Three very smart peers-Jonathon D. Colman of The Nature Conservancy, Jacob Colie of Mercy Corps and Arlin Wasserman of America on the Move-and I compiled a list of 10 things that are vital to engaging constituents online. This list comes from a presentation we did at the 2007 American Marketing Association Foundation Conference:
  1. Do cross-channel promotion. In the mail, email your donors before they receive postal mail appeals. On the phone, give your donors the option to give online. Send email to your best offline donors. Make the pieces work together.

  2. Make marketing a conversation. Make sure all your online outreach and presences enable two-way conversation with your supporters, fans and non-fans.

  3. Be accessible, easy, encouraging and intimate. Check out how well America on the Move does this on their site.

  4. Show accountability. Make it clear where they money goes!

  5. Make it easy for people to find you. Optimize your search engine marketing. Start by getting as many high-quality links to your site as possible - and link out to other good sites.

  6. Segment your way to success. Talk with supporters differently, depending on who they are, how they give, the ways in which they support you, etc.

  7. Test, test, test. Never do one version of any appeal or newsletter. Test different versions so you can learn and improve all the time.

  8. Make your supporters your messengers. Ask your supporters to spread the word among their friends and family.

  9. Offer recurring giving. Mercy Corps does an amazing job of "supersizing" their donors into monthly gifts.

  10. Don't only ask; thank and inspire too. Show people the difference they are making.

Click here to check out the entire PowerPoint presentation online.