Nonprofit internet strategies phần 5 pdf

Leading nonprofit organizations are not only using Internet tools tomake existing volunteering programs more effective, but are developing innovativeways of reaching new constituencies a

Increasing Prevalence of Web Forms versus Acceptance

of E-mail Submissions

Nonprofits should pay close attention to the shift by legislators to block e-mail andinstead force constituents to submit information via Web site forms More members

of Congress are shifting from receiving constituent communications through e-mail

to relying on Web-based forms: 66 U.S senators and 226 representatives are notusing public e-mail addresses, and are directing constituents to their Web sites tosend messages.10 The aim is to reduce spam from nonconstituents and automatedmessages, and reduce the workload for internal staff The challenge Web forms havecreated for nonprofit groups is that almost every Web form is different, so automat-ing message delivery is difficult However, advanced online advocacy tools solve thisproblem by automatically entering data into a legislator’s Web site in the correct for-mat This capability will become increasingly important to nonprofit organizations

to ensure effective message delivery (see Exhibit 10.9 for an example of a legislativeWeb form used by the White House)

EXHIBIT 10.9 White House Legislative Contact Form

Source: https://sawho14.eop.gov/PERS?verified=1

Measurement of Activist Participation, Segmentation,

and Moves Management

Most fundraisers actively measure or estimate the value of donors over their lifetime,based on a calculation of their average gift size, giving frequency, and years of support

of the organization Many fundraisers then group donors according to value segmentand target communications accordingly to advance their relationships and increasedonor value Historically, advocacy functions have not measured the participation lev-

els of individual activists en masse Participation levels in a paper world are difficult

to measure Early online tools tracked aggregate response but yielded little to no formation about individual constituent response profiles Consequently, it was notvery easy to actively advance advocate relationships through a sophisticated segmen-tation approach New online advocacy and constituent relationship managementtools make measuring constituent engagement much easier Such tools allow an ad-ministrator to assign different “scores” to advocacy-related activities—such as takingaction online, signing a petition or forwarding messages to friends—and correspond-ingly measure an advocate’s value An organization then can use this information tocreate segments for differentiated communication The American Humane Associa-tion has recently started an engagement measurement and rewards program for itsactivists Every time an activist takes action, he or he accumulates points This en-ables the association to track its best activists Also it’s able to create rewards programs

in-to encourage higher response rates or other actions

Divisions between Fundraising and Advocacy Will Be Eliminated

Some nonprofit organizations are starting to break down the barriers between vocacy and development for list sharing and constituent communications Althoughnot every advocate wants to become a financial donor and vice versa, coordinatingadvocacy and fundraising efforts makes inordinate sense, and modern, integratedeCRM tools make that goal much easier to achieve New approaches to measuring and

ad-managing constituent relationships in an integrated fashion greatly aid in marketing from advocacy to giving, and vice versa Leading online constituent rela-

cross-tionship management tools allow nonprofits to target messages to constituents based

on their profile (e.g., this person is a donor, but not yet an activist) New tools alsoallow a group to measure constituent engagement in a holistic fashion, ascribing value

to both fundraising and advocacy contributions

Increased Reliance on and Automation of Peer-to-Peer Marketing

Growing adoption of online grassroots advocacy has created a tremendous nity to reach new constituents and get them involved in supporting a cause Viral mar-keting, which occurs when constituents distribute an organization’s messages to theirfriends and relatives, is already having a big impact As consumers become inundatedwith electronic marketing messages and spam, expect to see more emphasis in this areabecause a message from a friend is more likely to be read Specialized tools are beingbuilt to make it easier for activists to resend messages to their personal networks, andrecruit other activists One of the best illustrations of this concept in action today isactually a political example—the GOP Team Leader Web site by the Republican Party

(see Exhibit 10.10) The Democratic National Committee also has developed a similarcapability called eCaptains In both cases, the party rewards loyal activists with pointsfor outreach and actions, and they can redeem the points for party merchandise.

