Telling
Your
Story:
A Quintessential Guide to
Non-profit Technology
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 3
Chapter One – Tackling the ‘People Problems’ of Non-profit Tech ..................... 6
High Turnover Rates .............................................................................................................................. 7
Data Disagreements ................................................................................................................................ 8
Lack of Internal Stakeholder Buy-in .................................................................................................... 9
PR Nightmares ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Low User Adoption............................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter Two – Managing Constituent Relationships ............................................ 13
CRM for Large Non-profits................................................................................................................. 14
CRM for Small/Medium Non-profits.................................................................................................. 15
Chapter Three – Effectively Managing Your Assets............................................... 17
Content Management for Small/Medium Non-profits ...................................................................... 18
Content Management for Large Non-profits ..................................................................................... 19
Chapter Four – Using Web Design to Boost Donations ........................................ 22
Play the Role of Storyteller .................................................................................................................. 23
Call Users to Action .............................................................................................................................. 24
Deliver to Every Audience ................................................................................................................... 26
Consider Implementing Responsive Design ....................................................................................... 27
Integrate Your Site with Social Media................................................................................................ 29
Chapter Five – Connecting with Older Donors ....................................................... 32
Make Everything More Accessible….................................................................................................. 33
But Don’t Dumb Things Down ............................................................................................................ 34
When You Do Social Media, Do it Right ............................................................................................ 34
Don’t Forget About Mobile ................................................................................................................. 35
Case Study: The $76,000 Button ............................................................................... 36
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................ 46
Schedule a Consultation ........................................................................................ 47
Introduction
There’s a big elephant standing in the digital strategy space, so let’s address it: Your nonprofit needs business technology, but you, one of the primary decision-makers, are not
yourself an IT specialist. From SaaS to CRM to RWD, the selection of platforms that
your organization could benefit from is already intimidating enough. How are you
supposed to pick, for instance, between SugarCRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
While you might not know exactly which CRM will best complement your own nonprofit’s growth, one thing is certain:
Technology is an essential facet of the non-profit sphere.
Whether you need to keep track of donor relationships, communicate with supporters
through email, or provide a way for people to donate money online, you absolutely need
technology to connect.
Traditionally, the first step of a big IT project would be to approach your technological
advisor, provide a list of needs, and then monitor the process as they plan out and develop
your desired product. There’s nothing wrong with this system. In the end, the programmer
delivers a product to fit the non-profit’s needs. Everybody’s happy.
But there’s a better way to approach new technology than this, and it revolves around one
basic idea:
Digital development is a collaborative effort.
No matter how many holes there might be in your technological know-how, successful
digital strategy does not—in fact, it cannot—occur in a vacuum. The developers,
designers, and users all have to be on the same page if they want to create technology that
best suits an organization.
Your non-profit has the need, and the IT professional has the expertise. This is simple.
But in the long run, even the most sustainable, most effective technological infrastructure
is only as good as the people who are using it on a daily basis.
“Many of us shy away from technology. By leaving tech decisions
to the IT department rather than schooling ourselves on these
opportunities, we limit the impact of our communications
strategies.” - Nancy Schwartz, GettingAttention.org
Technology is a two-way process, and it’s just as important for the user to know what’s
going on as it is to have a development team to execute it. In this scenario, the IT
professional should be more than just an executor. They should be an educator, a creator,
a collaborator and an ambassador. By forging this kind of relationship between
technology and non-profit, ambassador and student—your organization can get the most
out of its technological efforts.
So let’s get started. This guide will cover the many ways that tech can enhance and
improve your non-profit organization. With interviews, case studies, hard data and
insights from our own experiences, we’ll discuss the trends, products, and needs that are
driving the field as we know it. We hope you can use it as a sort of mini-consultation, and
come away with a new understanding of how technology can revolutionize—and not just
update—your non-profit organization.
