Want to hear about a topic?

With the holidays going on, I know that everyone is busy tidying up things in the non-profit world so I don't want to post a lot of the key topics during this last month of the holiday. With that in mind, email me about web topics you're interested in knowing more about. Maybe you have some questions about a product and if it's right for you. I'll pick back up the postings after the first of the year so think a bit about it and drop me an email. Some things I plan to start featuring:

• More Joomla! I'll be covering some great modules that I've tested and used that you might find useful.
• Web How-To's: Some very brief web how-to's to help make your site better. More for the coder in the organization
• More Product Reviews: I'm always stumbling across some cool web based tools that you might find useful.
• Answering readers questions. As questions are submitted, I'll post my responses to all you need to know web design.
• Much, much more!

Have a great December and see you next month!

It's the Holiday

With Thanksgiving being yesterday. Remember your favorite non-profit organization this time of year an make a donation to save a tree, feed the homeless, save the planet, find a home for a pet - whatever you can think of. Posts will resume after the holiday.

Sharing: Debunking Five Myths of Online Fundraising

Thon Morse is the President of Kimbia and he has written an article about online fundraising and some myths about it. Some things he addresses are:

Myth #1: Online fundraising isn't as effective as offline techniques
Myth #2: People won't give online
Myth #3: Online fundraising means raising money through my organization's website
Myth #4: Technology is not the problem
Myth #5: Raising 10 percent of all gifts online is a great goal

To read the entire article and his responses to these myths, check out Kimbia: Inside Out.

Joomla 1.5.8 has been released

For those of you using Joomla as your CMS, they just released the latest version - 1.5.8. As always recommended you should upgrade your version to the latest. The reason being is mainly for the security issues they fix from previous versions or because they received new light about a potential issue. Also, as there are releases, there are always bugs so when you report a bug, they generally put it in their list of fixes for the next release. It's very easy to upgrade your current website with the latest release. When you go to the Joomla site, you want to click on the option for finding an update package. From there you can select what version you are currently in and save the zip or gz file. You then have to have access to your server. On some servers, they will allow you to upload a zip file and extract the package but in other cases they don't. So in that case, you have the unfortunate task of unzipping the file on your local computer and uploading it to the server. As a safety percaution, you should always do a back-up of the database. I have never had any issue but you never know. Once it's unzipped, you can tell your version by logging into the administrator panel and checking the top right corner. It will show you the version you are currently using. Go to www.joomla.org for the latest release download.

Get Your Videos Ready!

Do you ever visit YouTube? Well I go there often. There are so many videos from so many topics, you could never get through them all. Well I'm not the only one who goes to YouTube. YouTube is a FREE online server where you can post your own videos in a personalized channel. Non-profits are starting to utilize it for their organizations. At YouTube, you can create a custom channel for your organization and post videos. This is great because if you have a lot of videos, you can store them there for free vs. storing them on your own web server. This saves bandwidth and space. YouTube also gives you custom code so that you can embed the videos into your website but they still reside on their servers. Another value to YouTube is that folks will have easier access to you and would likely see your video there first before they would at your website. Another type of video services is GodTube - same concept but more religious based so if you are a faith-based organization, consider using it as well.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Design Tip: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Do you remember your dad saying that? We'll mine always did and it's true. When a potential donor comes to your website for information or maybe to make a donation, a good visual of your organization can bring positive feedback. Capture your visitors attention with photos. Wouldn't it be nice for people to fully understand the work you do? You can do that by displaying photos of your organization doing what it does best for others, whether it's feeding the homeless, educating children or saving a displaced pet. Photos that tug on the heartstrings can eventually tug on the purse strings. It also helps people see just how far you've come. So the next time you're updating your website, don't forget the photos.

Cool Tool Alert: Kimbia

In an earlier post, I mentioned using Kimbia for your donations and fundraising, here's why:

It's versatile and you can plug it in anywhere!

