Short-term priorities. These are things you can do that will have great impact right away and will lay the foundation for the expansion of your online fundraising program (if you're not already doing them).

1. Start building your email list. Collect email addresses at every point of contact with your existing donors (reply devices, events, etc.), prospects, and everyone else! Put an e-news subscription form on your home page and other important pages on your web site.

2. Start a monthly e-newsletter. Send this to all of the emails in your database and develop a regular issue, whether that be monthly, weekly or any other timeframe that suits your needs, resources and available content. These shouldn't be donation appeals but rather updates and a place to share successes and stories, as well as driving traffic back to your site.

3. Establish secure online donation processing. It's really hard to fundraise online if you can't accept donations through your web site. Network for Good can help you do that today. Put a prominent link to your donation page on all of your pages.

4. Promote your website in all of your existing communications. Don't just print your Web address. Give people a reason to go. "Visit www.ourgroup.org for a free newsletter or to find out 10 ways to save energy."

Long-term priorities. Your email messaging program and donation processing capabilities are the foundation. The steps below will require more deliberation, but will take your fundraising program to the next level.

5. Develop a plan. Your plan will evolve as you learn what works and what doesn't, but it helps to have a plan that serves as a road map.

  • Include in your plan strategies for driving traffic to your site, building your email list, integrating email with your direct mail, and incorporating appeals into your site.
  • Brainstorm partnership opportunities with other institutions and organizations.
  • Consider adding an online advocacy component to your web site if that's part of your mission.
  • Set goals for building your e-newsletter list, collecting email addresses from donors, and acquiring new online donors; then figure out what you need to do to reach those goals.

6. Focus on your web site. Chances are good that you'll need to invest money in redesigning or significantly improving your web site to make it interactive and engaging and therefore more effective for fundraising. Make sure you add fundraising appeals to match the page content.

7. Get the word out. Promote your site wherever possible- in publications, at events, etc. Evaluate your search engine rankings. Check your site's meta tags. Do you have meta keyword and meta description tags? Are they too long or overly broad? Register or reregister your site with the Web directories and search engines. Work on your links by starting with organizations that you already have a relationship with, then research and identify Web sites that reach constituencies that might be interested in your issue. Search blogs for people already involved in your cause at technorati.com.

8. Segment your newsletter. The more you can personalize your e-newsletter, the more effective it will be. By creating a special version for your donors, you can not only tell them how their donations make a difference and you can also send them targeted renewal messages or special appeals. Include in your non-donor special appeals, involvement opportunities, or incentives for joining or making a donation. As your list grows you may want to segment it even more by collecting member preferences and sending targeted information based on their interests.

9. Develop online fundraising campaigns. An online fundraising campaign is more than an appeal on your site. It's a special appeal that you aggressively promote - perhaps it's built around a certain event (such as Earth Day) or around a particular issue (how a tax cut will affect the poor). Be creative!

10. Establish online partnerships. What existing partnerships can you translate online? Are there other online partnerships you can form? What kinds of Web sites are people interested in your issue likely to visit?

Source: Groundspring ITS Topic 7