Building Activist Engagement through Community—

Online and Offline

Today’s progressive organizations are using the Internet to market to activists so theywill take action and contact their friends Increasingly, organizations will create op-portunities for activists to interact directly to build communities and more powerfuladvocate networks As activists have a chance to interact with each other through on-line community forums or physical meetings in the offline world, they become moreengaged and passionate Political campaigns and advocacy groups such as Dean forAmerica and For Our Grandchildren, respectively, use online blogs, or online diaries,(see Exhibit 10.11), to build community Many groups also are encouraging their ac-tivists to coalesce in person through services like Meetup.com

CONCLUSION

The Internet has already transformed online advocacy for many nonprofit tions New advancements in online technology are only pushing the potential further.Nonprofit professionals in other functions aside from advocacy should not only be

organiza-EXHIBIT 10.10 GOP Team Leader Peer-to-Peer Marketing System

Source: http://www.gopteamleader.com/

supportive of the role of online advocacy within the organization, but also shoulddetermine how to most effectively integrate efforts—key for maximizing the synergybetween functions and, in turn, constituent involvement New online tools now makethe notion of measuring and managing constituent relationships in an integrated fash-ion (factoring advocacy and fundraising participation, for example) a real possibility.

EXHIBIT 10.11 Online Blog at For Our Grandchildren

1 Interview with Stephen McConnell, senior vice president, Advocacy and Public Policy,

Alzheimer’s Association (October 7, 2003).

2 Pew Internet and American Life Project, The Rise of the E-Citizen: How People Use

Gov-ernment Agencies’ Web sites, (April 3, 2002), http://www.pewinternet.org.

3 Interview with Carter Headrick, manager of Grassroots, Tobacco-Free Kids (October

2003).

4 Convio client data analysis—Million Mom March united with the Brady Campaign to

Prevent Gun Violence.

5 Convio client data analysis.

6 Convio client data analysis—regional advocacy/social services organization.

7 Michael Birkin, “Non-Profit Brands: Friend or Foe?” OnPhilanthropy.com newsletter

(February 7, 2003).

8 Sarah Durst, “Target Analysis Group—Benchmarking Trends in Nonprofit Giving,”

Tar-get Analysis Year 2000 Cross-Industry Study.

9 Pew Internet and American Life Project, The Rise of the E-Citizen: How People Use

Gov-ernment Agencies’ Web sites.

10 Ibid.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vinay Bhagat, ePMT, is founder, chairman and chief strategy officer for Convio,

Inc Before founding Convio, Vinay was director of e-commerce at TrilogySoftware where he shaped Fortune 500 customers’ thinking about developingtheir Internet strategies, and was the product visionary for customers facing e-commerce applications Before Trilogy, Vinay was a consultant and team leader

at Bain & Company, the leading strategy consulting firm Vinay graduated fromHarvard Business School with high distinction as a Baker Scholar He holds an

MS from Stanford in Engineering-Economic Systems, and MA from CambridgeUniversity in Electrical and Information Sciences with first class honors Vinay isalso a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a frequentspeaker on eCommerce panels, and seminars on applying Internet technology tononprofits You can e-mail Vinay at vinay@convio.com

Volunteer managers can now find a wealth of online resources and services to port their work Leading nonprofit organizations are not only using Internet tools tomake existing volunteering programs more effective, but are developing innovativeways of reaching new constituencies and creating new forms of volunteer endeavor.

sup-An organization’s Web site is now often its first point of contact with members of thepublic, and is, therefore, an important means of reaching potential volunteers A firststep many organizations take in using their Web sites to foster volunteering is to pro-vide an online form allowing visitors to offer to volunteer Prospective volunteers canindicate their skills and interests as well as availability Organizations can also post de-scriptions of specific volunteer opportunities

