Web Wise:

Creating a Donor-centric Web site

Daniel Gonzalez, Web Manager Sage Nonprofit Solutions
daniel.gonzalez@sage.com

Such much info, so little time.

Understand your donors needs
Set site objectives Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Importance of Web to Sector

Online Giving Outpaced Online Retail Sales
5.0% 4.5% 4.0% 3.5% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% Online giving as % total individual giving*

Online retail sales % total sales**

0.5%
0.0%

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

* Giving USA, Ted Hart

** U.S. Census Bureau, they exclude travel booking/sales

1H09 Online Gift Growth

First half dropped, then rebounded
Average Online gift amounts increased December giving was 48% of total raised Major donor online giving increases

Online Giving 1H08 vs 1H09

2009 2008 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr

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What is Donor-Centric fundraising?

Donor-centric fundraising puts donors needs for information as the top priority

Improved communication through donor recognition in a unique way

(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

What Donors Want

Prompt, personal gift recognition (acknowledgment)
Confirmation that their donations are being used as intended (information) Measurable, published results (accountability)

(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

What Donors Say They Get

Prompt but impersonal gift recognition General appeals with few measurable results

(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

Why Donors Stop Giving

Believe the charity is not fulfilling its mandate Disagree with a change in direction of charity Lost interest in the cause Believes that charity no longer needs donors support Feels there are more compelling causes out there Believes charity has not kept in touch
(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)
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What Donors Are Saying

1. Nonprofit Web sites lack inspiration, connection, and opportunity for deeper engagement
2. Cite speed, convenience and CC reward points for giving online 3. Online donating is more efficient and helps charities reduce admin costs 4. Online giving is easier to track over time

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5. Dont want info about other organizations

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More Things Donors Are Saying

6. Only half believe charity websites make it easy to give online 7. Want year-end tax receipts sent electronically 8. Want electronic updates on charitys finances 9. Concerned about online security issues 10. Expect to make greater contributions in future
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What Donors Find Valuable

Personal stories by people whose lives had been transformed by the charity Volunteer information Reviews and summaries of recent news coverage of the cause or charity

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Agenda Check
Understand your donors needs
Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Setting Site Objectives

What is the objective of your site?

Information? Donations? Subscriptions? Volunteers? Calls? All the above?

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Aspects of Donor-centric sites

Clear description of goals & objectives Info on what the organization is doing with gifts

Visible Call To Action buttons and links

Minimal clicks to completion of the action(s) Success stories and updated news

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Donor-centric site #1

Donate Adopt Volunteer

Goals

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Donor-centric site #2
Results

Where $ Are Going

Success Stories

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Donor-centric site #3
Sign Up Join or Renew

Vote

Sign-Up

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Agenda Check
Understand your donors needs
Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Visitor interaction with content on a site

First 3 seconds if the page is what they were
looking for & if they find it appealing

Visual Impression

Yes

Next 8 seconds if the content is relevant to

what they are interested in

Initial content Impression

Content engagement

Yes

Next 60 seconds they spend being engaged

with the content. To see if sufficient content is available for them to make a decision

Yes

Next Step if they have made a decision, then

they look for their desired next step on the page. Has it been displayed clearly and is easy to locate

CTA engagement

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Have a Content-Rich Site

Content-rich means your Web site is full of relevant information that attracts and holds your target audience Maintain and update your content on a regular basis Frequency of updates varies with each organization Understanding what your audience expects is critical

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Convey A Clear Message

Write for people, not for search engines
Content should help educate, engage and compel potential donors to act Content should be clean, concise and scanable. No keyword stuffing!

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Keep It Simple
Simplify Content Navigation Call To Actions (CTAs) Dont tackle everything at once

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Create Interlinking Pages

Its important for potential donors to find what theyre looking for quickly and easily Strategically linked pages improve usability and increase search engine rankings Include a site map of your Web site to increase ease of use

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Interlinking

Key Phrase

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Summary of Content and Design Guidelines

Site should have clear navigation, hierarchy and links Provide a site map Create an informative site, with clear, scanable content Keep content relevant and updated Use text, not images to display names, content, or links Make sure <title> elements and alt tags are descriptive Continually check for broken links and correct HTML

(Source: Google WebMaster Guidelines)

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Agenda Check
Understand your donors needs
Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Eliminate Obstacles
Remember you have about 3 seconds to get their attention You have less than 60 seconds to get a donor to where they need to be to make a decision Not more than two clicks to get to the core offering

Dont place barriers in the way

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The Critical Path

Two clicks to sign-up form

One click to sign-up form

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Effective Forms

Giving a clear value proposition can help visitors decide to give their information

Creating a column form gives sense of less information being asked

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Effective Forms
Remove distractions so visitors can focus on the form

Introduce a Thumbnail of the info that will be sent

Tell them know how they will receive this information and how long it will take for them to receive it
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Agenda Check
Understand your donors needs
Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Mind Your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

Select measures that provide visibility into performance of your organization

Enable you to take action based on those indicators

KPIs are not raw numbers, but the relationship between them

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KPI Dashboards

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KPI Dashboards

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Determine your KPIs

What is the primary objective?
Increase Donations, Improve Donor Engagement, Provide Information

What is the Call To Action?

Donate, Register, Subscribe, Download, Call

What is the value to the visitor or donor for each action? To what metrics is the organization held accountable?

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KPI Dashboard Best Practices

All marketing or optimization activity should impact toplevel KPIs
If not, you may be wasting time and money

KPIs should remain consistent and be measured over time Dont mistake traffic (impressions, visits, hits, etc.) as a measure of site success

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Examples of Donor-centric KPIs

Avg. Visits Per Visitor = Total Visits / Total Unique Visitors Average Visit Duration

Abandonment Rate
Average size of gift Recurrence of gift

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Web Metrics 101

Most hosting companies provide basic metrics, or Google Analytics Valuable to determine site performance over time Lingo can be confusing, numbers can be misinterpreted

Dilbert 2009, United Feature Syndicate, Inc

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Web Metrics 101

Hits, Visits, Visitors, and Unique Visitors
Someone came to your Web site Viewed a page or multiple pages on your site It could be the same person over and over again

Good metric to know, but relative

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Web Metrics 101

Page Views, Page View Duration, Bounce Rate, Visibility Time, Session Duration, Depth, and Frequency
Frequency and amount of time visitors spend on site How many pages they view before leaving

Loyalty metrics help determine site stickiness

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Web Metrics 101

Clicks, Impressions, Click-Through Rate

How often a visitor selects or clicks on a link

How many times a page loads on a user's screen

Click-Through Rate

Clicks

Impressions

# clicks, divided by impressions for link.

High ratio = High visitor engagement

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A deep breath.and begin

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Available Resources
Idealware, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, provides candid Consumer-Reports-style
reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits.

TechSoup offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by

providing free information, resources, and support.

NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put

technology to use for their causes, and is a community of peers who share technology solutions across the sector and support each others work.

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Q&A
Daniel Gonzalez, Sage Nonprofit Solutions daniel.gonzalez@sage.com

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