Chapter One
Tackling the ‘People Problems’ of
Non-profit Tech
In an ideal world, every tech project would be a two-step process. Someone would come
up with an idea for a useful new piece of technology, and a team of experts would step in
and simply make it happen.
As we all know, things never actually work out that way. Technological development is
a messy process, and we owe that to the fact that there are flesh-and-blood people behind
the entire endeavor. While this complicates the flow a bit, it’s important that individuals
bring their passions and criticisms to the table. Ultimately, it makes for better technology.
So whether it’s internal disagreements, turnover problems or terrible PR blunders, here
are the absolute worst “people problems” that affect non-profit tech, along with tips on
how you can fix them.
High Turnover Rates
The most pressing issue facing the non-profit sector today is a high turnover rate:
According to the latest reports from Non-profit HR, hiring is rising overall, but 20 percent
of the time, it’s mostly done to fill in recently turned-over slots.
This isn’t just an HR problem, it’s a major IT problem as well. Anyone in the industry
can tell you how difficult it can be to educate newcomers on the ins-and-outs of a
company’s enterprise software, and the issue is only exacerbated by high turnover rates.
While your HR department is likely doing everything it can to increase retention rates,
it’s important for IT professionals to try and alleviate the stresses of turnover as well.
Luckily, there are a few tech-oriented solutions for countering the negative effects of
staffing issues.
A high-turnover environment requires a system that is as simple and streamlined as
possible. When developing any new system, try to create as shallow of a learning curve
as possible while still allowing for depth of functionality.
Data Disagreements
While data is one of the most valuable tools a company has at their disposal at any given
moment, it can also lead to some problematic conflicts. What one person interprets as a
fantastic ROI might look unsatisfactory to another, and abysmal to yet another.
This is a problem that can be approached in multiple ways depending on your
organization. For the most diplomatic approach, try to seek out a consensus.
In this situation, you’ll want to try to outline a story using every piece of data at your
disposal. By laying out the facts in a visual and chronological format, you may be able to
convey insights that weren’t previously apparent. For laying out data visually,
infographics can be an extremely useful tool. If you don’t have a designer on-hand to
make these for you, use a simple infographic creator like PiktoChart or infogr.am. Lots
of employees will respond better to visual data than abstract numbers.
If it’s too difficult to find widespread consensus, you might want to rethink your approach
altogether and consolidate the role of data interpretation. While the concept of “design by
community” can be helpful in many cases, sometimes it can slow down your entire project
and breed resentment amongst your teams.
Lack of Internal Stakeholder Buy-in
Oftentimes, decision-makers at non-profits don’t view digital strategy as the optimal
route for improving their organizations. As they see it, if direct mail and phone calls are
working, why should they try to fix what isn’t broken?
The problem with this idea is that someday very soon, any strategy which doesn’t
implement a digital approach will be broken. Statistics show that online giving is
increasing dramatically on a year-over-year basis, and that mobile presences are
becoming absolutely essential across the board.
To convince decision-makers on the importance of digital strategy, don’t be afraid to open
up an honest dialogue with them. Most of the time it’s not new dollars that need to be
spent, it’s just a matter of moving the money from one place to another. Provide statistics,
metrics, and infographics that show them the facts. You’ll do best to keep the
conversation in the fiscal space, since this is where their motivations tend to dwell.
PR Nightmares
No matter how much you try, there’s always the risk that one mistake will slip through
the cracks and lead to a full-blown PR nightmare. Whether it’s an insensitive Tweet, a
last-minute event cancellation, or any number of other major fiascos, crises do happen,
and it’s important to know how to deal with them when they do.
In the aftermath of a PR crisis, take the time to craft a quality response. Whether you hand
out a refund, an apology, or some other form of repentance, just let your stakeholders
know that you are actively working to make up for any mistakes, and that you’re
genuinely sorry for what happened. This can go a long way, especially if you’re diligent
about publishing regular updates and shows of good faith.