Kimbia for lack of a better word is a mobile widget. You log into your Kimbia account and create campaigns and forms. You are able to customize and create as many fields as you need for your forms. Kimbia can also be styled using CSS so you can really give it the look and feel it needs to match your website. Once it's created you are given the code you need to paste into your website. The super cool feature about this code is that you can paste it anywhere. Think about networking websites or even personal websites. You can allow others to paste this code, let's say in their personal website and people who are visiting could make donations. A way to market this could be "show your support for our organization by adding this widget to your website." Really the options are endless. Also, another brillient thing is that if no funds are exchanged, there is no fee to use it. So if you just need to create an RSVP for a party, you can create a form in Kimbia and send it out to folks. And since there is no money collected, there's no charge to use it! Kimbia keeps track of the form results as well.

Kimbia is NOT an e-commerce tool per say. It doesn't have a shopping cart or shipping. However, I was trying to think of creative ways to use it. You could use it to pay for memberships since there is no shipping involved. So I would imagine that if you had an item that just had a flat rate, you could find a way to use this.

Again, a tool worth checking out.

Here are the bullet points:

• No start-up or set-up charge
• If you use the tool and no funds are exchanged, it is completely FREE.
• Kimbia charges only 5% which is the processing. Very reasonable seeing all the great stuff you get with this tool.
• This is not an e-commerce tool. I only wish!

While you may think this is a more expensive option, then lets say PayPal, well you are right. But this is more than just a payment processing tool. It's a fundraising tool - processing payments is just part of it. So if you are a heavy fundraising based organization, this tool really is for you. Also, consider that PayPal doesn't give you a lot of options for collecting information or payment, but Kimbia does. Kimbia allows you to create whatever fields you want and as many as you want. You've heard the old saying "You get what you pay for".

I found this point on their FAQ:

Does Kimbia provide me with other capabilities beyond creating online donation forms?
Yes we do. The same functionality that enables you to easily create customized donation forms also enables you create registration forms for any kind of event (e.g., races, golf tournaments, galas, etc.) Race operators and organizers have found our forms especially useful because they can accept and manage registrations for large races directly on their own websites, versus re-directing registration over to a third-party site. Additionally, the forms that Kimbia enables you to create and place throughout the Web can be used as distributed content channels for your organization. Beyond providing an immediate transaction opportunity, your donation forms can include videos, surveys, message boards, petitions or other content that you want to communicate to constituents. Providing such content helps build and maintain interest in your organization or associated causes and increase donor engagement.

Check out their FAQ for more details.

Get creative with your donations

So last week we talked about the many options that are out there for online donations. Now it's time to get creative. Whenever I speak before organizations, I always like to use the example of Heifer. Heifer is an organization whose goal is to end hunger around the world. They have incorporated one of the most creative ways to get people to donate to their organization. In many cases, when folks donate, they want to know where their money is going. So it's always nice to give them some kind of visual on that. Heifer has done just that. If you go to their website, click on their option "Gift Catalog." You can actually browse the type of item you want to purchase. You can purchase ducks, chickens and even trees. When you click on the item you want to donate, it explains why this item is so important to those people. It really helps you appreciate the needs of the people and where the money will go. They also have an area where you could donate to a specific project in another country. They list a country and the project they are working on for them. When you dig deeper, it explains the details about the project. And again, on the same page, they list where they are with their donations and how much more they need to finish the project. A very cool way to set-up your donations. While this may not always work for everyone, you can still try and come up with a creative way to do this. In any case, the option to donate should always be there.

Start accepting donations online

Times have changed and people are looking for easier ways to make donations. Gone are the days of mailing in checks. Consider setting up your website so that folks can pay online instead of filling out some form and mailing it in. Now I do agree there are still some people who are not comfortable paying online and still like the traditional method - so do both. There are many tools or options out there for you. Here are a few:

Volusion: I talked about Volusion briefly last week. While it is an e-commerce tool, it does give you the capability to accept donations or round your purchase up for your donation.

