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An overview of what charities should be including on their websites
With Guide Star holding information on 163,000 charities in the UK, it is clear that the competition for the attention and altruistic generosities of the general public is highly competitive. Figures released by the Boston Consulting Group last week revealed that Britain is leading the world in terms of Ecommerce with 7.2% of GDP being from online sales. In general, the charity sector has been pretty lacklustre in taking advantage of this with only two per cent of the £8 billion that Britons donate to charity each year being given online, according to recent research from NFP synergy.
With Britons spending an increasing amount of time on the internet and other sources of funding being stretched there is clearly no escape from charities realising that the future of donations is online. There have been inventive ways of helping charities give online such as site like Free Rice but there are too many charities impeding their cause by not including fundamental basics on their site.
At AMJ we recommend that charity sites should contain the following-
- A clear Mission – Like any website, a charity must be clear in what they do.
Photos and/or videos of people the supporters would be helping – This is a great way to help the websites user visualise the good there investment will do and
A funding Goal – Having a goal is a great way of getting people inspired to help. Viewing the goal go up and telling people how this has been done is lets people know that there help is contributing.
* How people can help – Money is an obvious way of helping but supporters can often do a number of things to help the cause. Most visitors to your site are likely to have an affiliation or interest in the cause and need an invitation to help.
* Donate Online – The lifeblood of a charity website and an easy way for people to give.
* A newsletter – Signing up to the newsletter is great way of keeping people updated and interested.
Many charities such as Give Us a Lift and Shelter Box have brilliantly realised the importance of the above points and in doing so have kept their supporters feeling involved and connected with the cause. We have worked with charities before to implement extranets which have given supporters a login to a private area containing extra information and the chance to give their opinion in order to shape policy and giving supporters this power ensures that they will continue to help the charity as best they can.
A website is the ideal way for communicating with supporters and it is vital to charities as they look to harness the potential fundraising, volunteering and campaigning power that they contain.
