No More Homeless Pets Forum
April 5, 2004

E-mail, the Internet, and Technology

Gail Berrigan

How can technology help your shelter? How do you use it if you are not a geek? What about e-mail and all the information floating around out there? Kate Schnepel of No More Homeless Pets in Utah and Joy Jett, Gail Berrigan, and Paul Berry of Best Friends will answer your questions about managing e-mail, creating a website, computerizing your records, managing databases, getting donations online, and anything else you ever wanted to know about using technology to help the animals.

Introduction from Kate Schnepel:

I returned recently from a conference on fundraising where many of the sessions I attended had an emphasis on using the Internet and e-mail in fundraising efforts.

After being exposed to dozens of possible approaches, what felt like hundreds of pieces of software, and several research studies, which offered conflicting results, I felt a bit overwhelmed. What were the best choices for our organization? What could we feasibly implement? Where should I begin?

As technology advances at a faster and faster rate, the urge to simply throw up our hands in defeat becomes ever more appealing. But the truth is, we don't have to strive to be at the cutting edge of technology -- our organizations can benefit greatly from just the basics: websites, e-mail newsletters, online membership drives, etc. And while even these things can seem intimidating at first, with some planning and attention they quickly become achievable.

I look forward to sharing what I've learned, and to learning from all of you as well.

Introduction from Joy Jett:

E-mail is an inexpensive and fast way to respond to your members' questions. Online forums, such as this one and the Best Friends Members & Pets forum, are even more efficient modes of communication -- your one response can reach thousands of people! And where do you find answers that you don't know off the top of your head? Why, the Internet, of course!

I look forward to answering your questions about how e-mail and the Internet can work for you.

Introduction from Gail Berrigan:

The Internet has helped many rescue groups find homes for animals by reaching a wider audience. Through your website, you could have a national impact! Whether your priority is being an information resource or increasing the number of spay/neuters locally, a website is an essential tool for promoting your organization. Is yours as effective as it can be?

For starters, here are some questions to consider: Does your website reflect your priorities? Is essential information clear, complete and easy to find? Does your site communicate the "big picture" about what your group does? Does it make people want to come back and visit regularly? Do you have the right resources to manage your site and keep content up-to-date?

E-mail your questions and let's talk about designing, creating, managing and maintaining your site. A few simple tips and suggestions can improve most websites.

Introduction from Paul Berry:

Our constituents in the No More Homeless Pets Movement are not just the donors who finance our operations. Our constituents are also the folks who adopt our rescues, the vets who give us price breaks, the precious few media contacts who cover our work, and especially the volunteers who foster rescues, trap cats and work our events. This sum constituency is the core asset to any group on the move -- and balanced growth in all aspects of the base is inextricably linked to the overall success of the mission.

As the base grows, so grows the complexity of how constituents relate to your organization -- such as when the long-time donor adopts a special needs pup and uses your spay voucher, or the volunteer/rescuer becomes an in-kind donor of legal services, etc. The need to keep this all straight should be a no-brainer, but figuring out how to accomplish it all can make your hair fall out (see my promo pic for this forum).

There are no off-the-shelf products that provide a one-stop solution for tracking donations, correspondence, fees, vouchers, discounts, adoption prospects and outcomes (for both animals and contacts, etc.). But, with some smart planning, there are cost-effective ways to get it done.

If you've been putting this stuff off, now's a great opportunity to get in touch with your inner geek. Tune in to this week's forum and read how your group -- no matter how large or small -- can take advantage of technology to better know your constituent base and streamline your growth.

Questions

Telling which e-mails are hoaxes
Having a database that multiple people can access remotely
Collecting e-mail addresses from supporters
Using technology for nonprofit fundraising and learning from Howard Dean's website
Updating a plain website
Accepting online donations
Registering in different states if fundraising across state lines
Keeping e-mail list serves from getting out-of-hand with nasty e-mails
Finding donated computers
Promoting websites to the public
What Internet fundraising efforts work well?
What do most programmers like to build a website in, and how much to pay for updates?
Using e-mail alerts and updates constructively

Telling which e-mails are hoaxes

Question from Rachel:

We get a ton of e-mail! It ranges from virus warnings to invitations to sign online petitions to people who want help. Can you offer advice on how to manage all of it?

I have heard that there are ways to find out if something circulating on the Internet is just an urban legend, or if it is the real deal. For instance, like the bonsai cat e-mail where they were supposedly growing the cats in bottles. We now know this is fake but when you first get it, you don't know. It usually results in having to field tons of frantic e-mails from volunteers and donors.

Joy Jett's response:

I handle e-mail the same way we rescue animals - one at a time!

It does help, though, if you can compose some standard replies to frequently asked questions which can be modified to fit the specific situation.

There are many websites you can use to check the veracity of suspected urban legends or virus hoaxes. A couple of those that I use often are: http://urbanlegends.about.com and http://www.snopes.com. Both of these sites have search engines, so you can type in the key words.

Hope this helps!

Kate Schnepel's response:

While I don't have an answer to your question about managing large volumes of e-mail, I can direct you to a few web resources for determining whether e-mail or a website is a hoax:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp
http://www.truthorfiction.com

Another easy way to check something out is to search www.google.com. Just type in the word "hoax" and a few key words from the questioned e-mail or site. If it's fake, you'll probably get several sites that tell you so.

Having a database that multiple people can access remotely

Collecting e-mail addresses from supporters

Question from a member:

I am the Development Director at a large urban humane society. I have been asked to create a shelter-wide plan for collecting e-mail addresses. In the past, we have not attempted to collect e-mail addresses; so will be starting from scratch. We would like to collect e-mail addresses for our members, donors, adopters, event attendees, behavior class attendees, etc. I am curious if you might have suggestions about how to start this project.

Several of the employees in different areas of the shelter are not cooperative as they think this is a waste of time and that we will alienate potential supporters with what they refer to as "more junk e-mail." I know that this is an important project! We plan initially to create an e-newsletter and expand as we see necessary and appropriate with donation requests and information about special needs animals. I could use some advice on getting it started in a manner that is non-threatening to the public and my co-workers.

Gail Berrigan's response:

Understanding the potential for resistance to this project is important, but I think the approach you take in your e-mail will work well on your website and in other venues. Explain to people why it's important; what you plan to use the addresses for; what your privacy policy is (if they want to know); and what your security measures are (likewise). If you make the collection of e-mail voluntary and explain your purpose, people will not consider it junk mail. Remember too, a lot of people will be happy to give their e-mail address because they will see it as a way to help support your organization.