Nonprofits, however, can use the Web environment to go much further in necting with prospective volunteers by vividly portraying what the volunteer experi-ence might be like, from the sights and sounds these volunteers might encounter, tothe social and emotional challenges they’ll face The Global Citizens for Change Web site

con-(http://www.citizens4change.org/virtual_tour.htm) provides personal stories and a

vir-tual tour to help prospective volunteers understand what it might be like to serve seas in a developing country (see Exhibit 11.1) The virtual tour helps interested visitorsexplore how they might prepare for their volunteer service and to consider how theymight feel coming home after living abroad

over-ONLINE VOLUNTEER MATCHING

A very significant development in volunteer recruitment is the growth of online unteer matching services These services allow organizations to reach new prospec-tive supporters beyond their usual geographic borders, and open up a wider range of

Volunteer Recruitment

and Management

possibilities to interested volunteers Organizations can post information about theirmissions and volunteer needs Prospective volunteers can search for opportunities byname of organization, location, mission, or other criteria For example, in the UnitedStates, Youth Service America’s SERVEnet program provides a large database of morethan 6,000 registered nonprofit organizations, 35,000+ service projects and more than

52 million volunteer opportunities available At the SERVEnet site, prospective teers can enter their ZIP code, city, state, skills, interests, and availability and bematched with organizations needing help (see Exhibit 11.2) Visitors can also search forcalendar events, job openings, service news, recommended books, and best practices.2There are several well-established online volunteer matching services at the local,national, and international levels These services include Action Without Borders,

volun-www.idealist.org (United States); VolunteerMatch, www.volunteermatch.org (United States); the Australian Volunteer Search, www.volunteersearch.gov.au (Australia); and Volunteer Opportunities Exchange, www.voe-reb.org (Canada) Many volunteer

databases also exist at the local level, often as an offering of the local volunteer center.Other specialized databases focus on specific volunteer groups such as youth or sen-iors, or those with particular characteristics, such as those with technical skills Othersare targeted to specific causes; for example, AidsVolunteers.ca (site to be launched in2004) will meet the volunteering needs of AIDS service organizations in Canada Theprofiles of both the agencies and the volunteers, as well as the associated search func-tion, are more closely tailored to the needs of AIDS volunteering than those found in

a general volunteer matching service Supporting materials include an online “AIDS101” primer to help volunteers gain a familiarity with critical facts about AIDS andHIV.3

These online services allow volunteers interested in a particular cause to home in

on the set of organizations that might provide these volunteering opportunities, tentially learning about organizations that they might not have known about orEXHIBIT 11.1 Global Citizens for Change Web Site, Virtual Tour

po-Source: http://www.citizens4change.org/virtual_tour.htm (March 28, 2004).

thought of before Online matching services are especially valuable to small its, some of which might not able to mount their own Web sites or which may not besufficiently well known to attract potential volunteers directly to their own sites.EXPANDING THE BOUNDARIES OF VOLUNTEERING

nonprof-Nonprofits are looking for ways to reach volunteers who do not fit the traditionalmolds by virtue of age, disability, race or ethnicity, or availability A number of Inter-net resources can help volunteer managers creatively rethink the way volunteers arerecruited and managed

A number of matching services and informational Web sites are targeted to cific groups of volunteers or volunteer activity The SERVEnet Web site is dedicated

spe-to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for young people inthe United States, ages 5 to 25, to serve locally, nationally, and globally.4In the UnitedKingdom, RSVP (the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme of Community Ser-vice Volunteers) taps into the wide range of skills and experience of people aged 50and over and puts them to work for the benefit of their local communities.5

EXHIBIT 11.2 SERVEnet Web Site, Volunteer Profile Page

Source: http://www.servenet.org/vltr/form_vltr_profl.cfm?register=new$orgid=Null

Web sites such as Familycares.org provide information and resources for familyvolunteering.6Family volunteering offers an opportunity for organizations not only toincrease the volunteer pool exponentially in the short-term, but also to help strengthenfamilies and to cultivate volunteers for the future, since individuals who experience vol-unteering as part of their upbringing are more likely to volunteer as adults To prospec-tive volunteers who might not otherwise be able to incorporate volunteering into theirlives, family volunteering gives individuals a chance to spend meaningful time withtheir family members while also giving back to their communities.7