While there are some PR disasters that cannot be avoided, it’s important to put checks
into place which will prevent other disasters before they can crop up. Since social media
is fertile ground for potential crisis, make sure that the person in charge of your newsfeed
has an editor to check their content before it goes live. The value of an extra set of eyes
shouldn’t be underestimated, and can often mean the difference between a popular insight
and a viral failure.
Low User Adoption
No matter what software your non-profit implements, one of the facts of IT life is that it
will be a struggle to get users to adapt it. In the same way that IT professionals refer to
aging software applications as legacy systems, we refer to uninitiated employees as
“legacy users” for their attachment to older software.
As a non-profit company trying to gain maximum value from every single purchase, it’s
important that your users are ready to make the jump to new technology. The
responsibility falls first and foremost on your shoulders; it’s essential to make sure that
any new piece of technology is easy-to-adopt for folks who have already grown
accustomed to your old system.
To achieve an even higher level of user adoption, place a heavy focus on educating your
employees on new software. It might take some extra time and resources, but it’s crucial
to provide your users with everything they need to learn the ins-and-outs of your software
systems. Whether it’s webinars, tutorials, or explainer videos, try to find materials that
are more audience-friendly than complex documentation. This will ease the learning
curve and encourage the retention of knowledge in as many employees as possible.
Chapter Two
Managing Constituent Relationships
“Which CRM works best for my company?”
The answer is, “it depends”…
While the response can sound vague and even a little rude, it’s typically the truth. There
are tons of variables that go into choosing a CRM, so the process requires a very deep
understanding of a company’s needs. But even though it’s difficult to provide a quick,
individualized answer on what CRM to invest in, it’s still possible to provide some basic
guidelines and features on what you should definitely be looking for as you scope out
your potential CRM systems.
CRM for Large Non-profits
The largest non-profit organizations have to deal with a staggering amount of data and
donations, and they’re likely hoping to streamline their massive constituent relations
databases with new technology. The three platforms we’re recommending below are
some of the current market leaders at the enterprise level, and they all fulfill very different
roles.
At this level, the top CRM priorities will typically be customizability, reliable hosting
and vendor viability. For customizability, you’ll want a CRM which offers a large base
of modules and boasts a sizable online marketplace for growing out your system. For
hosting, you’ll have to choose whether you want to store your data in the cloud, with a
partner, or on-premise, and then select your CRM according to that.
Finally, you’ll want conduct research into each potential vendor so that you can ensure
that your CRM will be backed by a reliable user and support base for years to come.
The grid shows a selection of three top CRM solutions for large non-profits, as well as
the unique methods they use to fulfill the most pressing needs.
CRM for Small/Medium Non-profits
When looking to fill the CRM needs of a small or medium-sized non-profit, you’ll have
to ask a few different questions than the ones posed above. In this scenario, integration
will probably be a top priority for your organization.
Since these smaller CRMs will be overall more lightweight than the ones we’ve covered
above, you may want to make sure they work with programs you already use in the
workplace, like Google Apps or Microsoft Outlook. Since the most important features to
be gained from these smaller CRMs are ease of use and deployment, make sure you’re
not sacrificing too much in terms of functionality. While these systems may take less to
implement than larger CRM systems, they’re typically not as flexible.
Chapter Three
Effectively Managing your Assets
One of the most difficult problems in non-profit technology…
Is figuring out which site manager, or content management system, will work best for
developing your web presence. There are literally thousands of options on the market,
and each offers very specific functionality.
Luckily enough, non-profits typically have more specific needs than other organizations
looking for web sites. The following is a visual guide to choosing a content management
solution for your non-profit, and will serve as a helpful primer for those new to the CMS
ecosystem.
Content Management for
Small/Medium Non-profits
The first thing to know when first approaching a CMS is that typically, a site’s cost will
scale in proportion with its customizability, complexity, and outside integrations. If you
want a multi-authored, responsive, thousand-page website with the capacity to accept
millions of dollars of donations, it’ll probably cost you a bit more to build the backend.