PayPal: This is one of the cheapest options out there. It's very easy to sign up for a PayPal account. They also walk you through the steps of setting up your donation button. They then provide the code that you just paste into your website. Their fees are very minimal.

Network for Good: If you are a non-profit organization, you can use this pretty much for free. It costs nothing to set-up your account with them. What is neat about this is although there is a fee, they give you an option to put on the form where the donor can opt to pay the fee that is used to process the card. It's a neat option. www.networkforgood.org/npo

Kimbia: This is a bit more upscale version and a very versatile tool. You set up your account with them and then you can start customizing and building your own forms. So you could set-up a donation form with whatever fields you want. Then because the tool is somewhat of a widget, you can copy and paste the code anywhere - websites and etc. and a person could donate right there. Definitely worth checking out. http://www.kimbia.com/

Cool Tool Alert: Volusion E-Commerce

Well there are many e-commerce tools out on the market. I wanted to highlight Volusion's E-Commerce tool. I have done a lot of research on tools for clients. The one thing that I've found that non-profits are interested in is allowing the buyer to "roll-up" their change from their purchase or add a new donation all together to their order. The website highlights many websites that are using it but the best one I could find that demonstrates the donation portion is Barack Obama's website. Go through his store and pretend to add an item to your basket. When it adds it, the next screen asks you if you want to round up your donation. This is a great way to allow donors to donate to your cause without having to hand out $5 and $10 donations. Most people don't miss the change. For example, when I go to PetSmart each week to buy my cat and dog food, upon payment, it asks if I want to donate $1. I always donate because in the large scheme of things, $1 isn't going to break my purchase of $100. So try using Volusion for your e-commerce solution. If you are interested in using this tool or want more information on it, drop me an email and I'll be glad to get you started.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

You may have heard a lot of buzz lately about content management systems (cms). More and more companies and organizations are migrating to them for a number of reasons. With a CMS, you don't have to have any HTML experience to update it. So this makes it easier to keep your website up-to-date without having to pay a designer $100 to change a few words. So which CMS is the best? Again, there are tons out there. Some of the most popular are Drupal and Joomla. I lean more toward Joomla when setting up CMS tools with my clients. As a designer, I'm able to easily design a nice look and incorporate the needed Joomla elements to make the template work properly. Another great thing about Joomla is they have an active development community meaning developers are constantly creating little plug-ins that you can use with Joomla. You can have a simple site with Joomla or a more advanced site - it doesn't really matter. There are also many free templates out there that you can instantly use. As a non-profit, you of course would want something a bit more customized for your organization so it will likely take you contacting someone who is experienced in developing with Joomla to create a custom design. After that, it's pretty smooth sailing. With an id and password, you can start making you own changes. You can read more about Joomla by visiting www.joomla.org. Also, explore their "Extensions" to get an idea of what you can add to your site.

Shall We Network

Who would have thought that sites like MySpace or Facebook would be so popular among business and organizations. Networking sites are great for just that - networking. There are many out there but these two are the most popular. If you've never had the opportunity to check them out, do so. These sites are ideal on getting the word out about your organization. You an use it too to post events or maybe respond to potential donors. Basically what happens is that you create your page and people can request to be your friend. Once you add them, they can post to your website. You can make your entire page public or only allow your friends to view it. I know someone who works for a pretty large clothing company who requires all their buyers to register on their MySpace page. That's where they give them updates and information on whatever might be valuable to them. A very interesting way to use the site. Another networking site is Linked In. As the Director of a non-profit or even an employee, you can create a Linked In profile that basically outlines your resume. You can then connect with other people around the web who are possibly involved in the same kind of organization or are just curious. It is primarily use to keep track of your professional relationships. What I like about it is that all the companies that you list in your resume, you can see who else also registered from that company. I've been able to connect with some old friends and it's been great.