Board membership is an area in which new online initiatives are making an portant difference in challenging traditional perceptions of volunteering As VolunteerConsulting Group’s Executive Director Brooke Mahoney explains, the public image

im-of a board trustee is im-of someone who is “old, white, male, and rich.” Moreover, therewas little awareness of how someone willing to serve on a board might offer their serv-ices, since the perception was that membership was based on “whom you know.”BoardnetUSA challenges these perceptions and encourages transparency in the process

by providing means for nonprofit boards to reach beyond their existing networks Italso encourages talented individuals to assert themselves in seeking board member-ship and provides them with a broadly accessible channel by which they can connectwith interested nonprofits (see Exhibit 11.3) It provides tips to help nonprofits analyzetheir board needs and court candidates At the same time, it helps to cultivate boardtalent by answering the questions of prospective board members and providing infor-mation on such issues as the legal responsibilities of board members and a board careerstrategy.8

VIRTUAL VOLUNTEERING

Nonprofits are also beginning to take advantage of the new types of volunteer servicesthat individuals can offer in whole or in part via the Internet Virtual volunteering of-fers opportunities to those who might otherwise not be able to contribute This mightinclude people with disabilities who find it difficult to volunteer in person, or thosewho, because of work or family responsibilities, are not available to come to an or-ganization’s offices during regular hours A recent study indicates that virtual volun-teers are more likely to be people who want to commit a smaller amount of time andalso are more likely to be new volunteers.9

Virtual volunteering activities can include such valuable contributions as peercounseling, mentoring, editing and translation of documents, Web design and othertechnical services, professional consulting, online marketing, and advocacy Volun-teers might complete some or all of their work on their home computers and commu-nicate via e-mail and telephone There are good indications that if a volunteer ismatched with an organization through an online database rather than through tradi-tional means, that volunteer, perhaps not surprisingly, is much more likely to under-take a virtual volunteering activity.10 The Virtual Volunteering Project Web site

(www.serviceleader.org/vv) provides a rich set of resources for both volunteers and

or-ganizations interested in these new possibilities Articles include information on how toestablish a virtual volunteering program and how to make e-mail communicationsmore effective; there is also a detailed guidebook to virtual volunteering by Susan Ellisand Jayne Cravens.11

MANAGE AND RETAIN VOLUNTEERS

Internet resources can also be used to improve management and communication tween organizations and their volunteers Online tools can allow volunteers, especiallyvirtual volunteers, to schedule their work and log their hours via e-mail or using a se-cure online scheduling system

be-E-mail, newsletters, and online calendars, can all be put to use to allow volunteermanagers to communicate with their volunteers in a convenient and economical fash-ion Moreover, simple tools like listservs and bulletin boards allow communications

to be more than a two-way discussion between an individual manager and a volunteer:They allow volunteers to communicate with each other, to exchange ideas and con-cerns and build community with those with whom they share a common cause.For board members, Intranets can provide spaces for discussion and collaborativework on documents Intranets for volunteers can also be used to provide orientationmanuals, tips, and other useful documents to volunteers

The online environment also enables interactive learning for those who are notable to attend sessions in person These courses might combine written manuals with

EXHIBIT 11.3 BoardNetUSA Web Site

Source: http://www.boardnetusa.org/

Web-based chats, bulletin boards, and conferencing Online courses can either beself-paced or be facilitated in real time For example, see the e-learnings module pro-vided by Board Match, which provides orientation to both prospective board mem-bers and nonprofit boards.12

RECOGNIZING VOLUNTEER EFFORTS

The Web is also an excellent place to recognize the accomplishments of volunteers.The stories of individual volunteers can inspire others with their commitment and con-tributions For example, the Online Volunteering Service of UN Volunteers featuresstories of volunteers from around the world, telling in their own words what chal-lenges they’ve faced and why volunteering is important to them.13