That being said, it’s totally possible to have a small site that isn’t very complex, doesn’t
offer custom options, and still looks great on its own.
There are a couple things to note when you approach your own site this way: First off,
this method does not scale very well. If, sometime down the road, you decide that you
want to accept donations through your Weebly site, you probably won’t find the support
you need and will probably have to rebuild from the ground-up. Think of the following
recommendations as specialized containers: They will serve very little purpose beyond
creating an online presence, and are not a long-term solution for non-profits who want to
do big things through the internet.
If you don’t need your website to do any heavy content or data lifting, and are only
planning on using it to establish a presence, then the following options will probably be
well-suited to your needs.
For all of the below options, we recommend that you consult with a web developer or
other IT professional to set up your site on your behalf.
Content Management for
Large Non-profits
Whether you’re a larger-sized non-profit or a smaller non-profit with large-scale online
ambitions, you’re going to want a CMS with deep customizability and scaling options.
All of the below solutions offer a deep set of custom options, and can carry out the most
popular non-profit functions with add-ons or other extensions.
If you’re looking for software which caters specifically to the needs of non-profits, you
might want to give Blackbaud’s NetCommunity CMS some thought. Blackbaud is
currently one of the major players in the industry, and their software has achieved
widespread popularity for its non-profit specializations. If your organization is already
using Blackbaud’s ever-popular Raiser’s Edge CRM software, you’ll love its
NetCommunity CMS, which directly integrates with Raiser’s Edge.
If you’re looking for something more open and flexible, Drupal is a fantastic open source
solution. Not only is it free, but it’s so ubiquitous that other major platforms—like the
government-friendly OpenPublic CMS—have used Drupal as their base.
For all of the below options, we recommend that you consult with a web developer or
other IT professional to set up your site on your behalf.
Chapter Four
Using Web Design to Boost Donations
It’s a tough fact of life, but most non-profit organizations simply don’t have the time,
resources or know-how to keep their online presences up-to-date. With 84 percent of notfor-profits lacking mobile-optimized donation landing pages, it’s clear that most
organizations aren’t exactly on the cutting edge.
The problem is…
Whether it’s emphasizing your organization’s message, plugging social media or making
room for multiple audiences, the process of updating a site doesn’t have to be an
expensive ground-up rebuild. In many cases such action might be in order, but for now,
here’s a quick rundown of five simple ways your non-profit can drive more online giving.
Play the Role of Storyteller
One of the biggest current trends in marketing is mostly ever marketer strives to play the
role of a storyteller. Every company has a unique story, and uncovering it, a marketer can
help to differentiate their company’s offerings from the rest of the competition.
As a non-profit, your organization comes pre-packaged with an incredible story. You
have a cause, and an overarching motivation that reflects upon society’s deep desire for
positive change. Your audience is compelled by your mission, and when they visit your
site, they either want to learn more about it, or they want to contribute. Most marketers
couldn’t even dream of such an appealing angle. With this in mind, your website should
hold one goal before all others:
If your site can effectively convey your organization’s purpose and background,
everything else will follow. As you approach the design process, make sure that
everything you do plays a part in telling your story. Images, quotes from individuals who
have been affected by your actions, story posts—these will bring life to your site, and will
drive users to action.
Whether it’s a slideshow filled with pictures of recent charity gatherings or a calendar of
the month’s events, the site makes it clear that NYRR is an active, connected organization
with a purpose. Ultimately, this is the kind of information that will drive the most traffic
and passion for your cause.
Call Users to Action
After they learn more about your cause, your audience will want to take the next step by
making their own contribution, whether it’s through time or money. Whatever the case,
you’ll want to make sure your site can handle their impulse to participate.
Whether you include a volunteer sign-up page or a “Donate” option, make sure your calls
to action are clear and prominent. The less clutter there is between your site interface and
your participation pages, the more visitors you’ll be able to convert.