You will face some resistance to collecting addresses online (due to concerns about privacy, security, and spamming), so be sure to include in your plan other ways to gather e-mail addresses, such as providing a sign-up sheet for visitors to your facility or at events and fundraisers.

If you collect e-mail addresses online, you will need to create (and clearly post) a privacy policy explaining the collection and use of any personal information (such as e-mail). The best way to do this is to study the policies on other sites and draft a version modeled after one that you like. Confirm your site's specific security measures with your tech group (either internal or vendor) and have a lawyer familiar with Internet law, copyright law, or intellectual property law review your policy.

When it does come time to distribute your mailings online, do, of course, include an easy opt-out or "unsubscribe" option.

Kate Schnepel's response:

The concern about people perceiving your e-mail as more "junk" is valid. To avoid this, just be sure that you have people opt-in to receiving e-mail. Never assume that just because you have someone's e-mail address that you have permission to e-mail him/her. Whenever you are collecting e-mail addresses, simply include a question such as "would you like to receive information from us through e-mail?" If you have e-mail addresses on file for which you haven't yet received permission to use, I would suggest sending a brief e-mail requesting permission to use the address in the future.

If you want to be even more sure that your e-mail messages are welcomed, give your supporters further choices such as how frequently they'd like to receive e-mail and/or what types of e-mail they're interested in (newsletters, pet profiles, fundraising appeals, etc.).

Once you have received permission to send e-mail, it's crucial that the e-mail is clearly identifiable (through its sender name and its subject line) as coming from your organization. People receive so much spam that they often simply scan the "from" and "subject" fields to determine which messages to delete and which to read.

By the way, one good approach to "convert" supporters from direct mail contact to e-mail contact is to promote e-mail contact as a way to cut costs for the organization.

I hope some of this has been helpful and that you are very successful in your efforts...

Using technology for nonprofit fundraising and learning from Howard Dean's website

Question from Marlene:

It seems that technology holds great promise for non-profit fundraising. I looked at the Howard Dean site and was amazed at how much money he raised and how he got so many people involved. Could you share any insights into this? How can grassroots nonprofits use technology in a similar way to make it work for us? Please keep in mind that many of us, like myself, are not good with technology and have no idea how to even use a blog - I'm lucky to even know what it is!

Kate Schnepel's response:

I agree with you that Dean's campaign did an amazing job of rallying support online. While I haven't had much firsthand experience (yet!) with online community building, I did attend several seminars on the topic at a recent fundraising conference.

I'll share some of what I learned:

1. Do everything you can to collect people's e-mail addresses (along with their permission to use them). Use petitions, online polls, contests, etc.

2. When you send a fundraising appeal via e-mail, use html instead of plain text - html e-mail gets a 50% better response.

3. Put a fundraising "ask" in the e-mail signatures of all of your staff members and, if they agree, your volunteers.

4. Be sure to offer a "monthly giving" option on your online donation form. Because they are giving by credit card instead of check, people will be more inclined to choose this option than they would be through traditional direct mail.

5. If you can create an e-mailable joke, cartoon, game, video, etc. that will capture people's attention, your e-mail will be forwarded, and your list of supporters will grow. Be sure your web address and mission are in the e-mail.

6. Try to get a corporate leader to send mass e-mail to his or her employees, encouraging them to donate.

7. Hold a virtual event - simultaneous mini-events in people's homes. People agree to host parties at their homes. They then invite their friends and gather donations online. Then, all of the parties happen on the same night. Check out www.1000dinners.com for an example. You could use www.activegiving.com to organize the event.

8. Dean supporters organized their own meet-ups through www.meetup.com. There's no reason why non-profit organizations can't do the same thing.

Paul Berry's response:

Great questions, Marlene!

A lot of folks have studied Dean's Campaign success and most would summarize that success as two primary accomplishments:
1. They (the Dean Campaign Organizers) "established" a "self-perpetuating" base constituency within the internet community, and
2. They "excited" that base with a "clear set of goals" compatible with Internet use.

I have heard/read a lot of other intriguing blah blah on the Dean phenomenon, but essentially it all boils down to points One and Two above. Following is an attempt at some clarification on those points:

There is some debate on whether at the onset of his campaign, Dean actually set out to "establish" his constituency amongst the internet community. Some believe that constituency simply found him through the Internet. If you remember, early on Dean was actually promoting some fiery populist propaganda, which captured the interests of progressives. Those progressives were already energized against Bush well before Dean ever screamed his first campaign speech. The Dean Campaign simply recognized an opportunity among the restless progressives - and very shrewdly seized on that opportunity. The point that maybe gets missed is that progressives were already organizing on the Internet and (by definition) already using the more progressive Internet resources such as blogs and meetups. The shrewdness of Dean's campaign was, perhaps, less their techno savvy (though of course that was essential) and more that they accurately targeted a very timely message.

The real "Internet" revolution that the Dean Campaign did bring to (adopt from?) that already-forming-constituency-of-progressives-waiting-for-a-candidate-to-scream-their-message group was that the Campaign Organizers used Internet technologies to create a "self-perpetuating", truly democratic campaign structure. This allowed for advocates to both discover and encourage each other across geographic scale as well as converse and even debate on issues with their national candidate via blogs, etc. The ability to "talk" to the campaign fostered a real sense of personal participation among advocates, and the added opportunity of "Talking back" to your candidate definitely sustained a grass-roots enthusiasm of/for the campaign - even on the scale of the Internet.

But you can't forget the obvious: Political campaigns have "clearly defined goals" such that the Campaign striving to elect its candidate and needing money (to buy advertising). Campaign excitement is cultivated by a sustained progress toward those goals. And probably what really galvanized the Dean base early on was that campaign regions across states shared a spirited, singular competition in raising sate-wide funds, the daily accomplishments of which were showcased on the Internet.

To put a finer point on it: the fundraising goals channeled their excitement to a very specific and measurable goal. That goal was to raise money for advertising in your state, and you'll see the results of your efforts (on TV!) in form of advertisements that your fundraising efforts purchased. Quite specific and certain gratification, eh?

So, what does all that mean for us in the No More Homeless Pets Movement with respect to the Internet as a resource for grass roots organizing? Endless opportunities indeed! But as Dean might now bend a once-famous line: "It's the follow-through, stupid." ... He had a well-funded, formidable base, but they didn't follow through and vote! So maybe we learn from his woe and stick to the strength of an internet-based community that is happy to trade an online donation for a fiery message - but not so enthusiastic about leaving the computer (to go vote).