Volunteer managers can also find guidelines, toolkits, and best practices to helpthem with such questions as how to measure the economic value of volunteering atsuch sites as World Volunteer Web (United Nations), or Volunteer Canada (Canada).14The Points of Light Foundation Web site provides an ePractices section of effectivepractices to strengthen volunteer programs and organizations This is a searchabledatabase available to members only Members are also encouraged to submit theirown best practices and are eligible for small thank-you gifts when they have their first,fifth, tenth, and twentieth ePractices accepted.15

The Giving and Volunteering Web site by Canadian Centre for Philanthropy andVolunteer Canada provides key statistics from the National Survey of Giving and Vol-unteering and Participating of 2002.16

INTEGRATING ONLINE AND OFFLINE METHODS

Despite the rapid growth of online tools such as the volunteer matching databases, it

is important to remember that these databases represent only a tiny portion of all unteer opportunities and volunteer candidates on the Web Moreover, as convenientand powerful as these online tools might be, it is important not to forget the crucialhuman element that makes a volunteering experience meaningful and gratifying.Best practices for integrating online and offline methods hinge on successfully in-tegrating the online and offline methods to take advantage of the best features of each.For example, if an organization uses e-mail and Web-based communications with vol-unteers, it is critical to make sure the e-mails are responded to promptly, but also tocombine e-communications with face-to-face meetings or telephone calls It is alsoimportant to learn the medium well and to develop good e-mail practices and policies,because it can be all too easy to send communications that are inadvertently annoy-ing, embarrassing, or off-putting to your recipients.17

vol-Some prospective supporters will find the ease and anonymity of using the onlinematching services to be a great advantage Others may, however, feel that the processcan be alienating and that finding the right fit can be time consuming The Frame-work Foundation in Toronto, Canada, addresses the needs of this latter group whomight feel more inclined to making a commitment of time if the process was madeeasy, fun, and timely (see Exhibit 11.4) The Foundation takes a lead from special-eventfundraising and has created an innovative way to meld online and offline methods Itrecruits volunteers aged 22 to 35 online but matches them with nonprofit organiza-

tions at an innovative real-world time-raiser event Prospective volunteers register

on-line and must pay a $20 fee (or have their companies sponsor them), pledge an tial 20 hours of volunteer work to register for the event, and select up to three or-ganizations with whom they would like to speak at the event At the event itself,artwork is auctioned, but the bids are not in dollars but in hours of work Oncematches are made, volunteers and their organizations can once again use the onlinetool to track volunteer hours When volunteers fulfilled their pledge, they are recog-nized with a special award.18

ini-Nonprofits can also provide online tools to empower their volunteers in theirwork for the organization Amnesty International Canada used online tools to helpits volunteers organize their own Write-a-thon parties Prospective hosts could register

at the Web site and send e-mail invitations to their friends to a gathering at which theywere to write cards and letters in support of prisoners of conscience At the end ofthe marathon, the Web site became a reporting tool where each party organizer couldreport on the number of letters they had written, as well as submit anecdotes and pic-tures of their event for display in an online public scrapbook.19

NEW DIRECTIONS

An important new direction for volunteer recruitment and management is connectingthese online tools with corporations Many corporations are searching for ways tohelp their employees volunteer and to serve their communities For example, SERVEnet(USA) and VolunteerMatch (USA) provide corporations with the opportunity to use

EXHIBIT 11.4 Framework Foundation

Source: http://www.frameworkfoundation.ca/index2.php

their databases and online tools via an interface that is branded to the corporation’sWeb site VolunteerMatch explains that these co-branded sites can feature the cor-poration’s own values and initiatives Corporations can also track their employees’volunteer activities through this tool.20