This advice sounds basic, but statistics show that even the slightest adjustments in page
layout and content can dramatically impact donations:
In the case of online giving pages, you’ll notice that the simple act of branding a giving
page led to a six-fold increase in the amount of dollars raised. While the change from
generic to branded requires a relatively small amount of effort, it shows that even the
slightest design alterations can profoundly affect an organization’s ROI.
Deliver to Every Audience
Having a good call to action is a great way to make your site more audience-friendly, but
it’s only the first step. While it’s easy to categorize every person who looks at your site
as a simple “visitor,” the non-profit user base is much more specific and complex than
that, and each visitor type needs to be catered to in
different ways.
Although your “Donate” button is a necessary
function for garnering financial contributions, you
have to cater to your audience of volunteers as well,
and
it’s
a
demographic
that’s
becoming
increasingly complex:
To cater to the needs of your volunteers, keep their
needs in mind. Provide them with constant
opportunities for involvement by keeping your site
up-to-date with event listings, media from past
events, and other content that will add value to their
participation.
Another important audience to cater to is the media.
Whether it’s a press kit or a dedicated newsroom,
it’s important to make sure that you’re providing
journalists and bloggers with the tools and information
they need to relay your message. By focusing on the needs of all your users, you can
boost your site’s inherent value without the need for dramatic changes.
Consider Implementing Responsive
Design
Responsive Web Design—RWD for short—is a type of web design that “responds” to
the viewer’s input to look great at any size. RWD is currently one of the most prevalent
new web design technologies, and typically requires good designers and good developers
to produce. But it offers a big payoff: in contrast with other types of web design, which
only look good at certain sizes, RWD looks spectacular when accessed on both desktop
and mobile devices.
In the non-profit sphere, RWD has proven its worth through its ability to double mobile
giving, but that’s not to say that every responsive site is an automatic design success. For
observing good responsive design, it’s important to have an idea of what a well-made
responsive site looks like. One of the best responsive non-profit sites out there is
WorldWildLife.org.
Here’s a look at the homepage when opened in full-size on a desktop:
Not only does the page design adjust to the user’s selected size, but it also streamlines the
site content to maintain emphasis on the most important site details. The WWF logo is
clearly visible at the top of the page, and the clear calls to action are prominently featured
in orange colors that immediately pop. On top of all this, the site is always up-to-date
with new and enticing content that adds an ongoing sense of value for all visitors.
The process might require a bit more resources than an average site update, but as the
WWF’s site shows, it can allow your organization to make your story look great no matter
what platform it’s accessed on.
Integrate Your Site with Social Media
While time and money are two of the main resources that a non-profit might ask of their
constituents, there’s a third vehicle for contribution that requires much less commitment
from the user, but is just as helpful for the organization: Social media.
With 96 percent of non-profits already active on Facebook and social media budgets
constantly on the rise in the not-for-profit space, you’re probably well aware of the
potential that the channel already provides.
But social media participation doesn’t have
to begin and end at the newsfeed level. Take
the example of #GivingTuesday, which
proved to be a very important driver of
donations at the end of last year:
While
marking
posts
with
the
#GivingTuesday tag might have helped
donations for your non-profit, it’s possible to
get even more out of events like these by
simply integrating them into your site.
By embedding an Instagram or Twitter feed,
for
instance,
you
can
attach
the
#GivingTuesday efforts straight to your
organization’s website with minimal effort.
Throughout your web development process,
always try to integrate social media
opportunities for users to publish, follow,
share and like your organization.
By allowing visitors to like your Facebook page, view Instagram photos from recent
events, or follow your organization on Twitter, you can supplement your site’s content
and empower your constituents with the ability to spread the word.
The value of a non-profit website is equal to the sum of its parts. That being said, the
above tips shouldn’t be viewed as independent solutions, but as pieces of a larger and
more comprehensive site framework. A masterful responsive web site is nothing without
clear calls to action, just like massive social media followings cannot stem from
organizations that aren’t adequately telling their stories.
