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Governance
Using The Internet in your Nonprofit Organization
For more information on using technology in your organization visit
www.charityvillage.ca.
Treat Technology As The Nervous System
Information technology is servant, not master, but it is an essential
servant. If we view information technology as the central nervous
system of an organization, it becomes the core around which all
other systems and processes must be organized. The for-profit world
understands that the Internet is not separate from this, and that
Web-based programs must be fully integrated with other information
systems. Inquiries should automatically add information about the
inquirer to the organization's database to better server the client/inquirer
in future and ensure that the information is available for communications,
client service and fundraising purposes. Discrete databases maintained
by fiefdoms within an organization are time-wasting, costly anachronisms.
If any item of information is being entered more than once, expensive
resources are being squandered, and the organization is not enjoying
the potential power and efficiencies of its technology.
The Internet has, in automotive terms, just produced the Model
T. It will become ubiquitous in the next five years, as Internet
technology becomes embedded in the full spectrum of devices and
software used in the normal course of business and personal rife.
There are already kitchen appliances that are Internet-capable.
Web-based processes will be largely transparent --- people will
not consciously launch an online connection as most do now. When
devices need information that is not resident locally, they will
invoke a connection to remote information sources in order to deliver
their services to the user.
The full impact of these changes for non-profits is impossible
to forecast, but it is likely to be very significant. Whether a
charity serves a local, regional, national, or international constituency,
both internal and external communications, (voice, text, audio and
video) will be Internet- and Internet-based. Database-driven, interactive
technology will enable organizations to deal with donors, volunteers,
clients and staff' on a personalized, as contrasted with mass, level,
heightening the potential for relationship-building, while reducing
staffing requirements and the cost of management processes.
One consequence of all this will be the requirement for more sophisticated
management and marketing processes, in order to satisfy constituencies'
appetites for deliverables while successfully competing for scarce
resources. Perhaps partnerships, co-ventures, and other relationships
among non-profits, government departments and for-profit corporations
will aid this transition.
As information becomes more readily available and deliverable,
calls for increased accountability are likely to become louder.
Organizations will be expected to provide online information that
substantiates their worth for those making decisions to give dollars
and time, and those that fail to pass accountability tests may Jeopardize
their continued existence.
In addition, the stateless world of cyberspace surely will lead
to increased levels of cross-border fundraising. Insightful fundraisers
will increasingly appeal to international communities of interest
as the real world begins to emulate the virtual world in some respects.
How to get started
To reiterate, it's all about relationship-building, and that starts
with defining the organization's audience and its information needs,
then articulating communications objectives. The latter might include
increasing membership, recruiting and managing volunteers, advocacy,
media relations, team building, opinion-sampling, public education,
various dimensions of fundraising, service delivery, and any of
a hundred other possibilities specific to an organization.
The Internet presence must:
- Attract people who share a common interest or need.
- Help visitors become community members with a feeling of shared
ownership of the Web site and, by extension, of the organization.
- Help members of the organization's online community develop
a sense of membership through information-sharing and help-sharing
relationships with each other.
- Build on the sense of community membership to attract support
for the organization.
Each new visitor must be helped through a 5-step progression:
a. Attract attention with a focused, exciting, well-promoted Web
site.
b. Invite a relationship by resonating with the visitor's interests
and beliefs.
c. Engage in a dialogue about issues that are important to the
visitor.
d. Earn the right to ask for support, by delivering valuable information,
services or assistance.
e. Facilitate action in the form of a join-up, purchase, donation,
or some other behaviour that implies the visitor has become a community-member.
Online fundraising fundamentals focus on connecting with individuals,
and then converting the connection into action. Revenue is an outcome
of successful community-building, and online fundraising can go
well beyond just asking visitors to make a donation by cheque or
credit card.
People must become personally involved in the online experience
of the Web site before they are prepared to give or buy, and then
they must be presented with a range of ways to give, or to buy something
to benefit the organization.
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