publication date: Aug 16, 2011
|
author/source: Fraser Green
Every month, Ryann Miller and Fraser
Green review the website of a selected Canadian charity, focusing on its
fundraising effectiveness. (Ryann Miller is on vacation this month.) It's a
chance for the charity to receive personal coaching from two experts on online
communication and fundraising.
Fraser: This
month, we've been asked to look at the site of the
Ottawa Food Bank. I've spent some time on
this site - and I think I'm falling in love!!
Now I don't look at sites from an online giving point of
view. Rather, I look at them through the eyes of a potential donor who is using
the site to decide whether or not to make a first gift. As you well know, most
prospective donors today have a look at a charity's website before they make
that all-important first gift.
My question when I check out a new site is simply "does it
motivate me to give?"
Long list of great
features
There's just so much
about this site that I think is great:
- I love the
disposable dinner plates with the magic marker notes on the home page. It's so
simple. So imaginative. Within a couple of seconds, those plates had me
thinking "I like these guys." Brilliant.
- There's a menu
across the top of the home screen with a tab called "face of hunger." When I
clicked on it, I came across stories of food bank users - like the 30-year-old
woman with MS who can't afford groceries on her disability pension. This makes
the cause - and the food bank - very human to me.
- I'm a big values
and beliefs guy. On the "get help" page, there's a section called "don't go hungry."
It reads in part, "we're committed to the ideal that no one in this region
should ever have to struggle with hunger." There it is. The core of the onion
(no pun intended). I love it when an organization tells me the principle(s)
that guide and direct what they do.
- There's just so
much great stuff on this site. A map of the city that shows me where I can drop
off food. I can organize a "bring your lunch money" day at work where we bring
our own lunch and donate what we would have spent at a restaurant. And they
even have a baby supply cupboard that helps with formula, baby food and
diapers.
- This site makes
many ways of giving so easy. They
even have a decent planned giving page with a photo and testimonial of a
bequest donor.
- Last but not
least, I just think this site looks great. It's simple. It's clean. There's
lots of great information - yet there's lots of space. It doesn't feel crowded
or cluttered. Somebody at the Ottawa Food Bank knows what they're doing!
(Whoever he or she is, a raise is definitely in order!)
Still
room for growt
Now, let me (try to) turn to some
criticisms:
- I'd like the
site to turn up the emotional pitch. They imply pain and suffering - but they
don't take me there. A site like this should be able to make me feel hungry and
alone. They don't seem to want to go there - and I think they should.
- I would like
some more visuals. I'd like to see photos of people and food together. I think
some video would make a great addition to the site.
- I'm not a fan of
clubs and societies in general. I think the header that reads "Join our monthly
giving club" is kind of lame. How about "hunger knows no season" or "hunger
doesn't just happen at Christmas"? I think there's a more powerful way to
communicate this message.
All in all, I've just been swept up by this site. It looks
great. It's full of great programs and great ways to give. It's easy to read
and easy to navigate. This site makes the organization look absolutely first-rate.
So, let me go back to my rating criteria. I look at a site
from the perspective of someone who's thinking of making a first gift. From
that point of view, I'm happy to award the first A+ since we began this monthly series.
I'd like to talk more about this - but I've got to go dig up
my VISA number!
Fraser Green is chief strategist at Good Works,
a consulting firm that teaches charities how to tell their stories with more
passion, emotion and soul. He specializes in donor listening and coaching
charities on how to meet their donors' expectations, wants and needs.
Fraser's website is www.goodworksco.ca - in case you want to pronounce your web jury judgment on him!
