our supporters and prospective supporters. We do so at Internet speeds, and with the organizing and retrieval efficiency of computers. We've learned to treat the information we gather with great care. The public support, we know, is a fragile thing.

Yes, we've learned a lot. If we haven't yet put all of what we've learned into place, we suspect that would if we had a clear, sensible roadmap to doing so within the confines of our budgets.

The simple truth is that the use of technology is one of the more challenging aspects facing those who manage nonprofit organizations. First, it's complicated. (Virtual private WHAT?!) Second, it's hard to have a clear idea of how to think about technology in the unique context of running a nonprofit organization. Third, it's hard to determine the best way to implement technological solutions when there are so many being thrown at us. Lastly, how can we be sure we're following best practices?

We need help to sort all of this out -- even those of us who are not exactly new to all of this. As it happens, I've been deeply immersed in technology in the nonprofit context for years, having designed and lead the team that created one the first on-line systems utilzing the donor-advised fund gift methodology as the means to enable the public to donate to any 501(c)(3) public charity from a single web site donation portal. I designed and built some of the first on-line charitable donation systems for nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. I am a programmer and a web site developer. I am a computer science student; one of my hobbies is exploring the theory of utilizing quantum mechanics to construct a computing device. I am a lawyer. I have administered large and small fund development programs, and advised them. I even co-founded a couple of nonprofit organizations -- a pre-K through 8th grade school and a charity that feeds and clothse the poor. I have read just about every posting to every CharityChannel forum since inception, and read every article on the topic that I can get my hands on. I've written some articles, too.

Yet I am the first to admit that the Internet, even the Internet in the nonprofit context, is too big and complex to try to make sense out of it without turning to those who have specialized in a particular aspect of it. It's no different in law. My field is tax-exempt organization law. I wouldn't be the one to advise you on your automobile accident.

That is what interested me in the new book Nonprofit Internet Strategies: Best Practices for Marketing, Communications, and Fundraising. It taps the experts in each subject to write a chapter. This approach makes great sense to me.

The book sets out to show us how to leverage the Internet to:

--Advance our organization's or institution's cause.

--Raise more money both on-line and off by establishing relationships with new donors, and deepen the commitment of existing donors.

--Inform the public and our stakeholders.

--Raise public confidence and trust through better communication and transparency.

It succeeds. Each of its chapters is contributed by a leading expert in the topic discussed. The editors -- Ted Hart, James M. Greenfield, and Michael Johnston -- also contributed chapters of their own. Some of the writers will already be familiar to many of my CharityChannel colleagues because they've taught a Summit session, or a distance class. Some have penned articles for CharityChannel, or posted to one of the professional forums.

I recommend the book for anyone who is serious about doing a better job harnessing the Internet for their organization or institution. You can read it cover to cover as I did. It is also suited to picking and choosing particular chapters of interest.

The book is for busy nonprofit managers who must work within real-world budgets and who are pulled in a thousand directions by the demands of their jobs. It is for those who want to have a clear roadmap of how to proceed. The book is not for techno-geeks, as such. Even if you barely know how to turn on a computer, you can read this book without difficulty. Of course, if you happen to be technologically savvy, so much the better.

This book is for large organizations with big budgets and complex needs. It shows how to think about technology, and how to approach it even if the organization is well down the road with technology.

It is also for small organizations with limited budgets and big dreams. That is because technology in our sector has matured to the point where there are strategically-powerful solutions that do not require large expenditures. What is required, rather, is a clear understanding of where and how to proceed.

Of course, no book can do it all when it comes to the Internet and the nonprofit world. But this book is one of the few must-reads for any nonprofit organization manager responsible Internet strategy.

I use this book as my primary guide. I highly recommend it! I like the way each topic is approached.

This source is a wonderful collection of information for non profit companies who want to expand to the Internet. It has real world suggestions, as well as IRS guidelines important to keep the tax status of the non profit. Recommend to all.

A huge help for those struggling to survive and make a difference in today's world.