Think carefully before adding a 'donate' mechanism to a Facebook supporter group

The past few years have seen the rise and rise of social networking sites on the internet. Many charities have leapt into this new sea of opportunity - or at least paddled in the shallows. Nearly everyone has at least thought about whether they should have a Facebook page.

Most social networking sites now allow charities to create some form of group that the public can join. The 'owner' of the group can then email its members through the site, add applications for members to download to their profiles and ask them to promote their 'activism' to their friends.

Some sites also offer the option for supporters to donate to the charity through the groups they join. There is no evidence yet that these 'donate' mechanisms have been successful in the UK, although there appear to have been some huge winners in the US.

One thing to watch is what you get from these donations. Do you get the donors' names and addresses? Is there data protection opt-in? Are you giving donors a Gift Aid option, or do you just get the money?

If you do not have a donation option on your website - or you don't have a site - then using a social networking site might be better than nothing. But if you offer the opportunity to donate through your own site, it could be better to add a link on your group page to the 'donate' page on your main site. That way you can get supporters' details, offer opt-in and Gift Aid, and control any follow-up thank-you messages. Cash in hand may seem attractive, but it is names that allow you to build relationships.

If these new networks are the only way you can reach a younger audience, they deserve a close look. But it is important to balance the ease with which the donor can give against the benefits of data capture and building relationships.

Usability MOT won by Norwood

Cogapp, the digital media and user experience company, today announces Norwood as the winners of its third sector competition, which launched on World Usability Day (12 November). The judges included Dr Graham McAllister, senior lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Sussex and Pete Gale, head of user experience at Cogapp.

Pete Gale, head of user experience at Cogapp said: “We had a significant response to our competition, which clearly shows the need amongst charities for a well conceived and user-friendly website. It was a tough decision, but we ultimately selected Norwood because they made the strongest case for our usability consultancy. They have some incredible content and stories to tell, but they also need to reach a wide group of people and families with different needs. Making this information easier to access and navigate will make a big difference to their fundraising and communication efforts.”

Assaf Admoni, Norwood’s director of commercial services, said: “Norwood is honoured to receive this prize. Our online presence, which spans five websites, is crucial to our ability to effectively reach our stakeholders. As a charity, we offer life-changing support each year to thousands of people with learning disabilities and children and families in need. But finding the best way of communicating the incredible opportunities that exist within our large portfolio of services is always a challenge.

“This prize will provide us with a valuable opportunity to enhance our sites both for our service users and supporters and ultimately benefit those that need it most.”
Norwood’s prize is a website usability MOT from Cogapp which includes four one-on-one in-depth user testing sessions followed by a usability workshop and the development of a usability action plan on how to improve their website’s effectiveness.

http://www.cogapp.com/

http://www.norwood.org.uk/