I think, Marlene, your initial questions point to the only sure answers. That in the final analysis, the Dean Campaign really only proved that the Internet is an excellent forum to foster group dialogue AND a superb vehicle for grass-roots fundraising. But, hey, that's plenty cool, right?

So, if you take the balance of what Dean accomplished for consideration in crafting a local or regional internet-based campaign, probably it suggests a basic course of actions:

1. Form an alliance of like-minded groups and
2. Facilitate interactive, internet-based discussion among those groups to
3. Form specific program goals for the alliance that benefit the collective mission and
4. Represent those goals in terms of attainable, internet-based fundraising initiatives and...
5. Get bustin'

Sounds like planning-speak, so I'll offer an example to illustrate, and invite forum readers to do the same.

Here's one: I'll assume you have several groups and individual rescuers in your area that are keen to offer affordable spay/neuter services to pets of lower-income families (?!)... The early internet-based discussion among your alliance might lead everyone to blog about aspirations for a community-based, shared mobile clinic or community-wide spay/neuter voucher fund, etc. The project gets voted on by way of an internet-based survey, the fundraising goals are formed by bulletin Board and then published on site blog (and promoted to local media).

Going forward, local VIPs, Mayor, news anchor, etc., are routinely invited to blog an entry on their reasons for supporting your campaign, why they love their pet, etc. Don't forget pictures! Each group participating uses the campaign website as hub for legitimizing their own fundraising efforts, all of which go into the community-based fund. Use a group calendar to organize fundraising events and follow-up with bulletin Board discussions about what worked or didn't. Invite users to sign up for e-mail alerts on campaign activities.

And when you get 1/3 of the way to your funding goals, go to local businesses and ask them to put up matching gift challenges to other businesses. Promote them on the site, blog, etc. Create an e-mail campaign that asks all recipients to personally send a post card of thanks to supporting business. Or better, send a postcard in gratitude explaining that they bought a product/service. When you get halfway to your goals, go to regional and national foundations, show them what you've accomplished and ask them to help. Guaranteed they'll be impressed with your level of organization! And, why not invite funders to do a blog entry on why they did, or did not, support the effort. Wouldn't that be interesting?

...Anyway, easy to dream up the ideas, I know, but the point is more about the technology which enables the Campaign Organization. One of the biggest challenges for individual participants working a fundraising campaign is keeping up with all those meetings. The technology allows for that in the comfort of one's home (or in between breaks at the other job). Further, donors don't have to go to an "event" to participate, or even stuff a check in an envelope. They can donate online. I think you get the idea...

I hope you follow up with your interest in this topic and forge an online campaign in your area. If you do, please let us know so we can cheer you on. Cool thing is we can participate in it with you from right where we sit. (Count me in for ten bucks.) So keep us posted, Marlene. And again, thanks for the good questions.

Updating a plain website

Question from Rebecca:

We have a very plain Jane FrontPage created website. We'd really like to jazz it up but still keep it clean, sharp and easy to use. We have looked online for templates and have found one or two we like but are hesitant to spend the money. What if a year or two we want to change the entire look and feel of the site? Would it be better to start from scratch, use a template or hopefully find a web designer who will donate the design?

To get an idea of just how plain it is here's the link - http://www.spcafc.org

Gail Berrigan's response:

For starters, it's a given that your site will change - so there's no reason not to go ahead with the design template you like now. Change is the nature of the beast when it comes to this technology. You can see this as a technical challenge, or you can appreciate the flexibility and freedom it allows you... printed materials don't change once published, but a website does. But you do want to plan for it. As for "jazzing" it up, you don't need to add Flash animation or 3D rotating logos - just adding some color and nice photos would help a lot!

You're basically starting at the very beginning, so here's my advice:

Plan your site
Identify the content/materials you want to include and generally try to categorize it: news, adoptions, organizational information, donations, etc. Consider any ideas at this stage, even if you are not ready to implement them (a behavioral advice column; "employee of the month" recognition; an online survey... ) Note: put this all down on paper! If you're feeling very adventurous, you might even try mapping the site structure (someone will have to do this eventually and it's an invaluable and essential process).

Try to have more than a vague idea of what each item will be. Is organizational information just contact information or does it include a history of your organization? (Overviews are always a good idea: don't assume your audience knows who you are, because on the web, unlike the "real" world, you never know who's going to drop by!)

Now, assess your content realistically. If you want a news section, do you have someone to update it at least weekly? If it's not going to change but once every 6 months, don't create a section for it (or call it "News"). Maybe it's a quarterly update, or an online newsletter (spring issue, summer issue, etc.) Be careful with news, especially. One of the most common mistakes people can make is to have a news section with stories that haven't been updated since 2002. This makes people wonder if you're still in business.

Once you're determined that your categories match the actual content you will produce, you can consider how to build your site.

Hiring Resources
If you are going to work with a designer, don't assume they will tell you what you want. Go to them prepared with ideas (see planning above). They may know design, but they don't know your organization or your priorities. You need to tell them this. (And if they don't get it, either they are not the right "fit" or you need to talk some more.)

Talk is cheap; professional web design and programming isn't. Certainly, a good place to start is with a volunteer who wants to help and is qualified. Just because someone volunteers to help you with your site doesn't mean they're the right person or group to do it! Ask to see samples of their work. Talk to clients they have worked with. Talk to them - do you communicate well together? Do they inspire confidence? Then start with a small project - a home page design is a great place to begin. In addition to seeing what ideas they come up with, it will give you an idea of what it will be like to work together. If it's a small or new design company, ask if they will do this project on spec (free).

The precaution with using a volunteer to build your website is that you really need this resource to be reliable and available. Build your website on a solid foundation so you don't have to go back to square one if you lose this resource.

Doing It Yourself
You mentioned finding a template you liked. If you have a volunteer who knows coding, but isn't a designer, having a template to start with is great. (FrontPage has several of them, as does Dreamweaver.) Consider too that you might be able to recreate a similar version of this design on your own. This gets back to the question of resources.

Designing and managing your own site certainly has its advantages (namely, it will be cheaper and more convenient to maintain). But while anyone can publish a web page using FrontPage, not everyone can build and integrate a collection of pages (and applications) into a site. Many web hosting companies bundle design and hosting services for a reasonable price and they may be willing to donate their services. Shop around on prices, and since you should visit the agency at least once to meet the people doing the work, don't go too far outside your area. If you do choose to do it yourself, keep it very simple at the start. Like anything, getting started is the hard part and there will be a big learning curve. Get comfortable with publishing your site (and possibly even start to enjoy it), before you get too ambitious!

Here are a few good rules of thumb when designing your site (these ideas are also simple ways to improve an existing site):

1. Make your home page dynamic. Rather than putting your logo and mission statement on your home page (which will never change), make space for a photo that you can fill in many ways: a photo of an adoptable animal; a recent adoption; an event you just had; a photo of staff playing with the animals at the shelter. Change it frequently. This gives people a reason to come back, and also gives a sense that things happen at your organization.

2. Keep your navigation simple and consistent. Always keep the main sections of your site accessible. (A common mistake is to lose the top-level navigation once you've drilled down a few levels.) Avoid confusing or redundant navigation.

3. Make sure everything on your site works! Problems here often stem from simple negligence, so check your site regularly (spot checking is ok). If you offer online donations, even if you use a third party vendor like Pay Pal or iGive, make sure the forms work as they should. I've seen online donation forms that you can fill out but can't submit or video that takes a year and a day to download. This is another good reason not to let the scope of your site get out of hand.

4. Check and update your links and navigation on a regular basis. If you make changes to your site and move pages from one section to another, make sure the links still work. Also, remove offsite links that are no longer active. You should consider long-term maintenance when you add the links to begin with. Unless you're making a directory page, open a new window when linking to other websites (to keep people on your site).

5. Make sure your contact information is complete and easy to find. Remember, someone looking at your site may not even know what state you are in. Don't assume your audience is local.

After looking at your site, my main comment relates to overall sense of purpose. There are good ideas here, but the general structure seems a bit haphazard (perhaps it hasn't yet been customized for your organization). I would put the page about services (http://www.spcafc.org/services.html) front and center because this section best describes what your group is actually doing in the community.

A few more specific comments and suggestions:

Consolidate your navigation and keep it consistent. There are three different navigation systems on your home page. I suggest you group your forms together ("Feedback", surveys), and fix the navigation in one place (top or left). I think bottom navigation is used to best effect for the nuts and bolts, "no-brainer" items: hours, job openings, contact info, search, etc.

If you don't have content ready for a section yet, either put a notice about that on the page ("Coming Soon") or wait until you have the content before posting a link to it (see http://www.spcafc.org/toc.html)

Conventionally, the logo that appears on every page of your site would link to your home page.

Keep your home page appealing and positive. Happy photos help a lot. Good use of color helps. (An example of a site that uses color very nicely is www.kcpets.org.)

Post an overview of your site. List the sections on your site and explain what people will find there. This helps people navigate and also notifies them of materials they might not be aware of.

Put your complete address in your global navigation! Consider how many Franklin Counties in the country there are!!!

In closing, I will stress once more that while you may not be experienced in web design, you are very familiar with your organization. Think about your website as an introduction (or even presentation) to a group of strangers. Think about what you'd want them to know about SPCA of Franklin County, and let that guide your design. Good luck!

Kate Schnepel's response:

While it looks like you've made a good start with your current site, I think you're right to be considering a redesign. As you know, the current site doesn't have much personality. It's also missing something very important: pictures of dogs and cats. The great thing about websites is that, unlike traditional printed informational materials, you can use as many pictures and as much color as you want without affecting the price. In your redesign, be sure to take advantage of this by putting up lots of heart-tugging photos.

I suggest staying with FrontPage whether you purchase a template or find a volunteer designer. The reason is that FrontPage is a very simple program, which means that you won't have to pay someone who is tech-savvy to edit your site - anyone who is reasonably skilled with computers will be able to make the ongoing updates. Incidentally, many website designers look down on FrontPage, so be sure that they know in advance that that's the program you'd like to use.

College campuses are a great place to find volunteer designers. Post a flyer or contact relevant professors to find students who may be willing and able to help.

One other thing to keep in mind when redesigning your site is the way your information is organized. When I visited your current site, it took me several clicks to find information on adoption and spay/neuter. I would suggest putting links to this information right on the front page. Think about your site's potential visitors and the reasons they may have for visiting your site - then design the site with them in mind.

Good luck.

Accepting on-line donations

Question from a member:

We'd like to be able to take online donations, but have no idea where to start. We do have a basic website, but don't have a credit card machine to process cards or know what requirements we need to meet.

Kate Schnepel's response:

There are many companies that make it easy to accept donations online. They generally take a small percentage of each transaction and then cut you a check once or twice a month. You place a banner on your website that, when clicked, takes people directly to your donation page on the company's server.

Network for Good (www.networkforgood.org) is a popular choice. Active.com (http://www.active.com/activegiving) is another. You can find many others at a terrific website called the Nonprofit Matrix (www.nonprofitmatrix.com). Be sure to shop around and compare fees and features.

Using one of these sites is a great way to test the online donation waters. If you do well, you may eventually want to invest the time and money to collect and process donations directly from your own site.

Paul Berry's response:

The fastest track I can think of is to first have your web programmer build a web form to accept basic online donations. This web form should at least require Name, Address, City, State, e-mail address, amount field and credit card info, including billing address, credit card type and credit card number and expiration date.

Since secure transactions are a concern, I recommend that you go with an online credit card processing company such as Verisign. Verisign can do the credit card validation, secure transaction processing, auto-deposit donations to your bank account, as well as maintain the useful data for each transaction including various statistics on transaction trends. If you go with a service provider such as Verisign you can be up and running fairly quickly, and you won't have the worries of security issues, credit card processing, etc. They can do all that for you.

The only caveat to this approach is regarding the web form. If you want to offer various levels of giving such as member categories, etc., you may want to invest in an off-the-shelf shopping cart. Cart software is relatively inexpensive these days, fairly easy to configure, and can really streamline process for building more complex functionality into online donation forms. Just Google "shopping Cart" and see the vast offerings.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Registering in different states if fundraising across state lines

Question from Julie:

A member asked about online donations and Kate Schnepel suggested www.networkforgood.org. However, on their website it states, "If you link your organization's website directly to the Network for Good Giving System as described below, you should be aware that doing so may be considered a solicitation of charitable contributions subject to registration and regulation by statute in approximately 38 states. Several of these state statutes consider the solicitation to be made where the donor resides, and to have occurred whether or not a contribution is made. Since the Network for Good Giving System is not limited to a single state or states, linking your site to the Network for Good Giving System could require your organization to register in multiple states."

