Does Your Organization Need a Website?

by Nick Allen

Even if you don't care about being hip, your organization can probably benefit from a Web site.

Are your supporters, clients, customers, or friends asking for your Web address? Do you get a lot of information calls from people who probably have Internet access at work or America Online at home?

If yes, it's probably time to get a site (if you don't have one already). For a relatively modest investment, you can reach customers, clients, donors, and supporters who would never come across your office, your direct mail, even your PSAs. You can strengthen relations with people you already know and meet new people, too. While fundraising on the Internet is still in its infancy, it's likely to grow up fast.

What can the Web do well?

• deliver easy-to-update information to people anywhere anytime without requiring your staff to answer the phone or open the mail
• solicit online contributions and automatic e-mail newsletter subscriptions
• launch an interactive relationship with first-time visitors or existing members

Your first step in deciding to get a site should be to figure out who is the site's target audience and what you want the site to achieve.

If you're a local homeless shelter, potential clients probably won't find you via the Web. Nor will potential donors, unless you advertise your site widely. Other service providers, who might refer clients to you, can probably find you more easily through conventional channels.

If you're a hospital, school, or arts center, savvy shoppers and new and prospective residents might search the Web for information about your services. A hospital might post complete information about its services, staff, and HMO affiliations, an Advice Nurse encyclopedia, even a map and driving directions. An art center's site might include full information on shows, as well as reviews and ticket information; the site could be connected to the city information services being launched by newspapers, Yahoo, Microsoft, and others.

If you can't imagine people using your site, just say No. You don't want a site just to please a Board member.

Once you've decided to go ahead, here are some basic steps.

1.
Consult with all the key people in your organization - staff, board, volunteers, constituents - to figure out how you can use a Web site and what should be on it. Start gathering all the information you want to put up, and figure out what else you need. Decide if you want to solicit credit card contributions on the site, or sell anything. Decide how much time you'll need to spend updating material on the site - and who's going to do it.

2.
Surf the Web and find sites whose design, feel, and content you like. They'll be guides for creating your own.

3.
Find an individual or firm to construct your site. Find out who built the sites you like, check ads in your local newspapers, check Web directories like Yahoo, ask around. When you find potential designers, look at their sites. Tell them what you want to accomplish and see what they recommend. Ask for a written bid, explaining exactly what they will do, how long it will take, and how much it will cost; what's included in the cost, and what isn't. If they offer to host the site on their servers, find out how reliable they are, preferably by talking to their other customers. Invest in a book like Creating Killer Web Sites (by David Siegel) and The Nonprofit Guide to the Internet (by Robbin Zeff), so you'll know more about what you want and what questions you should ask.

Some large Web designers may be able to give you a nonprofit discount, even create the site free in exchange for an on-screen credit. You may also be able to convince an Internet service provider to host the site free, saving you $30 a month or perhaps much more (depending on your site's size and features).

4.
What should it cost? That varies enormously depending on who does the work and how large and complex the site is. A freelance designer working from home might charge $500 or $1,000 for a simple site, while a design studio or ad agency might reasonably charge $20,000 or much more. You may want to pay in installments at different construction milestones.

5.
Once you've signed a contract, edit and organize all your content before you start the design. That will save time and money and enable you and the designer to calculate all the links and features you want before starting. Get a written production schedule from the designer.

6.
Be sure to get your own domain name - www.myorganization.org. It's worth the extra $100 or $150 to have an address that's easier to find. If your organization's name doesn't work, consider an address that relates to your work like www.oaklandarts.org or www.adoptapet.org.

A Web site makes you accessible; it doesn't guarantee anyone will visit. And don't count on it to double your income or make your group a household name; it's just one tool in your workshop. But more than 30 million Americans are now turning to the Web for news, entertainment, and information; your organization probably needs to be there.


About the author
Nick Allen is president of donordigital.com, which helps nonprofits do online fundraising, marketing, and advocacy. With Mal Warwick and Michael Stein, he is author of the first book on online fundraising, Fundraising on the Internet.  E-mail Nick, or call (510) 647-2700, or visit his web site at www.donordigital.com.

Other articles on fundraising and marketing on the Internet
• Raising money on the Internet
• Fundraising sites worth seeing
• Using e-mail to cultivate donors
• 10 ways to get more people to your site
• University fundraising online
• Online guides for donors