When approaching your own site design, pinpoint the things that your non-profit is
already doing well, and then look for the components that will best complement those
strengths. By fitting website improvement into the context of your current needs, you can
turn it into something incremental, data-driven and completely within your grasp.
Chapter Five
Connecting with Older Donors
When the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge swept our newsfeeds earlier this year, one of the
most striking aspects was how well it mobilized the ever-elusive Gen Y demographic.
But even though social media is clearly growing as a viable channel for motivating
younger donors, it’s important to keep the other demographics in mind.
While the Ice Bucket challenge has certainly shown some great signs for the future of
fundraising, it’s not as indicative of the older generations, who will likely make the most
significant donations this year. For those hoping to use technology to connect with their
older donors, here are four important points to keep in mind as you formulate a digital
plan of attack.
Make Everything More Accessible…
If you’re aiming at an older donor demographic, your website should reflect that. Some
factors in web design, from font size to page navigation, are absolutely integral for
making your site accessible to older visitors. According to Nielsen’s usability tests of
users aged 65 and over, older citizens need larger font sizes—preferably 12-point and
higher. In addition, older users are averse to frequent site and design changes, they have
trouble managing multiple tabs and windows, and they are much more hesitant to explore
a website.
In order to make your site as senior-friendly as possible, focus on keeping things just
simple enough to accommodate for older users, while still looking appealing to a younger
audience. For an example of a site that does this well, take a look at the site of MIT’s
AgeLab. The site contains a great range of whitespace, smooth animations, and large
typography with a text size toggle at the top of the screen. In addition, the slideshow keeps
the site visually appealing without over-complicating it.
But Don’t Dumb Things Down
Even though older users will need a bit of extra care when it comes to accessibility, it’s
important that you don’t view your older donors as technologically stagnant. In fact,
nearly 3 out of 5 donors age 66 and older currently make contributions via the web.
When catering to an audience of primarily older constituents, you should try to seek out
a happy balance between user-friendliness and quality design. This will make your site
look professional and approachable, while still making it accessible to your Boomers and
Matures. No matter what the case, design clarity should be the top priority for creating
your site or mobile app. If you want users to donate, make the donation button clearly
visible from the very first page.
By keeping as little space between your users and the option to donate or volunteer, you
create an online presence that is simultaneously accessible and streamlined.
When You Do Social Media, Do it
Right
Your aunt is on Pinterest, and your grandma’s on Facebook. Within the past few years,
it’s become quite clear that baby boomers are a growing demographic on social media,
with 70 percent of them owning a Facebook account and 40 percent of them using it on
an active basis. While having a social media strategy is always recommended in the nonprofit sphere, it’s important to shape your outreach around the demographic you’re
hoping to connect with.
If you’re striving mainly to reach out to baby boomers, you may want to prioritize
Facebook over platforms like Twitter and Instagram, which are far less prevalent among
the boomer demographic. In addition, focus on content made up of stories and images, as
older users tend to prefer these types of posts.
Don’t Forget About Mobile
Studies show that in recent years, older users have proven to be very adaptable when it
comes to new technologies. With the rise of tablet computing and streamlined mobile
UIs, mobile technology is more accessible to different age groups than ever.
So how should this affect your mobile strategy? First off, it may help you decide whether
to create a mobile app or a responsive site. While apps are particularly useful for
providing unique functionalities, studies show that mobile browser usage is on the rise
among older generations.
If you do decide to go with a responsive site—an approach that has already proven itself
in the non-profit sphere—you should strive to keep things as legible as possible for older
users. Check out ONE, WWF, and Easter Seals for some great examples of clean
responsive design for non-profits.
Case Study:
The $76,000
Button
The Impact of Creative Collaboration
What if your site was updated in 2008?
What if you’re not sure if a redesign will help?
What if you think your site needs updating, but your stakeholders aren’t so
enthusiastic?
The answer to these questions will differ on a case-by-case basis, but we know one thing
is certain: Site design is paramount to site success.
