Innovative use of the Internet has become a mainstay for nonprofit organizations, with many using interactive technologies for education, collaboration, member communications, management of meeting attendance, and publishing. What was once considered innovative is probably mainstream today, as both nonprofit organizations and their members become more comfortable going online.

Yesterday [September 22], in mid-town Manhattan, four nonprofit organizations were honored for their outstanding work in ePhilanthropy. Hosted by the ePhilanthropy Foundation, the 2005 International ePhilanthropy Awards recognized 23 finalists whose innovative use of the Internet in meeting their missions set them above the rest of the nominees. The awards, distributed in four categories, consisted of a $500 cash award to a charity and an original glass sculpture, and were presented to the winners during a two-hour ceremony led by Bob Carter, President and CEO of Ketchum.

Find out which organizations won the awards (article by Kate Golden, OnPhilanthropy).

Today’s donors know what they want. They know how they want to accomplish it. They are direct and decisive. They want to know what’s going on, where their money is going, how it is being spent, and what their last donation did, before you ask them for more. They want to understand what you do, how it’s different from what other organizations do, and what you’ve accomplished…

So, what should nonprofits do for their donors? Here are a few guidelines to follow in shaping your nonprofit organization’s communications strategy:

Donors want to feel appreciated…
Donors want to feel involved…
Donors want to be recognized…
Donors want to help solve problems…
Donors want to help people…
Donors want to feel more than think…

Yes, you will definitely raise more money, but first, please, give donors what they want. Read more…

The Internet can provide us with a wide range of opportunities to help others quickly and easily and more and more people are donating and engaging online.

The tsunami online fundraising experience is a good example. After the disaster, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of online donations. An interesting article on SeattleBusinessJournal.com, Nonprofits’ new target: Web donors give more than check writers, discusses this developing trend:

Following a surprisingly large jump in online donations to aid victims of December’s Indonesian tsunami, Northwest relief agencies are aggressively beefing up their Web operations… By adding staff, increasing online budgets, buying more Internet advertising and through other means, the region’s top charities are trying to tap into a funding stream where the average contribution tends to be greater than those received through mailed-in checks and phoned-in pledges.
…..
Perhaps the anonymity might have been a motivator for certain people to give,” she said. “You need all the avenues.

The article says a lot of things that make sense to me.

A new book that defines nonprofit Internet strategy as the intersection of marketing, communications, and fundraising, in an attempt to get at the heart of the question, Why and how should nonprofits use the online medium to further their mission and goals?

More and more, the Internet is where the people are. A website is no longer a luxury - it is a must for communicating information about your nonprofit organization.

But what makes a website a success? In most cases, website quality does not depend so much on the technical complexity as on the strength of the information, the layout of the site, and how well it all supports your organization’s goals and your visitors’ needs. In a recent GuideStar/Network for Good survey, Internet users ranked “Significant content on cause” as the most important quality a nonprofit website could have. Read more…