Welcome to our monthly e-newsletter! Feel free to contact us at info@enomad.net with any comments or questions; if you would like to view our previous e-newsletter, click here for February 2007.
 
Nonprofit Branding 101
Branding is getting others to see your organization as you see it. You've identified who or what you want to be known as and then it's just a matter of conveying that "message"or "identity" to your constituents. Since your website is usually the first place potential donors, volunteers and consumers go to find out more about you, your site has essentially become your most important branding opportunity. Website visitors need to readily see what is unique about your organization and exactly how you benefit the community. At your website, your constituents are making judgments, forming opinions, and evaluating what you can do for them and for others.

When people think of branding they think LOGO. But branding is not just about a fabulous logo that everyone will remember. When people are visiting your website, they may glance at your logo but what they are really looking for is content - information.

How many of you have the words "Educate", "Advocate", or "Provide Resources" as part of your mission statement? If you want to be known as an organization that educates the public, advocates certain issues or provides resources to your consumers, your website needs to reflect this; and people will expect this when they come to your site.
 
Content Ideas


Provide a section on your site entitled "About ___________ (homelessness, AIDS, Cancer, whatever topic your nonprofit addresses) and have photos, case studies, general statistics, and links to other site.

Have a News section on your main page that is updated weekly or at least monthly with current events (yours and other news/events in the industry)

Under How You Can Help or another area on the site, list ways to help with advocacy i.e. writing letters and provide addresses and sample letters

Have a Resources section on your site - not just links but with brief descriptions and organized in a way that's it's easy to identify the different types of resources.


Have original content on your website - have one of your staff members write a monthly article for your website - it establishes your organization's credibility, your staff expertise and helps boost your ratings in the search engines.
March 25-28, 2007
Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)
44th International Conference on Fundraising, Dallas, TX
 
Wisconsin Technology Network
Who’s Starting to Profit Online? Nonprofits (a 2003 article)
 
April 4th - 7th 2007
N-TEN (Nonprofit Technology Network)
2007 Nonprofit Technology Conference, Washington D.C.
 
Nonprofit Times
Cyber-Journey: A Real World Look at Online Fundraising
 
April 10, 2007
The California Association of Nonprofits and PHFE Management Solutions
Money Matters: 2007 Nonprofit Finance Conference, Los Angeles, CA
 
 
 
Online Donation Pages
Savvy shoppers and donors look for certain things before they'll plunk down their credit card numbers in an online form. They want to know that a) the donation process is secure and b) you won't sell their email addresses or use their contact information in any way they don't want. Here are some tips to be more secure and to make people feel more secure:


Make sure your webhost, webmaster or online merchant account person has set up your credit card processing on a secure server. You will know it is secure if the page where you enter your credit card number has an https (rather than just http) in the beginning of the address in the address bar.


Display some kind of logo or symbol that shows the name of the merchant services provider (like PayPal) or the SSL Certificate (like VeriSign). Network for Good shows they are using the well-recognized VeriSign Seal that when clicked on gives a Security Report.

Larger national nonprofits that give nationally can register with the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance or Charity Navigator and receive their "stamp of approval" which can be displayed on your donation page.

If you don't have a logo from your merchant services provider, at least have some kind of statement assuring security i.e. "All transactions conducted on this web site are encrypted using a secure server to protect your privacy."

Add a privacy statement as part of your utility bar at the bottom of each page AND have a link to it on the donation page. Click here for a sample Privacy Statement.
Always offer other options for those who just don't feel comfortable donating online like a donation form they can print and mail
 
Client Profile: Life's Friggin Crazy
Life's Friggin Crazy wants to utilize their website to help get teens talking about their problems. To accomplish this we needed a site design that was friendly, interesting and colorful to attract their attention and keep it. I thought it would be interesting to see the evolution of the design as we went through the process of finding the right colors, style and layout that would appeal to their specific population.
In the 1st version, the client's loved the logo and layout but were worried the colors were too "girly" and might not encourage guys to become involved with the site.
The 2nd version, we tried adding gender-neutral black while still incorporating the funky-delic swirl design. It still didn't really pop and the client's wanted to make the logo look more active.
In the final version we went all black with bright neon colors and created black boxes that look like they are floating on the turquoise background, and added arms and legs to the logo.