Nonprofit Website Best Practices
Nonprofits are always looking for better ways to improve their website, make their content more engaging and ultimately convert web visitors into supporters. Jocelyn Harmon of Care2 wrote a great blog post outlining nonprofit website best practices. Her tips include:
Rule #1: Include LOTS of "white space" on your site. It makes it easier to scan and pleasing to the eye.
Rule #2: Don't make me scroll!
Rule #3: Turn your website into a list-building tool by putting an email sign-up box on EVERY page of your website.
Rule #4: In ALL of your marketing materials (this means your website too), use words and images that make your mission concrete.
Rule #5: Make your donate button BIG And BOLD so that people can find it! And, put it on every page of your site.
Check out the rest of Jocelyn’s rules here!
Disaster Philanthropy
Why do people donate money to support certain disaster relief missions more then others? Joanne Fritz of About.com wondered this too and did a thoughtful write up about this very topic.
Case and point, nonprofits have struggled to raise money around the Gulf Oil Spill. Are donors just not rallying around the devastating Gulf Oil Spill because few human lives were lost? Because BP has publicly said that they will pay for everything and therefore the public feels that they don't need to donate money? These are all great questions that the community should be thinking about.
"I can't help but wonder too if donors, when confronted with all the choices about how to give when a disaster hits, aren't simply too confused to actually act. There are dozens of well-known, reliable charities that one could support. Some research has shown that too many choices overwhelm people and that a smaller number of possibilities are better," said Fritz.
Check out the full article here.
Platforms for Social Good
SocialBrite.org did a great round up of twelve platforms and online communities that are doing great work in the social change movement. Platforms profiled range from:
Citizen Effect which empowers citizens to become citizen philanthropists by providing tools and networks to work with communities in need around the world.
SeeClickFix a platform encouraging citizens to report non-emergency issues and receive neighborhood alerts.
Eventbrite for Causes Eventbrite which is an online ticketing platform, recently launched Eventbrite For Causes and provides nonprofits with discounted transaction fees and newsletters filled with resources and tips on the best ways to host nonprofit events.
Check out more platforms for social good.
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