Although many of the online resources and databases are local in scope, such asthose of local volunteer centers, others we have looked at in this paper are regionaland national Given the nature of the Internet, it isn’t surprising that volunteering isgoing global, as well Since many corporations are global in reach, SERVEnet ischallenged with making these tools work for users worldwide with its corporatestrategy

The Online Volunteering (OV) service,21managed by the United Nations unteers (UNV) program, provides a service to link up virtual volunteers with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN organizations and academic institutions allover the world Organizations that serve the developing world can register to recruitvirtual volunteers Virtual volunteering can be used for development work in a vari-ety of projects, such as the following:

Vol-Translations

Editing and preparation of proposals and press releases

Research and data collection

Creation of Web sites, brochures, and newsletters

Graphic design and database design

Tutoring and mentoring

Offering of professional expertise and advice (in everything from business andmarketing to organic farming)

Managing other virtual volunteers

The WorldVolunteerWeb org 22uses the Internet as a cost-effective way to nect individuals, groups, civil society organizations, and governments The WorldVol-unteerWeb Web site provides information and resources about volunteeringworldwide, including research, statistics, a library of legislation and policy, case stud-ies and real-life examples of volunteer projects and initiatives The service also connectsvisitors to technical and programming support The service aims to represent the di-versity of volunteerism in all of its cultural forms, and to bring global ideals to local vol-untary actions The lives and work of individual volunteers are beautifully portrayedthrough personal anecdotes, examples of best practices, and artistic expressions.CONCLUSION

con-All of these virtual tools amount to nothing if they cannot motivate individuals in thereal world The most important lessons we can learn involve reminding ourselves of oldtruths George Irish, senior consultant with Hewitt & Johnston Consultants, recounts:

My mother tells the story of how in the 1960s and ‘70s she was an active part of

a vast volunteer network across Ontario that supported the annual March of Dimes fundraising drive As one of the hundreds of Mothers who March in towns across our province, my mother took on the task each year to walk all around the neighborhoods of our small country town, going door-to-door to

raise money for the March of Dimes Once she had completed her rounds, which took several weeks, she would sit down at the kitchen table, carefully total up all the donations and send them, together with her report, off to March of Dimes headquarters A few weeks later, she would receive a package back containing the tax receipts for all of her donors, so she would put her walking shoes on once again, and go door-to-door to deliver the receipts, and maybe have a cup of tea and a chat with each one of her donors.

This was a ritual that she repeated year after year up until the 1980s, when the Ontario March of Dimes decided for efficiency reasons to centralize the whole fundraising process My mother, along with the hundreds of other Mothers who March, sent all of her carefully updated donor cards in to the central office, from which the annual direct mail fundraising program has been directed ever since When it disbanded the Mothers who March, the Ontario March of Dimes gave up a vast network of volunteers (which today we would call a grassroots, community-based network), but it also lost something else, possibly something just as important: it lost the personal fundraising power of my mother Most of the doors my mother knocked at were the homes of our friends, neighbors, fellow par- ents, and members of the local church congregation—people with whom she al- ready had a personal relationships And when she asked for money for the March

of Dimes, she was presenting more than just the very worthwhile cause of the March of Dimes, she was also making a personal pitch that was rooted in her standing in our little town and in the years of history she had with each of her donors And that is a very powerful combination.

Irish argues that the Internet provides us with an exciting new way to counter the

“mass appeal” fundraising methods that have occupied nonprofits since the 1960s.But now, in the age of the Internet, we are presented with an opportunity to breakthe mass media mode Not only does the Internet allow for broadcast of public in-formation from the nonprofit to the individual, but it is also increasingly used for pri-vate and personalized communications such as e-mail, instant messages, and Web logs.Irish argues, “The growth of these new forms of personal communications has in-spired a number of new online tools for nonprofits that support the creating and de-velopment of grassroots volunteer networks—both virtual and real—and seek to revive

the old tradition that spawned the Mothers who March He cites online event

regis-tration and pledging tools in which participants send e-mail sponsorship requests totheir friends, family, and coworkers (see Chapter 15) The sponsorship system recre-ates what an individual would do with a pledge book in the real world, but by allow-ing the participant to tap into their e-mail contact list rather than depend on the peoplethey see in their daily activities, it opens up the potential of contacting many timesmore people, including those from around the world Now, when so many people havee-mail accounts flooded with unsolicited e-mail, individuals may think twice aboutopening an e-mail from an organization, but they are far more likely to open one from

a friend These volunteer fundraisers become champions for these organizations,lending their legitimacy and personal interpretation and passion to the message of theorganization 23

It is clear that online services and resources have the potential to be of great value

to a nonprofit organization’s volunteering activities, making volunteer recruitment andmanagement more effective and efficient, and reaching broader audiences These tools

also challenge organizations to rethink their traditional image of the volunteer andvolunteering activity opening up the possibility of volunteer service to those whomight not have been able to offer their services because of distance, disability, or timeconstraints However, the key to using these tools successfully is to retain a sensitivity

to the motivations and volunteering experiences of the individuals who will be usingthem

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alison Li, PhD, ePMT, is director for Design and Production Services, for HJC

New Media Drawing on her experience as consultant and project leader forHJC’s nonprofit clients, she authored a chapter on “Raising Money for Multi-

Level Organizations” in Fundraising on the Internet: The ePhilanthropy Foundation.Org’s Guide to Success Online Alison is co-author of a study on Internet regulation in The Nonprofit Sector in Interesting Times (2003), author

of J.B Collip and the Development of Medical Research in Canada (2003), and co-editor and contributor to Women, Health and Nation (2003) Alison re-

ceived her Ph.D from the University of Toronto and was Assistant Professor,Science and Technology Studies, at York University before joining HJC Youcan e-mail Alison at alisonli@hjcnewmedia.com

ENDNOTES

1 The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Steve Culbertson, Volunteer

Recruitment and Management, and Brooke Mahoney, executive director, Volunteer sulting Group, to the writing of this chapter.

Con-2 SERVENet Web site, http://www.servenet.org/.

3 AIDSvolunteers.ca Web site (to be launched).

4 SERVEnet Web site, http://www.servenet.org/ (March 28, 2004).

5 http://www.csv-rsvp.org.uk/.

6 Familycares.org Web site, http://www.1-800-volunteer.org/learn/family.jsp (March 28,

2004).

7 Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Centre National Network, Family

Volunteer-ing Primer, http://www.pointsoflight.org/organizations/primer_family_wel.cfm (March

28, 2004).

8 BoardNetUSA Web site, http://www.boardnetusa.org/ (March 28, 2004).

9 Vic Murray and Yvonne Harrison, “Virtual Volunteering: Current Status and Future

Prospects,” Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (2002), http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/ dynamic/infobase/pdf/2003/030101_CAN_virtual.pdf.

10 Ibid.

11 Susan Ellis and Jayne Cravens, “The Virtual Volunteering Guidebook: How to Apply the

Principles of Real-World Volunteer Management to Online Service,” Service Leader Web

site, http://www.serviceleader.org/new/documents/vvguide.pdf.

12 Board Match Web site, www.boardmatch.org.

13 Online Volunteering Service Web site, Stories, http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/stories/

stories.php.

14 World Volunteer Web, http://www.worldvolunteerWeb org/research/toolkits/index.htm;

Volunteer Canada, http://www.volunteer.ca/.

15 Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network, http://www.pointso

flight.org/epractice/.

16 GivingandVolunteering.ca Web site, http://www.givingandvolunteering.ca/home.asp.

17 For tips, see Susan Ellis, “Making E-mail Communications More Effective,” Service Leader

Web site, http://www.serviceleader.org/new/virtual/2003/04/000104.php.

18 Framework Foundation Web site, http://www.frameworkfoundation.ca/.

19 Amnesty International Canada, Write-a-thon Web site, http://www.amnesty.ca/write

athon/.

