Internet Fundraising

Internet Fundraising



Introduction

Being able to raise money for running an organization is very critical and one of the most important activities that businesses or non profit organizations undertake. Most of the non-profit organizations usually get revenue by selling some properties and charging some fees on certain services. However, donations can be very beneficial because they can really boost the organization. It's with this in mind that United Families International (UFI), a non-profit organization will set to strategize on how to obtain money through the internet. The Internet is currently the most efficient media to reach a wide audience all over the world and in the shortest time possible. Internet fundraising is mostly done through a designed software so as to eliminate processes that waste time. The software embraces simple tasks like click, copy paste etc.



The Organization

The United Families International is a Non-Governmental Organization that was established to try and protect marriages, especially the tradition marriages. The organization also protects families from the threats of natural family' conflicts that emerges everyday. The mission of the organization is implemented through educational institutions which educate the community, policy makers and media concerning the threats and also the severe negative consequences that can ensue. The organization also supports children who are disadvantaged in life especially those orphaned by HIV/AIDS and those from extremely poor families (Ciconte & Jacob 2008). The organization understands the impact of these circumstances on the nation and as such, the organization seeks legal counsel to be able to educate the public, offer assistance to the families, collect opinions, seek support and suggest solutions to policy makers as well.



Why Internet Fundraising?

There are several means for tax exemption. Non-profit organizations have realized that they can tap into this potential revenue opportunity. There are other mechanisms that operate outside the internet realm but all are uniquely designed to address novel concerns like low cost operation, faster speed internal coverage and all inclusive (Warwick et al 2002). Before starting on a strategy for internet fundraising, it's very important to know the reason why internet has to be used. Basically, internet has a lot more advantages in comparison to other means. This section will address the attributes that has made the internet popular even in the event where other Medias are advantageous. Internet supports new technology, social aspects, legal issues and it changes rapidly (Rooks 2008).



Internet fundraising is as a result not a timid idea. It's also very easy to incorporate computer use in an organization so that one does not need to be an expert to integrate the computer based operations into the organization. The strategy needs to be approached by rational expectations, an open mind and a keenness for new and useful characteristics. Success sells very fast on the internet; especially if the correct combinations of tactics have been blended into an efficient strategy (Grobman & Grant 2007). The associate director of the fundraising division Brian Walsh, states that a successful strategy for raising funds online should be aimed at;

• Creating awareness among the people for them to know the organization

• Creating compassion so that the people care about the organization

• Persuading the people to offer their support to the organization

• Keeping the people connected to the organization (Ciconte & Jacob 2008)



A successful strategy is often determined by the measure of returns on capital and the time invested. The use of a social media for running non-profit organizations more effectively is hence a reasonable thought since the return on investment has to be realized in the shortest time possible (Rooks 2008). The success can even be more when professionals incorporate traditional machinery in online campaigns as well as use those available on online social media sites to enhance the efforts to solicit funds particularly during the lean season.



The Strategy

Designing the Website: the website will be designed to describe the organization. A webpage should be: set apart for accepting the pledges, accepting the donor's credit card information and services for providing the information. There will also be a commercial service account with a bank or third-party and a business checking account (Rooks 2008).



The cost of being listed on a fundraising website is very cheap and the organization may only need to spend a very small fraction of the expenses to contact donors. The internet has so far proved to be all-encompassing being able to penetrate many national, cultural and social boundaries and thus, enlarging the base of donors to a global level (Grobman & Grant 2007). The internet presents an opportunity for increased funding and adopting it can be very beneficial though it has to be done with a lot of caution.