Cool Tool Alert: Chip In

I came across an interesting tool that would be great to show status of your fundraising. Know how many websites show a thermometer that indicates their fund raising goals and where they are currently? Chip In offers a FREE widget that you can incorporate onto your website that keeps track of your fund raising. I have attached a photo to the right of what the FREE widget looks like. You are unable to customize it but it's pretty cool if you want something that is dynamic and shows people where you are on your goals. You do have to have a PayPal account in order to use it because that's where the funds are deposited so be sure to have an account created there first. But in a matter of a few quick steps, you're ready to go with this widget. Now they do offer a full editable option called Sprout. There is a little more work involved but it's well worth the effort. The Sprout version requires you to register but again a very fun and functional tool to engage your donors and supporters.

Fundraise with Online Auctions

NpowerTexas, a non-profit IT consulting firm, is fundraising for their organization by having an online auction. An online auction is a great way to get extra funds for your organization. You can also do it with almost no expense. First, register your organization with EBay and set up an account. Next, set up an account with Mission Fish. Mission Fish and EBay have partnered together to help non-profits fundraise with online auctions. What makes this great is that EBay will refund your submission fees if you are registered with Mission Fish. They also base that on the percentage of funds being donated. So, if you place items up for auction and 100% of that goes to your organization, then you will receive 100% of your fees back. By using PayPal to process your transactions, you are charged probably a lower fee than most credit card processing companies. Then get all your board members together and start pulling together items for the auction. Your board members should be a huge asset to distributing out invitations to potential buyers of the auction items. See if they can send out an email to the folks in their company to help get the word out. Consider too, that your items will be available on EBay for people everywhere to vote on. Not only can you raise funds but you can get the word out about your organization with minimum marketing.

Why Not Start A Blog

In a recent workshop I came across an organization who was struggling with their website. It was out of date and because of the high volunteer turn-over, they were having trouble getting the site updated. One thing that I suggested in the short-term was to start a blog. Why not? A blog is a great way to get your organizations name out there to the public and they are very easy to manage and update. With tools like Blogspot or Word Press, you can create a blog in a matter of minutes. Blogs could be very effective for organizations who are very news and event driven. You could list all your news and events and people that are interested could "subscribe" to the blog. When someone subscribes through an RSS feed, they get an update in their email or their RSS reader when you have posted new information. Consider too, if your budget doesn't allow you to use something like Constant Contact to email folks about upcoming events or news, a blog is another option because it gives the donor or user the option of subscribing to it. While you may not be able to "track" their information, per say, you're still getting the information out there. Others have even used blogs for their website. If you plan it correctly, some blog sites can be customized to look like a website. Word Press allows a lot of flexibility to the design. It would take someone who has more of a technical background to customize it for you but it can be done. However, I always advise having a website and complimenting it with a blog.

One important thing to remember though is that a stagnate blog could be potentially harmful. The whole purpose of having a good website or blog is to show people that you are passionate about your cause or mission. If you don't keep either one updated, then it shows the person visiting your site or reading your blog that you may not be as passionate about your cause as you claim you are. So, if you want to start a blog great. Just keep the information fresh and updated and you can be successful.

Why I Started This Blog

I have been working with a variety of non-profits for awhile now. What I've found is that many don't know where to begin when it comes to IT or getting their site on the right track to attract potential donors and members. With that being said, I have been asked to speak at a few workshops and brown bag lunches to talk about the web and it's great potential for non-profit organizations. Now, I'm taking much of my presentations and experience to this blog. I know that many non-profits are 80% or more volunteers so sometimes there is the lack of time or knowledge available to get going in the right direction. This blog is going to cut some of your research out. I will use my 13 years or web design experience and experience with non-profits to post ideas and reviews of open-source tools that could be used. This is by no means the be all and end all to web design and strategy but it's mostly based on my opinion and background.

Every week, I will be posting an interesting notation or idea for your websites or I may post a review or information on a valuable tool.

If you have questions or would like me to discuss a particular subject, send me an email at patsy@thatsunique.com and I'll work a post in.