Strategic Online Communications for Nonprofits

The Upleaf Blog

I recently came across an excellent analysis & recommendations on the Google Conversion Room Blog.

These recommendations are just as relevant to nonprofits as they are to anyone else, and offer a great checklist to review your own website against.

There is a clear trend in web design toward less cluttered, more open and clean-looking websites, based on recent study results on readability and taking action.

In a nutshell, people skim websites, and take just a few seconds to decide whether to stay and navigate through a website, or whether to go somewhere else.  If your site is too cluttered and too difficult to decode, you run the risk of losing your visitor who simply doesn’t want to take the time figuring it out.  You also run a greater risk– of alienating someone who genuinely wants to help out your organization, but can’t easily figure out how to donate, volunteer, or get involved in some other way.  If you make it too difficult they get discouraged and leave.

The tips offered by Google basically boil down to the following for nonprofits:

1. Use large, prominent call to action buttons
2. Visually support the calls to action with your design
3. Clearly communicate the benefits of taking action
4. Eliminate clutter that competes with your call to action
5. Clearly prioritize the calls to action for your visitor
6. Repeat your call to action
7. Test usability and make it as easy as possible to take action

Read the full article to learn more!

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder

You’ve probably heard about charities raising millions of dollars through online campaigns, mobile giving, or Facebook, but to many nonprofit organizations these tools are still a mystery– besides, how can you invest time in them when you’re already working more than 50 hours a week?

In this workshop we’ll explore some of the powerful tools and strategies available to nonprofits and how they can help you raise money, expand your impact, AND even save you time! We’ll present the key components of a comprehensive and integrated online strategy, how they fit together, and which tools might even be a good fit for your organization.

Workshop Details

When: April 8, 2010  10am-12pm

Where: Pueblo City-County Library, 4th Floor / 100 East Abriendo Avenue / Pueblo, Colorado

Registration: At the door– $20 participation fee

Most nonprofits know of Facebook’s tremendous potential as a fundraising tool.  Facebook Causes offers some great tools that nonprofits can use to learn more about their constituencies, manage fundraising campaigns, and mobilize their online communities.

Not all nonprofits who have a presence on Facebook have been able to harness its full potential, however.  A successful fundraising strategy requires: 1)  a cause that people care deeply for and can get passionate about; 2) a legion of highly engaged fans willing to advocate for the cause; 3) a well-coordinated fundraising campaign; and 4) some creativity.  It also takes time– time to build a critical mass of fans,  and time to build loyalty through regular and genuine communication.

But the justification for nonprofits to invest time and resources in Facebook has just become much more compelling.

JP Morgan Chase recently launched the Chase Community Giving Competition, which relies on Facebook crowdsourcing to choose which charities will receive a portion of the $5 million that Chase is giving away this year.  The competition started in December of 2009, with the top 100 charities (voted by Facebook users) winning $25,000 each and advancing to the second round, where another vote will determine which organizationwill receive the $1 million grand prize or $100,000 prizes for the final runners-up. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this competition is that it levels the playing field– some small organizations made it to the top 100 list and may even be awarded $100,000.

With this competition JP Morgan Chase joins the likes of the Case Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, who have been using Facebook since 2007 to manage America’s Giving Challenge, which awards both daily and end-of-competition cash prizes to the nonprofits who can leverage the most donations from their fans.  More more than $2 million from Facebook users was donated through the competition in 2009.

So if you’re still thinking about building a presence on Facebook, it’s time to get started– both the competition and the rewards this fall will likely be better than ever!

Even if you don’t end up bringing in some of the big prizes from Facebook, the time you’ve spent raising awareness of your cause, engaging your constituents and building relationships creates valuable capital that will boost your broader online fundraising and help you reach your longer-term fundraising objectives.

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder