Is your website working for you?  If not, you may have made The Biggest Mistake.

I’ve looked at a lot of nonprofit websites.  Many look as though they were thrown together at the last minute or were done in response to someone saying “We need a website”.  Some are design nightmares - hard to read with too many fonts and too much text on each page.  Others haven’t been updated in years.

The Biggest Mistake you can make when it comes to websites is not being clear about the website’s purpose and desired results.

What is your website’s purpose?  If your website is simply to provide information, then put all the basics on it and make it easy to read and navigate.  If you want to raise money with your website, then tell stories about those you are helping or the good you are doing, and offer an easy way for people to donate.

You must post fresh content regularly (monthly is ideal).  If repeat visitors to your website see the same stale, out-of-date information every time they visit, they’ll stop coming.

Your website is no different than any other communications tool.  If you are clear about what you want it to do, it’s much easier to be successful with it.

I attended a major donor event tonight with one of my coaching clients.   It was a really nice reception before another event - sort of a VIP reception with wine and food before the premier of a documentary film at a special venue. 

Only about 20 people were invited and nearly all were there.  With such a small group, all of them had face-to-face time with the Executive Director, which was great!  Many of them knew each other and seemed to enjoy the time to chat and catch up with one another.

The ED did a short program, giving an update on the organization’s activities.  With such a small group, there were questions and informal discussion.

Our purpose in having the event was to connect with some of the organization’s major donors, which we did; to bring them up to speed on the organization’s work, which we did; and to set the stage for my client to follow up with individual conversations with them.  Mission accomplished!

If you write grants then you know that it can be hard deciding how much to ask for.

Here’s a great way to solve that problem!

Check out Guidestar (www.guidestar.org).  They keep a database of nonprofits, including foundations, along with a ton of information about each one.  One of the most helpful things that they have is the organization’s tax return or 990.

In a foundation’s 990, they report their assets (interesting to know), their Board of Directors (also interesting to know), who they gave to during the reporting year (very interesting!) and how much they gave to each (VERY interesting!!). If you haven’t looked at many 990s you’ll have to get used to wading through a lot of numbers that you won’t care about.  Typically, there are additional pages at the back that list who the foundation gave grants to and how much they gave.  This will give you a good idea of how much to ask for.

I like seeing who else they gave to.  If I work for a food pantry and I see that the foundation supported two other food pantries, I am definitely going to ask them for money, because it looks like feeding the hungry is one of their focus areas.

It takes a little bit of time, but it’s time well spent if it helps you focus your grant request.

I got this question today and thought I’d bring it to the front for others to learn from.

We had a great event last March where about 60 people agreed to 1 - 3 year pledges. The first invoices were sent a few months ago and there are 3 or 4 folks who have still not sent in a payment. How do we handle this?

Vic

I’d send them another invoice with a letter reminding them of the event and the pledge they made. Often, people get busy and they forget. Another reminder will probably bring most if not all of the payments in.

In the letter, I’d tell them that if their circumstances have changed and they need to change their pledge, to simply call and let you know. With the economy the way it is, it’s possible that someone’s ability to pay a pledge right now may be impacted. Be patient and work with folks, and even let them off the hook if need be.

If after you send the reminder letter you still have unpaid pledges, it’s time to pick up the phone and call. 

Be kind and understanding and you’ll likely get the result you are looking for - pledge payments!