The website will be designed to be crisis driven so that it can appeal to the users and in this manner, it will be able to net substantial amounts of money for instance, following a major occurrence like a disaster. Many other Non Governmental Organizations are adapting the crisis factor since its working very effectively causing strangers to donate some money to them. It's very important that the website creates the type of soliciting that will be used for communicating to the users to request for gifts and other assistance (Allen et al 1998). Different forms of appeal work differently with some being better than others. Direct contact or face to face appeal that can be made to individuals or organizations at their places of work and homes is the best approach. Through such a venture, the organization can yield the highest number of gifts. Several other soliciting methods that are effective include direct mailing, and telephoning. With the internet in place, the art of soliciting for funds will be even more sophisticated and embrace a wider mix (Grobman & Grant 2007). The organization's website will enable it to solicit funds, receive the funds and process the contributions that are made. A basic factor is to create a website that is attractive to philanthropists who will select the organizations that they would like to support.



The philanthropic portal system helps to process the gifts and make money by placing a small charge and/or selling that advertising space to other organizations. The UFI will have to partner with some of the philanthropic portals so as to be able to increase the awareness. Since this is cheap, and has a wider coverage, UFI will attain global potential benefit at a very convenient cost. It's also very important to note that the UFI organization will be facing competition from other organizations (Grobman & Grant 2007).



The success of the philanthropic portal will greatly rely on the ability of the portal to catch the attention of willing donors and be able to contribute meaningfully to the organization. It's also important to note that gifts obtained from the internet are very difficult to renew as compared to those obtained directly. Meaningful expansion of the intent to access a lot of gifts is very redoubtable. It has been found to be very difficult to create that kind of a relationship that would convert a one-time or casual donor into a permanent or long-term stakeholder especially when there is no program for communicating and getting them involved (Allen et al 1998). The UFI organization should also ensure that it does not over rely on the internet since this would make the organization to forget other true fundraising means.



The use of own website to earn support from donors is very important since philanthropic portals can sometimes have complications of legal issues and fee structures. Creating a site that is entirely dedicated to marketing the organization and creating connections and networks will be able to increase the potential to raise financial support. However, still the website can be dedicated to fundraising (Allen et al 1998). Whichever the method, UFI will have to ensure that the website enhances or supplements the traditional programs of fundraising; guarantee that it's totally in control of the internet fundraising. UFI will also have to make contact with more people and organizations in the shortest time possible and at a minimal cost. This will be aimed at creating a cost effective communication once the organization establishes a working relationship (Ciconte & Jacob 2008).



It's important to note that if the website is exclusively for fundraising, there are chances that the money raised may not justify the effort put in like time, cash, and the expertise that was used in the creation of the website, let alone the maintenance fees for keeping that site active and updated with the latest information. A stale website could be a setback to the fundraising venture. A better website will therefore allow interaction with the organization's staff. Donors through this means can establish relationships with the organization's members. When this kind of a relationship is created, members of the UFI can be able to professionally and socially request for assistance which may come in form of sizeable gifts (Grobman & Grant 2007).



There are however risks of the staff becoming primary contacts and a result, become default principal solicitors. In case this happens, there is a challenge to obtaining initial major assistance and considerably augmenting renewed gifts will be redoubtable. Another risk is that the employees are likely to hide behind technology. This means that the staff can get addicted to the computers and spend a lot of time behind the computers in the name of interacting with potential donors rather than engaging in volunteer leadership (Allen et al 1998).



Creating Awareness: the starting point to implementing the internet funding is to make people aware of the existence of the organization; this has to be coupled with care, support and connection of ideas so that the message being passed across is meaningful to the donors. If the organization develops an ultimate objective or a strategy up-front, it will enable it to focus on its goals and the resources that will be used will be minimal and the program will run forward (Allen et al 1998). Online deals especially donations, creating awareness and increasing market share is very important. The reason why the United Families international is engaged in soliciting for funds is to create friendships, awareness and support for the society. Substantial amounts of money may not be very effective; however, smaller donations from a broader base will go a long way in seeing that the job is done (Ciconte & Jacob 2008).



