I conduct an online seminar on online donations, and this time around we got several questions about donations through YouTube. I wasn't familiar with what they offered in this area, so I did a little quick research. YouTube does support online donations, via Google Checkout. So you can create a YouTube channel that features your videos (or other people's videos), and add a Donate button. That Donate button is supported by Google Checkout - which means there's no transaction fee at all (it's completely free), but at least as of about two months ago the flow was really not friendly to donors - it was geared to people purchasing items (anyone know if this is still true?). See my post specifically on Google Checkout for donations for more... If you're using YouTube, I don't see any harm in setting up the Donate button, but I don't think this is a substitute for a more general online donations capacity on your website, for those donors who aren't really interested in videos. You could always just put a Google Checkout Donate button on your website too... though there are likely to be better options. We got a questions about Facebook Causes as well. This seems very similar to me, from an online donations strategy perspective. Certainly it doesn't hurt to setup a Cause for folks who use Facebook already, but it doesn't make sense to me to route all your online donors through it. And with a number of easy and inexpensive options for online donation tools - for instance, Network for Good and Click and Pledge - if you're going to look for online donations, I don't see any reason not to have an online donation functionality on your website itself.
Colin Delaney of ePolitics and I did a workshop focusing on Online Communications on a Shoestring at the Craigslist Nonprofit Boot Camp last weekend. It was a good time, and it seemed to go well. I liked the structure we used, which divided up the world of online communications into three parts: - Website (as a home base)
- Email Communication (to talk to your friends)
- Online Outreach (to reach new friends)
But how should a nonprofit balance those components? It will of course vary based on an organization's mission and goals, but is it possible to come up with a rule of thumb? Should a nonprofit focus a third of their energy and money per year on each component? While I have no specific evidence, a rule of thirds resonates with me. A website tends to be a bit more of a front-loaded investment, but thinking about it as a yearly expense can help to prioritize. For instance, if you have $30,000 worth of time and money to spend on all your online communications, investing $10,000 in upgrading and maintaining your website makes sense to me. And then another $10,000 in crafting a solid email communications strategy and putting out solid communications? That seems right, or even low - if there's one area that should get more focus than the rest, I'd say it's probably here. And then lastly, online outreach - so everything from search engine optimization to viral movies or petitions to social networking. This gets the vast volume of the buzz from the nonprofit technology community, and there's no question it should be part of the mix, but I don't know whether it should get more than a third of your online communications energy. The size and mission of the organization might come into play here - a larger organization that's targeting internet-savvy audiences might find that it's worthwhile to invest much more energy in this area, while just maintaining a website and email communications status quo. But a smaller organization might get better return on focusing first on creating a strong website and email infrastructure, before investing in finding new online friends (after all, it's a good website and email strategy that will help keep your friends, after you find them). What do you think?
Okay, I'm back from vacation and ready to.. blog some stuff! First off, we have a new article up: A Few Good Methods for Processing Credit Cards.
We've done a lot of articles in the world of payment processing, but this one is a broad look at all of the options, from lockboxes and swipe options through to online methods and point of sale systems. There's a huge amount to know in this realm... as I discovered as I struggled with how the heck to structure the article.
There was a great discussion recently on the FUNDSVC discussion list (a list focused on the legal and tactical nuts and bolts of gift tracking) about lockboxes. A lockbox, usually provided by your bank, is a mailing address where donations by check or in the form of credit card transaction slips can go. The staff of the bank then immediately processes the money and sends you an electronic report as to who donated how much, possibly with copies or scans of actual checks or letters. But, Laura...(you may be saying to yourself)...lockboxes aren't software, and usually you focus in on software with anal laser beam precision. Well, lockboxes are essentially an alternative option to software solutions. And truthfully, I didn't know that much about them, so I thought I'd pass on the great stuff I learned. There's a number of advantages to lockboxes. The folks on the list mentioned: - They can save staff time, compared to opening letters, getting checks to the bank, and data entering all the gifts.
- They're considerably better for security. Far fewer people touch the gift, so there's fewer places a gift can get lost or go awry.
- Checks are immediately processed and cashed - great for cash flow.
The advantages are straightforward and pretty compelling. But they have some downsides as well - more subtle but also very important - compared to receiving and processing all the gifts yourself: - Costs can add up quickly. Many banks include only name and dollar amount in the data file, and you need to pay additional charges for other data or scans.
- You may well have to go back through each payment anyway to verify the legal donor, check to see if was a tribute gift, etc, etc - so you might not save that much staff time after all.
- You're relying on someone else to adequately pass on important information that might be included with the check - notes, letters, or other things. Some mentioned that their bank scans everything that's in the envelope, and they've never had a problem. Others are more skeptical, saying that those that who process the gifts are often evaluated on their speed rather than their accuracy. And it's you the donors will blame if you miss their question or concern.
- Checks are typically immediately cashed without careful proofing. For instance, if you receive checks that are actually intended for your national office, or that the donor has specified should be held before cashing, chances are that they'll be cashed anyway and you'll need to sort it out later.
- It can be challenging to get year end gifts from the bank in time at year end, especially for schools that close over winter break.
- The new address may have implications to donors. This is especially true for local, community based nonprofits. If the gifts are going to an address outside your service area, will donors question how community based you really are?
- It's not as satisfying to get a report as it is to handle the check and letter, which can affect the ability to get buy in from development staff.
Several mentioned that their transition to a lockbox was surprisingly seamless. They updated the address on all correspondence, which donors didn't seem to question, and didn't see any drop in donations.
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