Our organization had considered online donations, but we were concerned about this. Do you have any suggestions or comments?

Kate Schnepel's response:

Your question is a good one, and it was a common one at the fundraising conference I attended recently. The general consensus among professional fundraisers is that charities probably don't need to worry about multi-state registering for their online fundraising unless they are directly soliciting people in other states via direct mail, e-mail, advertising, etc. Of course, I'd suggest that the best choice is to consult an attorney before making a decision. That way you'll know exactly what you're getting in to.

The National Association of State Charity Officials has put together recommendations for states to follow when determining whether a given non-profit needs to register in their states. The recommendations can be found at http://www.nasconet.org/public.php?pubsec=4&curdoc=10. It's a long read, but the gist is that they recommend that charities only be required to register in a given state if they
a). solicit donations directly from residents of that state, or
b). receive donations from that state on a "repeated or ongoing basis."

Remember that these are just recommendations, and don't necessarily comply with state laws as they are currently written.

If you decide to go the route of filing for a permit in all of the states that require it, you can use the "Unified Registration Statement" to apply for 36 out of the 40 states in question. The form is online at http://www.multistatefiling.org. The site also provides links to filing regulations for each of the 4 states not covered by the multi-state form. Fun stuff :-)

Incidentally, because all public websites are accessible by people all over the world, I believe it doesn't matter whether you collect donations via your own website or via a site like Network For Good. You're still facing the same questions about multi-state filing.

If you're hungry for more information check out the following site which, although a bit dated, covers the topic extensively: http://www.muridae.com/nporegulation/foreign_solicitation.html.

Paul Berry's response:

Important question Julie. Thanks for asking.

It is true that many states require out-of-state non-profits to "register" the organization in a given state if the organization solicits donations from citizens in that state. And the requirements and standards of registration vary from state to state. To complicate matters further, many states require that organizations register with different state agencies depending on the "type" of donation being solicited/received. For example, in the state of New Jersey, your organization would have to register with three separate agencies in that state if you intended to solicit/receive Charitable Gift Annuities from within that State. By contrast, Texas would only require that the organization register with the Department of Insurance. Many states further require complex annual financial reporting, subject to significant fines (New York fines $250/day late fee).

These complex, variant, state-by-state barriers are the product of what conservatives promote as "State's Rights." Other terms for this are "Self-Regulated Bureaucrazies". Or, to borrow a favorite phrase from Michael Mountain, I like: "Isolated Fiefdoms of Petty Chaos".

Anyway, the bummer is if you want to solicit out-of-state donations, you will need to commit yourself to the pains of investigating the registration requirements of every state where you plan to solicit donations. The applications, of course, can be insanely complicated, too, so you may need to get legal or CPA guidance. Best approach is to take your time, state-by-state, starting with states that make best sense for your organization (neighboring states first, etc.). Good luck.

Keeping e-mail list serves from getting out of hand with nasty e-mails

Question from a member:

We currently have a yahoo groups for all the local groups. There are over 100 people on the list. It can be a great resource for sharing information and ideas, but nine times out of ten, it ends up in people getting mad at each other and slamming e-mails back and forth, or posting things they aren't supposed to. Then bunches of people complain, because they are getting too many, unimportant e-mails. How can we manage the list to get people to obey the rules and be courteous to each other?

Joy Jett's response:

Best Friends maintains two online forums, this No More Homeless Pets Yahoo group, as well as our Members & Pets forum. Although in very different formats, both forums are highly moderated.

I would recommend that you set guidelines clearly, but gently, stating the purpose of the group. You may refer to the Forum Rules and Information section of our Members & Pets forum as an example.

Yahoo has a whole section of answers to Moderators Questions on their site at http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/messages. Although it may seem harsh to delete messages, or even ban a member from the group, it will truly help keep you to your mission and benefit the group as a whole.

Finding donated computers

Question from Melanie:

Our Board is reluctant to invest in computers and technology, because they feel it is expensive and always getting out of date so quickly. How can I convince them that it will be worth the investment? We have one old slow computer that crashes all the time and I am about to throw it out the window. Do you have any recommendations on how we can get computers donated?

Paul Berry's response:

Businesses often do donate used computers to various causes. But before you go around soliciting for donated equipment, you might consider first evaluating your computer needs. The easiest way to do this is invite a local computer reseller to evaluate your operations and provide recommendations on ways to automate your business processes (they typically do this for free).

Ask for a formal document detailing recommended software applications and hardware. If your Board doesn't agree that need is warranted, and you remain convinced of the need, I suggest you make it a personal project and work the phones to either get funds donated for the purchase or ask around local businesses to see if any would consider donating or selling at discount used equipment sufficient to meet your needs. Good luck.

Kate Schnepel's response:

I can imagine your frustration at working with such an outdated computer. Here are some things you could try: put a computer on your newsletter "wish list" (if you have one), contact I.T. departments at medium to large local companies and let them know of your needs, send an e-mail stating your need out to your e-mail list and request that people forward it on to others who may be able to help, post flyers at local computer stores. (Maybe someone buying a new computer will see your flyer and donate their old machine to you).

Once you have a newer computer, you can find amazing discounts on software at www.techsoup.org.

Comment from Kathy:

I do programming for banks on IBM AS/400s and am somewhat familiar with networking. If you would like to have more than one computer, a couple ways to do it are: Spend your $$ on a server, or just try to get one high capacity CPU donated, that can be your server, especially if you are small, your stations do not require a lot if everything is stored on the server. Often you can even have them boot to the network off a disk, essentially requiring next to nothing in your workstation machine, this allows you to use older slow PC's and make them quite effective. You can also check with Microsoft for software for non-profits that you can run on the network.

Another option for a server is the AS/400s we run off. When new they are $20,000 machines, but an old 170 can sell for $1000 and give you all the room you need. See if anyone on your Board knows someone that can give you some free networking advice, or suggestions on simple cheap solutions. Also, you may have a local PC store that takes in trades, hit them up for donations, or see how much they can upgrade your current equip. Remind them you are non-profit and it is a tax write off. Offer to post a thank you to them in the lobby for helping you upgrade your system. Anyone can e-mail me for ideas, toozie@wtp.net, but I am not an expert. Most computer people like to be cutting edge, you just need to find and advisor who is willing to look at things from your perspective and go for functioning and practical at low cost.

Promoting websites to the public

Question from Marsha:

We just re-did our website and think it is really good! It has tons of information available for the public on our programs and others in the community, and has really good information on adoption, spay/neuter, and behavioral issues.

Our problem is that we don't know how to let the public know about it, so it is getting very few hits other than us admiring it! How do you promote the website and get the word out to the general public who may not be on your mailing list?

Kate Schnepel's response:

Your options for promoting your site will depend a lot on your budget. I'll try to address several possible budget scenarios in the hopes that at least some of the information will be useful to you...

Scenario 1: No Budget
In this scenario, the most important thing is to put your website address on absolutely everything you print: adoption applications, posters, flyers, t-shirts, cage cards, brochures, classified ads, etc. You can supplement this strategy by writing radio PSA (public service announcement) scripts. Distribute them to all of the radio stations in your area, requesting free banner ads on local websites, etc. Also, be sure to submit your site to all of the major search engines.

Scenario 2: Small Budget
If you have some money to spend, I'd suggest doing all of the above plus: bumper stickers, small radio buys (try to get them to "match" your buy...basically, you pay for a certain amount of spots and then they match the deal for free), display ads in small newspapers (alternative weeklies, etc.), and booths at community events.

Scenario 3: Big Budget
We've had great luck with billBoard and busBoard campaigns promoting our website. The key with both of these is to keep your message extremely simple, the fewer words the better. Our current billBoards have a beautiful picture of a dog or cat and the phrase "adopt at www.utahpets.org". We've been able to get busBoard space donated before, which left us only having to pay printing costs (approx. $40 per Board depending on size...a great deal for such high-impact advertising). A bigger budget will also allow you to expand your radio presence. One radio option to consider is underwriting your local NPR affiliate. Listeners to NPR are a great adoption demographic.

Gail Berrigan's response:

Short of an advertising budget, you won't get your message out overnight. But, there are plenty of ways to promote your website that your group can and should be doing. Here are a few suggestions:

- ALWAYS include your web address in ALL your printed materials (ads in local papers, T-shirts, flyers, mailings, etc.) THIS IS #1!
- Take an ad out in the local paper about your next adoption day or fundraising event and tell people "for more information, visit our website at ..."
- Are there local billBoard services you can contact? Perhaps someone would donate the space for your ad.
- Contact your local television station about doing a PSA (public service announcement) about your organization and include the web address in your promo.
- Make up buttons or a batch of animal name tags and distribute them for free at a local grocery store or coffee shop... include your web address on each one. (There are all kinds of variations on this one.)
- At adoption events, tie colorful bandanas on the dogs with the web address
- Make T-shirts for your staff with the web address (and encourage people to wear them!)
- Make bumper stickers with the web address and distribute them at local stores and businesses.

Word-of-mouth is obviously essential. You've probably noticed that most of these suggestions work for promoting your organization in general. A website is a vehicle for your group to distribute information and unless you are doing a unique online promotion (which is another idea), you'll want to make your web address simply a part of a package promo about your group.

A few years ago, when I was producing websites that accompanied television shows, we tried gimmicks like countdown clocks ("12 days until the season premiere! Will Jake solve the puzzle of the lost star? Check the website for important clues!", etc.) The fans of the show were generally on the website anyway, and we don't really know how effective this was, but there's a sound idea here, which is: do you have content on your website that people will want to come back to? As stated, word-of-mouth is going to be one your biggest advertisements. Do you have really cute pictures that someone would want to e-mail to a friend? Do you have discount spay/neuter coupons available? Do you provide an advice column to respond to e-mail inquiries? Your content is probably your best bet to drive traffic to your site.

You didn't mention the size of your community, but small towns usually support local organizations that do service for the community, through free advertising and small business support. In the case of national organizations (like Best Friends), or if you have good resources, as you said, then you want to reach a wider audience.

Your question didn't specifically ask how to promote your website on the web, but that is becoming harder to do unless you pay for it. Search engines rank sites in different ways; Google, for example, ranks according to clicks to your site from other sites. (I frequently get solicited by companies wanting to "promote" Best Friends in exchange for a link, but these offers rarely come from well-established sites... more often that not, in these cases, they've come to you because they think you can help them.) Still, trades may not be a bad way to advertise your site. Trades with some local business websites may expand the audience for your organization. If you want to pursue this route, I suggest trying to add some value to the partnership - maybe the local accountant wants to drum up business with your base of support and will offer a discount for anyone who brings in a coupon from the website. In exchange, they will distribute your new refrigerator magnets with a cute picture of FiFi and your web address.

It's a good question and an ongoing challenge. Hope this helps!

What Internet fundraising efforts work well?

Question from Dominique:

I volunteer for a shelter that does have a website that gets updated on a regular basis. I'm just curious to know what Internet fundraising efforts seem to work quite well. Also interested to know how other organizations use e-mail mailing list(s) to raise funds.

Most of the hits we get are people looking at our animals. People still seem to prefer the old-fashioned way of making their financial contributions or purchases. We do offer on-line purchase of our merchandise as well as of other items through other links that contribute to our organization, such as www.igive.com, etc. Most people also like our website because we don't loose them with "advertising" everywhere (pop-ups, links etc.). How do we try to get them more involved?

Gail Berrigan's response:

If you're curious about what has worked, you've probably already heard of Convio, which has specialized in non-profit online fundraising and has helped organizations like the ASPCA and the Dean campaign raise millions in online donations. Convio specializes in "customer relationship management," which means integrating your donor mailings with your PR campaigns with your online newsletters with your recruitment efforts... etc., and they seem to have good success at it. But, I'll come back to Convio in a minute. First, the basics on your own site:

A quick checklist on your site should cover things like:
- Does your donation form work as it should? Is it easy to submit? Ask friends or volunteers to try it and give you their honest opinion. Even if you are using a third party vendor, like iGive, test your forms.
- Is your donation form easy to find? When Best Friends simply moved the Donate link higher up on the page, it increased our online donations!
- Do you try targeted vs. general appeals? Experimenting with different categories/options of giving may prove useful. Best Friends will soon be offering online sponsorship of animals as a way to raise money, but this is just one of several avenues of fundraising.

Regarding using e-mail lists for fundraising, I would refer you to some of the other questions we've had about that. As you can imagine, there's an art to fundraising via e-mail.

Back to Convio. Their fees are scalable, which makes it a nice option for small to mid-size organizations that may not have the internal resources to handle database development/management, mass e-mailings, or membership development (look for them at www.convio.com). Even if you don't want to or can't hire them, their website is a good place to pick up on the latest trends and statistics, such as this item from a March 30, 2004 Wall Street Journal article:

Web Savings
"Making a solicitation online costs only 20 cents compared with $1 or more for each direct-mail or telephone solicitation, according to a McKinsey & Co. study published in May 2003. Still, only about 1% of total donations was raised online in 2002, though the Internet's share probably rose to 3% or 4% in 2003, the company says."

Read more at: http://webreprints.djreprints.com/962590279606.html.

There are lots of resources online about how to fundraise online, and you will need to do some research to really answer your question. Organizations like AdvocacyCentral (www.advocacycentral.com) are capitalizing on the notoriety of the Dean campaign to promote "dynamic online grassroots activism" as the key to building both funds and membership. But I would start with a site like http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/misc/990804olfr.html, which is a non-profit that compiles information on online non-profit fundraising efforts.

Note: Much of their information is dated, such as the following excerpt from 2001. Despite being dated, it is probably still instructive.

"Nonprofits that create a website primarily to raise money should assume it might take several years before they actually recover their initial development and maintenance costs...[in a study reported in the October 2001 issue of Fund Raising Management,] 26 nonprofits had yet to raise any money and most nonprofits were finding it took at least four years before their web-based income was more than the development and maintenance expenses... the nonprofits that spent the most on designing their sites were also those who secured the most web-based donations."

The Non Profit Times is an invaluable source of news on many aspects of managing a non-profit business, including online fundraising. Their profiles of actual non-profits can be very insightful, for example, in 2002, they compared the website development and maintenance costs of a handful of national non-profits. Useful information when you present a budget to your Board!
Again, this article is old (2001), but it offers a good perspective on how diversified the world of online fundraising world is: www.nptimes.com/Apr01/sr2.html.

I hope some of this has been helpful. The number of businesses now specializing in online fundraising testifies to the expertise involved. In some cases, the solution really does lie in better organization and management of your data; in other cases, innovation combined with credibility may be the answer.

What do most programmers like to build a website in, and how much to pay for updates?

Question from a member:

We were lucky enough to have our website designed for free by a volunteer. The problem was that they registered everything in their name, and when that person left our group on not the best of terms, it was a huge hassle to get the website registered back to our group. Now we are also stuck trying to find someone to update it all the time and finding someone who knows the codes and format it was created in and who will do it on an on-going basis. This is proving difficult.

What do you think is reasonable to pay someone monthly to update your site and do you have any recommendations on how to find a volunteer to do it? In an earlier post someone mentioned Frontline is a page everyone knows but some programmers don't like. Is there one best format to put your website in that most programs know and like so that we could avoid having people tell us they don't know this or that format?

Paul Berry's response:

Re your statement: "In an earlier post someone mentioned "Frontline" is a page everyone knows but some programmers don't like."

Yep, Programmers can be, you know, "sensitive". In fact, we've actually tried "Frontline" on our web programmer, Vic, here at Best Friends. He didn't appreciate it one bit. But I think you meant FrontPage. (Frontline is a flea and tick deterrent for dogs/cats) For very different reasons, Vic doesn't like FrontPage either.

But seriously, FrontPage is fairly user-friendly and might be quite appropriate for your use if you do not require high-volume database applications within your website. The latest version of FrontPage (2003) is getting very good press and seems an entirely re-engineered product, much more sophisticated than previous versions. So, I wouldn't count it out on reputation.

All that said, I should tell you that (as of this writing) our current Best Friends website was built primarily using FrontPage. We do have a new website in development using Cold Fusion/SQL, however, and we went with this new platform primarily because our plans for the new website require considerable scalability and will need to interface extensively with our new Business System (which also uses SQL). BTW, Vic is quite pleased with the switch from Frontline/FrontPage to Cold Fusion, and to my knowledge he has not suffered any fleas because of it :-)

You also asked " Is there one best format to put your website in that most programs know and like, so that we could avoid having people tell us they don't know this or that format?" Again, FrontPage has an extensive user base and practically anyone who has done web work has some familiarity with it. Safe to say, then, that if you have to bring in a programmer to take over a FrontPage site, the learning curve is pretty easy. Further, if FrontPage capabilities fit your site goals, you should be able to spend less contracting with a FrontPage programmer (up to $40/hr) than a contract programmer for a more specialized system (up to $140/hr). From your questions, it seems FrontPage is certainly worth your serious consideration.

Good luck with your site.

Gail Berrigan's response:

Earlier I made the point that just because you have a volunteer offer to develop your website, it doesn't mean that you should. Of course, any relationship can sour, but your situation testifies to the need for some oversight on the process.

Having said that, a volunteer might still be your best bet. Kate mentioned earlier that colleges are often good places to recruit volunteers and I would add high schools as well. (But, in those cases, you can expect to lose your volunteer in a year or two.) Some people enjoy making websites as a hobby, so you never know where you'll find your web person. No matter where you look, the process for agreeing to work together should entail laying clear ground rules and not assuming the volunteer will "just do it."

The cost of updates will depend on how much material you change and where you live. I think it would be reasonable to pay someone $10-$45/hour freelance, depending on where you are and how much experience the person had. (High-end companies in cities charge about $150 an hour.) It would certainly be cheaper to have a volunteer or in-house staff person update your site, but if that proves to be too much of a challenge, consider advertising in your local paper. There are many independent web designers who work freelance out of their homes, and their fees may be quite manageable for you.

As to software, there is no best format for producing a website. Anyone can post pages using FrontPage, but most people with experience don't use that package as it quickly becomes limiting, not to mention other drawbacks. A range of experience is a good indication of how qualified a person is. If someone told me they only knew FrontPage, I'd think twice about hiring them. In fact, I wouldn't hire them! What I would look for is examples of other work the person had produced. Also, don't be shy about giving someone a test, such as updating an adoptions page with new photos and perhaps reformatting the page layout. If you like the results and like the way you communicated with the new developer, chances are you'll have better luck this time.

Kate Schnepel's response:

The amount you will spend to pay someone to update your site depends on many factors: how often the site needs updating, how complicated the site is, etc. In general, freelance web designers charge an hourly rate rather than a flat monthly fee. Hourly rates vary, but usually range between $25 and $50 for a simple, brochure-type website. If your site has e-commerce features or other complicated features, the hourly rate could be much higher.