The project to raise funds can be very disappointing if the donors do not have information about the organization or its website. In most cases, people will not wander on the internet to donate to any website that they come across by accident. In this case, the organization should enable the donors to locate their website as they are already aware of the existence of the organization in that they see the website address on marketing tools like brochures and business cards (Ciconte & Jacob 2008). The donors can also find a link to the organization from a related one or the one that is supporting UFI activities; the potential donors will also access the organization's website if they receive an email from the organization describing the mission and asking them to access the website for more information and possible assistance. Also critical, is reading about the organization in an online or other media such as newsletters or third party articles where the organization's website could be indicated; the potential donors could also come across the website when they are searching for some critical topics or issues and it happens that the organization's webpage has the correct key words being sought; and finally, the potential donors can obtain the website address from the banners that advertise the organization.

The UFI can use several of the preferable methods mentioned above to ensure that internet users, visitors and other potential helpers get to know about the organization. Using one of the options may not be very efficient since it is likely to by pass the eye of the internet users or be neglected. However, if the organization information presents itself on several pages or several times, then it could evoke curiosity. Its very essential that every marketing tool and soliciting texts to have the organizations website address commonly identified as the URL. Effective creation of awareness utilizes a combination tactic tied in concert by efficient strategy (Allen et al 1998).



Marketing the Mission: the basic reason for creating an organization and putting it on the website is to establish presence of the organization to a larger audience through the internet. This helps in marketing the organization's mission to the people. By making information about the mission available on the internet, it enables people to get to know the products and the services that are being offered by the organization. Basically, the volunteers will be attracted to offer help if they clearly understand the services that the organization will be giving to the beneficiaries and those who offer to serve the mission. There are some people who can even offer to physically support and serve the mission directly by taking part in the organization's activities; like UFI is dedicated to offer protection to the disadvantaged families, marriages, and life and a global level especially working in concert with the United Nations Organization. The UFI offers education to UN children and family ambassadors, carry out legal analysis and also scholarly research. Marriage between a man and a woman is a long-time honored institution. The needy children in the society are very noble elements who need to be cared for. By supporting orphaned children, the organization has proved to be very important. It's been realized that without even creating an overt appeal, providing sufficient information on the website alone can be very supportive in alluring donors and volunteers and as a result, contribute to the fundraising indirectly.



There are two major elements that can ensure that internet fundraising is successful. First, is the content that is presented on the webpage and second, is the effort of marketing the organization. Internet users are seeking for valuable content in terms of issues and information concerning certain organizations. When the organization's website has key words that the user is seeking, then it's also likely that the user will be attracted to read more about the organization and through this, the organization is marketed. This hence means that UFI shall have to make sure the content conveyed on the internet is concise, realistic and updated. This will position the organization advantageously at the market place.



The basic question the UFI will have to evaluate is what makes the content valuable? As identified initially that the information on the web pages should lead people to care about the organization, this means that the content has to be persuasive. Most people want to be assured that the organization is doing good to improve lives of the poor people, disabled or the disadvantaged and minorities in the society. If the content helps the people to know the organization has significantly improved the quality of life of some people and gets them to care for other, then it would be easier for the user of the internet to offer support to the organization for a long time. Content that is to be persuasive is that which improves the lives of the users and other people who depend on the organization. This will attract people back and hence offer support repeatedly.



Marketing the organization on the other hand is what determines the success of the effort to increase funding. It usually takes a lot of people to make intent funding successful. Marketing will rely on the content attractiveness. If the content attracts the people, then marketing will be very efficient since attraction directly translates into traffic. The traffic is the people who find the website through the effort of the organization to market itself. This way the people can then be persuaded to make donations or volunteer their services and time to do something for the organization. Success of the fundraising process comes from the organization being able to market to the traffic created. Tactics of persuasion should be employed with the content and drive the massive traffic to something beneficial.

Legal Issues: there are several factors that are identified as legal concerns. First, is the nation-wide fundraising perception.