20 Volunteer Match, http://www.volunteermatch.org/about/corporate/index.jsp.

21 Online Volunteering Service, http://www.onlinevolunteering.org.

22 World Volunteer Web , http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org

22 George Irish, “Rediscovering the Power of Volunteer-Based Fundraising,” unpublished

manuscript.

Jason Potts, ePMT

THINK Consulting Solutions

The lesson for the nonprofit sector is clear: We need to manage holistic

relationships with our constituents.

INTRODUCTION

New media, like it or not, are changing our world in the most profound manner Forfundraisers, new media are changing forever the environment in which donors andpotential donors work and communicate together Don’t look any further than the factthat in 1992, 1 in 778 people across the planet had access to the Internet and 1 in 10owned a mobile phone; yet, by 2004, 1 in 237 people in the world have access to theInternet and 1 in 5 a mobile phone It is also estimated that 625 million1people will beable to interact with information via their television by 2006

The Internet, wireless technology, and interactive TV are changing the cations and entertainment landscape on a daily basis How we harness the reach andpower of new media for nonprofits to develop relationships with their constituents

communi-is the objective of thcommuni-is chapter

Although the Internet and e-mail are the key tools now, it is advisable to considerSMS (text messaging), MMS (picture messaging), and interactive TV in planning non-profit projects over the next few years In more developed economies, all these chan-nels will be converging over the next five years, enabling consumers to use the displaydevices they have around their home in a variety of roles, whether as computers, TVs

or communications tools (for e-mail, SMS, or MMS)

Although this might sound like science fiction, it is likely to be the new face ofcommunicating with donors in the not too distant future Thus, it is important to re-member that many of the rules nonprofits apply to offline communications with

12

e-Stewardship or e-VRM: Building and Managing Lasting and Profitable Relationships Online

donors will still apply Nonprofits have been communicating with constituents throughphone, mail, or face-to-face meetings for years And throughout it all, one of the mainguiding principles still applies—that you will get 80 percent of your income from 20percent of your donors This principle makes us all focus on doing a good job of look-ing after the people who give us money—no matter what medium we use to com-municate with them.

Several factors have conspired over the past few years to make this commitment

an even more important area for fundraisers:

The increasing costs of donor recruitment, particularly in more mature ing markets

fundrais-The growing importance of planned (committed) giving for most nonprofitorganizations

The expanding public usage of new communications channels, such as the net, e-mail, and SMS that have made individuated mass communications possible(forgive the tautology, but you know what I mean!)

Inter-Companies who have adopted new technologies, (most notably banks and lines) have raised expectations of the kind of service customers expect

air-As fundraisers, we have to accept that things have changed, and use that change

as intelligently and efficiently as possible

In an ideal world, organizations would look to seamlessly integrate the Internet,e-mail and SMS into existing donor communications cycles However, there has to be

a learning period when we begin to understand how these new technologies can best

be used in harmony with more traditional communications channels

Commercial Learning

It is estimated that the commercial sector will invest $11.8 billion2in electronic tomer relationship management (eCRM) in 2004 Commercial organizations are in-vesting heavily in order to have complete views of their customers, however they

choose to interact with them The terminology they apply to the relationship is tomer touch points, which means they want as much information as possible about

cus-every interaction an individual has with their business This information is then used

to inform future interactions (for example, if a customer calls with a query about aproduct or their account), to improve customer service and to inform subsequentmarketing communications The lesson for the nonprofit sector is clear: We need tomanage holistic relationships with our constituents Gone are the days when it wassatisfactory to have pictures of donors from only single transactions Individuals arejust as likely to campaign or volunteer or buy a product as they are to make a com-mitted gift or leave you a legacy Therefore, we need to use all this data to inform ourservice, fundraising, and overall marketing intelligence

We all know that if a company or organization treats us well, and has some sense

of our history with that company, then we will be more kindly predisposed to futurecommunications from it