At Icreon, we’ve witnessed this concept unfold firsthand, to extreme effect. During the
course of updating one client’s website, we found that the simple act of adding a button
drove a $76,000 increase in donations over the course of a single year.
But more on that in a moment. First, let’s take a step back to focus on the issue at hand.
The biggest question that lots of non-profits struggle with when it comes to new
technology is:
Why does my website need a new update?
With such limited budgets, this is a completely legitimate question. Websites can cost a
pretty penny to update from a design standpoint, and if your organization already has a
working site, the ROI potential of a new design can seem minimal.
On top of this, lots of non-profit stakeholders have a tendency to view web presence as a
binary matter: You either have a site or you don’t. Quality design is a nice perk, but not
a necessity.
The problem is, this approach to site design is demonstrably misguided. While the mere
existence of a site is certainly necessary for online success in this day and age, multiple
studies illustrate that the details of site design are also essential:

48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the
credibility of a business (Source: IronPaper)

94% of people cited web design as the reason they mistrusted or rejected a
website (Source: IronPaper)

44% of mobile users reported that navigating a web page was difficult and 6%
complained of difficulties interacting with it (Source: MarginMedia)
Web design is an ever-evolving science, with brand new criteria determining a site’s
worth on a yearly basis. That’s why the digitally-native news site Quartz has implemented
major redesigns twice in the course of only two years. It might seem excessive, but the
truth is, that’s the rate at which technology is moving. In an ideal world, everyone would
have the resources to do what Quartz is doing.
So sure, you might have had a site makeover just a few years ago, but did that makeover
take advantage of Responsive Web Design, new social media platforms like Vine and
Pinterest, or branded giving pages?
If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” it should be easy to see that there’s always
room for design improvement.
But statistics can only do so much to illustrate a point, especially for non-profits whose
sites are currently competent enough to get the job done.
In 2013, the Sierra Club’s sierra.org was a non-profit site that-without a doubt-was getting
the job done:
From a design standpoint, the site looked great (if a bit dated) and offered anything one
could ever need in a homepage. There was news, there were resources for donors, there
was a featured slideshow, there were social media options, and there was even a section
which pushed out Sierra magazine—the non-profit’s own publication.
So why did the Sierra Club decide to pull the trigger and seek out a redesign? It wasn’t
just to make the site look better.
In our previous chapter on improving your non-profit site’s design, we discussed the
importance of calls to action and minimized transactional friction. The less clicks between
a visitor and a donation form, the better. In the case of the old sierra.org site, there were
some very clear calls to action on the homepage.
Users could spread the word about NYRR through social media, they could subscribe for
news about the Sierra Club, and there was even a “Donate” button highlighted in bright
orange.
But a few pieces were missing from the puzzle. Here’s what would happen when a user
would click on the “Donate” button:
Not only did the user have to click again to finally get a donation form, but they also had
to choose from a list of four options on what kind of donation they planned on making.
These kinds of details have a tendency to hide themselves away, especially when you
take into consideration the fact that on first blush, this sierra.org site looks perfectly fine.
There’s no doubting that the site is functional—in fact, it was probably in the upper
echelon of non-profit sites at the time. But there was some definite room for improvement.
Here’s what Sierra.org looks like after its recent redesign:
As you can see, the call to action is prominently featured in multiple instances on this
page, with the “Ways to Give” appearing at the top, and the “Join/Renew” button standing
out in bright orange at the center of the page. By adding a drop-down menu to this option,
sierra.org effectively cut out the middle step, saving the user a click and allowing them
to donate much more efficiently.
According to The Non-profit Times, this simple tweak of adding a drop-down
“Join/Renew” button increased click through rates by 35 percent, and boosted their
donation amounts by 27 percent.
Tweaking a homepage button as the Sierra Club did is a surefire way to increase
donations, but what happens if we dive deeper? You might be surprised to find out that
the $76,000 button we discussed earlier wasn’t implemented on a homepage–it came as
part of a transaction form.