Currently, the regulatory mechanisms that purportedly govern interstate online soliciting of funds are essentially indefensible. It's obvious that currently, even the smallest municipals can impose regulations on charitable organizations with the argument that if anyone within their jurisdiction accesses the website and makes a donation, then they will have a right to regulate these activities. Furthermore, some states require that representatives from the organization register with them in person before soliciting can begin. The local government can even sue the organization and let the case be tried in their definitely sympathetic judiciary. This has been termed absurd since very few organizations can actually afford flying to every state to register with the regulatory offices and hence, unreasonable to expect them to comply. Nonetheless, many people who believe in these issues believe that it would be very convenient to register the charity in every state which demands that the organizations be registered. The cost of registration is estimated to be about $1500-$3000 per annum.



After registration in the states that demand registration of the organization, still it's not clear for conducting business. This is because most of the charities will need to use third party services for some of the fundraising program on their website. The very least is the utilization of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) of some kind. Organizations that offer specialized services to charitable organizations or offer special program that support fundraising can be subject to regulation by states (Flanagan 2000). This means that if the organization is using services that are subject to state regulation, then UFI will have to comply with the legal requirements. Some of these supporting services are called professional solicitors and are very efficient in soliciting for funds that they cannot just be ignored. However, to determine when the UFI organization can do without the service provider, it's imperative to determine whether the appeal to the donors is essentially from the UFI or from the service provider and secondly, establish how much control the service provider has over the fundraising (Flanagan 2000).



Factoring is another critical issue. Basically, credit card laundering can take place in the event that an agent, who is not certified as a service provider by a credit card company, makes use of its own merchant account also identified as credit card service account to provide credit card services to other organizations. When the service provider proposes to process the credit card information with no demands that the organization takes a merchant account with a commercial bank or any other third party, then the organization should worry about factoring a scheme. Organizations that take part in factoring scheme usually get denied future credit card services. It's suggested that the organization should find more information from qualified lawyers before any engagements are made.



The Best Way to Solicit

It's essential that United Families International base its fundraising program on the Optimum Gift principle; this allows the organization to get a lot of support in terms of money and other materialistic things in the shorted time possible. This is however very difficult to achieve via the internet, tele-funding and direct mailing (Flanagan 2000). Fundraising in person is much more efficient than by use of any other media. It's important, when seeking major donations, the traditional methods of soliciting be employed; however, when the organization has ventured into internet

fundraising, it's important that personal contact be left on the web pages (Allen 2005). However, this has to be paired with direct communication either online or on phone. The results could be tremendous, but still cannot match direct soliciting where you look a person in the face and convince him/her to support the organization. Personal contacts have been found to be able to cultivate and solicit many serious donors. Few face to face advertisements are being done and hence, the staff could loose the sensitivity and offering of the volunteer leadership to the donors (Flanagan 2000).



The loss of personal contact that is exhibited in the case of internet funding has the potential of a disaster. It's very difficult to get people to part with thousands of dollars without making physical and personal contact with them. It's hence advisable that internet marketing should involve a follow up process where communication is maintained and physical appearance or contact organized (Johnston & Zeff 2008). The opacity created by the internet cannot be surmounted easily and as a result, personal touch still has to come in to blend the process of fundraising.



Merits and demerits of Internet for fundraising

The internet has become a popular method of soliciting funds because of the following reasons; the internet reaches a wider range of people in a very short time compared to other media; the cost of using the internet is relatively low; the internet reaches a varied demographic situate than other marketing tools and also the internet demonstrates that the organization has progressed and embraced technology changes (Johnston & Zeff 2008).



There are however some setbacks in the use of the internet in trying to achieve the goals of the organization. Basically, its very difficult to create attention since there are lots of organizations that are competing for the same attention; the internet presents a possibility of failure due to unknown mechanical breakdowns or lack of understanding on how to use certain mechanism; there are several legal complexities that can emerge connected to some regulation of the online fundraising; finally the use of the internet is prone to scams. For this reason, many people are very cautious when dealing with organizations that ask for money from them (King 2001). This means that some potential donors will be lost due to doubt or fear of loosing money to a scam.



