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.