~~
New York Road Runners is the nation’s foremost running organization, with a
membership of over 40,000. The non-profit conducts more than 100 events each year,
including the famous ING New York City Marathon. In 2012, NYRR redesigned their
site from the ground up, implementing large-scale changes to interface, design, and
backend functionality.
One of the most notable changes occurred in the unsuspecting form of the site’s checkout
transaction page. When a runner wants to partake in a NYRR race, they first add the race
to their “Cart,” which allows them to store their events of choice until they’re ready to
check out.
Before the site redesign, this page was streamlined and to-the-point. At checkout, the user
would be able to view the price of their selected race, and they would pay that amount of
money to purchase entry.
This is what the checkout page looks like after the redesign:
As you can see, this page provides far more information than your average checkout. In
addition to collecting a user’s pacing information, team affiliation and shirt information,
it also accommodates for athletes with disabilities, providing pictorial checkboxes that
illustrate a user’s options.
This is a comprehensive user experience, and it goes far beyond “eye candy” into the
realm of greatly-increased utility.
Nowhere does that value shine more than in the $76,000 button, which is also on this
page—albeit at the very bottom.
See the green “Donations” section at the bottom of this page? While it might come off as
inconspicuous, that little green button is the hero of this story. Over the course of a single
year, that one button accounted for 76 thousand dollars’ worth of donations to NYRR’s
youth and community service programs.
Taking some design cues from eCommerce’s cross-selling playbook, NYRR put the
chance to donate in front of every single runner that decided to partake in one of their
races. And since these runners were already going to be spending their money on the
entry fee, it was easy for them to click the “donate” button and tack on some extra charity
to support the cause.
That’s the real power of design. Even though these kinds of changes can seem small or
arbitrary, one single tweak can make all the difference.
The key takeaway we wanted to illustrate with these examples is that there’s much more
to web design than initially meets the eye. Even when high-profile organizations like the
Sierra Club implement the industry best practices of including prominent “Donate”
buttons on their homepage, it’s often the smaller details which can make the biggest
difference. In the case of NYRR, a checkout cross-sell—which was inspired by sales
tactics from eCommerce—turned out to be the magic puzzle piece that moved the
donation needle more than anything else.
Contrary to popular belief, web design is not just about making your site look visually
pleasing. It’s not even about ticking entries off a laundry list of pre-conceived best
practices. This paradigm—that a redesign is simply a cosmetic facelift or a way of playing
online “catch-up”—is reductive of the design process, and the main reason why it can be
so difficult to find stakeholder buy-in.
As the $76,000 button shows, the crux of the design process is to think practically,
creatively, and collaboratively about the many ways your site can be improved. While
some of these approaches are bound to follow current industry standards, it’s the
branching creative paths that have the most to teach us, and the most to offer in terms of
ROI. In short, the design process is not just about fulfilling established best practices, it’s
about creating brand new ones. It’s not just about updating your site, it’s about revitalizing
your entire business.
Conclusion
The first step to implementing quality non-profit technology—whether it’s a website or
a CRM or a CMS—is knowing what “quality” technology looks like. Anyone can find
this out for themselves, regardless of whether or not they’re familiar with programming
or design. By reading this guide, you’ve developed a solid base for your own purposes,
but the next step is to use these insights to improve your technological efforts.
One of the main points we wanted to convey with this guide is the importance of
collaboration in the development of quality technology. Nowhere is this more apparent
than in the non-profit space, where every piece of technology has to tell a story, every
constituent must be accounted for, and every platform must stay true to every cause. The
gap between decision-makers and IT professionals needs to close as much as possible,
and we hope this guide has offered a solid means of bridging that gap.
In the scheme of things, technology is always evolving. Quality insights flitter in and out
of relevance. As that happens, we will be constantly returning to update this guide, but in
the meantime, we’d love to help you bridge whatever gaps might be present in your own
technological knowledge.
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