Successful utilization of the internet for raising financial support for UFI will depend on the way the organization will be able to optimize the strengths it has and minimize the weaknesses. Though there are several success stories, the internet soliciting of financial support has to be a minor aspect. Though many donors are familiar with the use of intent, physical contact is essential (Johnston & Zeff 2008).



Summary for Implementing Fundraising Strategy

The first step is to research about the services that will be needed considering who will offer it, the cost and efficiency. When all the information has been obtained, then it's time to implement the program (Hart 2002). The initial step is to attract potential donors. This is done by creating blind dates on the internet where users can fend the website. The intention is to create traffic towards the organization and obtain the contacts of potential donors e.g. email addresses (King 2001). Attracting a user is just the same as marketing. The ways to market the organization have already been mentioned in detail upfront; however, to emphasize, the content must be persuasive so as to catch the attention of the users.

Engaging and cultivation is very critical because creating close relations will allow the donor to be at ease with making the donations. This is the stage where the organization (UFI) woos the donors and volunteers to make commitments (King 2001). The major activities that enable this is staying in touch with donors and engaging them through emailing and updating of website content so that they remain fresh and appealing (Hart 2002).



The asking: this is the point at which the organization requests for help from potential donors and volunteers. Pledge on the net is essential for internet fundraising. Emailing is particularly essential at this point in time. Cultivating the engaged prospectus donors and making them become real time donors and advocates is key (Johnston & Zeff 2008).



Committing and Converting the potential donors come to play as UFI personnel seeks to encourage donations. The donors who are actually convinced will make their donations. Any ambiguous information concerning the company is corrected at this point. Emailing is very important to appreciate the contributions. Making a record and acknowledging the assistance given is essential since it shows integrity and responsibility on the side of the organization (King 2001). Finally, an effort to retain the donors, volunteers and advocates is very crucial. This is done by ensuring that the relationship created remains active. When donors are retained, long-term support is gained. For the organization to remain eligible, it has to prove efficiency and accountability. Acknowledgment via email and use of donor databases helps in doing this (Hart 2002).



Conclusion

Raising money for non- governmental organizations (NGO) or charitable organizations is very essential since these organizations usually offer life supporting services to the community. The fundraising theatre has changed overwhelmingly over the recent past and this is the reason why internet has become integral. Very many people use it and it reaches a wider base. It's also very convenient and interactive. UFI organization offers critical services and shall be very effective if it implements internet fundraising. Furthermore, the organization is currently very reputable for its work in helping families and disadvantaged children.





References

Allen N, Warwick M & Stein M. (1998). Fundraising On the Internet. Recruiting And Renewing Donors Online. Strathmoor Press

Allen N (2005). Fund-Raising on The Internet. Strathmore Press

Ciconte B. & Jacob J.G (2008). Fundraising Basics. Jones & Bartlett Publishers

Flanagan J. (2000). Successful Fundraising. A Complete Handbook For Volunteers And Professionals. McGraw-Hill Professional

Grobman G.M & Grant G.B (2007). The Non-Profit Internet Handbook. White Hat Communications

Hart T.R (2002). E-Philanthropy. Using The Internet To Support. Nonprofit And Voluntary Sector Marketing International Journal. Vol. 7 No 4, Pp. 352 - 361 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Johnston M.W & Zeff R.L ( 2008). The Nonprofit Guide To The Internet: How To Survive And Thrive. Wiley

King D (2001). Three R's of Web-Based Fund-Raising: Virtual Donations For Libraries. MCB UP Ltd. Vol. 102 Issue 7 Pp 264 - 269 MCB UP Ltd

Rooks K (2008). Online Fundraising: Basic Strategy For Success Retrieved On 30th October 2009 From http://nonprofitfundraising.suite101.com/article.cfm/a_guide_to_online_fundraising#ixzz0vn15udqr

Warwick M, Hart T & Allen N. (2002). Fundraising On The Internet. The E-Philanthropy Foundation. Organizations Guide To Success Online. Jossey-Bass