To go the volunteer route, your best bet is probably a local college. Also, be sure to ask all of your current and future volunteers for a list of their professional skills. You may find that someone who has been walking dogs also has web design skills.

Comment from Len:

Re: Registering your website name and finding someone to update your site
As you mentioned, getting someone who has registered a site in their name and then leaves the group under less than desirable circumstances is definitely a problem. The best option in this case is to file a request for a domain name transfer from that person's name to yours. A domain name transfer costs about $10, and you can submit the request using a web interface from most service providers.

The key is getting the person to agree to transfer the domain name to you (a process that is handled mostly by e-mail). This process usually takes a couple of weeks. I've been using www.godaddy.com for domain hosting for a couple of years and am very impressed with their prices, customer service and timely responses to problems. You can find better deals, I'm told, but I like to keep all of my domains under one management tool. It helps with things like databases, surveys, domain forwarding, etc.

Keep in mind that regardless of who designs your website - a volunteer or a hired professional - you should always register the domain name using your contact information, credit card, user name, password and e-mail address. Setting up a domain name seems like a complicated process, but trust me. I walk undergraduate students through this process every semester. You can do it! Once you buy the domain name it's a relatively simple process of setting up a "webmaster" account and providing someone else with the ability to design and publish to your site. But this way, if you control the site and need to make a change, control is in your hands.

Comment from Jennifer:

I'm a copywriter who writes Websites... I've just started studying search engine optimization (SEO). It's a science, really, and it changes every few months as technology evolves. Google also ranks based on key words in your site. For example, if you have the phrase "dog adoptions Marshaville," repeated over and over on your site, chances are good that when someone types "dog adoptions Marshaville" into Google, your site will come up first.

So, to promote yourself in the search engines, think about the phrases people will use to search for your type of service, and then pepper those throughout the site. You might even come up with a tagline you repeat on each page, like "Pet adoptions and rescue in Marshaville: dogs, puppies, cats, kittens, birds, ducks"

Google actually has a tutorial on their site that explains SEO well.

Comment from Bob:

I've been reading the ongoing discussion in the NMHP Yahoo group this week and would like to share my experiences in doing the website for CAWS here in Salt Lake City.

Search Engine Exposure:
Early on in the history of our website (www.caws.org), I realized it would be essential for folks to be able to find us. "Build it and they will come" doesn't necessarily work for online presence. If the major search engines don't know you're there, the people you're trying to attract to your website won't, either.

Once your site is up and running, at least submit your site to the following search Engines:
AltaVista - www.altavista.com - click on the link at the bottom of the page "Submit a Site"
Yahoo - www.yahoo.com - click on "How to Suggest a Site" at the bottom of the main page
Google - www.google.com - click on "About Google" then "Submit Your Site".

As each search engine visits your site, keywords will be picked up by each, making it easier for potential visitors to find you. So make sure your site content is fresh and current, and any articles you've written contain words people will actually be looking for.

After a fashion, if you go to Google, for example, and search for your group's name, you may see your site on top! [Try it with CAWS]

Whenever possible, ask other groups or shelters in your area to provide a reciprocal link to your website. In return, you would provide a link back from your site. That way, if someone cannot find the information at your site, they may well find it at someone else's site. Besides - this business isn't (or shouldn't be) a contest to see who gets the more "hits" on their site. Remember we're doing this for the animals!

Regarding "Hits":
To see just how well your site is doing from a visitor's perspective - the areas of your site generating the most visitors - get a subscription to a web counter service. A good one to go with is StatTrax (www.stattrax.com) we've been using it since our site's inception. With over six years of statistics to compare, we can see which areas need to be altered to keep our visitors around. StatTrax has a free two-week trial available; afterwards, it's only $26 for six months.

Fund Raising:
Many opportunities exist for raising funds for your shelter/group, and not just from the straight donation standpoint!

CafePress:
You may have heard about CafePress in the news recently. There was an article on them at NPR during the California gubernatorial race. Their website (www.cafepress.com) shows how you, too, can make some extra money for your organization.

It's simple! Just upload a high-quality graphic (say, your group's logo), choose the graphic's placement on t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, hats, bags, license plate frames, etc. Each item has a base price; you choose how much to charge for each item above that base price, they send you a check. And they handle all the shipping, customer service, billing, and returns, if necessary. You don't have to worry about where to store all that merchandise. Great service!

PETsMART.com:
Go to www.petsmart.com, and click on "Become an Affiliate". After signing up, you'll be directed to a company who partners with PETsMART in providing reporting statistics and advertising banners for your site. After putting a special code on your site that displays those banners, they'll start appearing on your site. Then, each visitor who clicks on your ads and buys a product during that visit will get the peace of mind that they're helping out your group, and you'll get a percentage of the product's price. Then they send you a check.

Well$pent.org - Go to www.wellspent.org, click on "Sign up your cause for free" at the top right. Similar to other affiliate programs, this one is for non-profits only. Visitors get the peace of mind knowing that a percentage of their purchase price goes directly to the cause of their choice. It's free to sign up your cause; after placing a link from your site to theirs, you start reaping the benefits, and, yes, they then send you a check.

Gail Berrigan's response:

Regarding search engines, most of them use web crawlers to search the web, so submitting your website has never ensured a listing on a search engine. Google (now synonymous with "search engine"), powers the search engine on Yahoo; the difference is that Yahoo still edits the display results to make them more readable to users. (Read more about the search methods used by both here: http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2165081). Advertising (paid placements) is most certainly infecting search engines now (you can see it on Google), and it's big business.

Content is your best bet to driving traffic to your site, and I would spend any advertising dollars I had (I don't have any!) on offline venues. Banner ads, links on aggregated charity sites, exchanged links are a questionable use of time and resources, in my opinion, but that doesn't mean don't try them. There's often a lot of clutter that goes along with this, and this tends to turn me off.

Cause marketing is worth exploring, but keep in mind successful fundraising isn't random. Certainly, there are things worth doing. We participate in Ebay's online charity called MissionFish; we applied for (and received) free advertising space on Google; we're listed on Network for Good and on Guidestar (I'm talking now about both advertising and fundraising).

Getting back to search engines, by simple virtue of the fact that Best Friends doesn't have the word "rescue" in our name means we're never going to be listed first (or even in the top 100) in a search on the term "animal rescue". The same is true with animal "welfare". So, in all this, there's effort and then there's effort that leads somewhere!

There are many good resources and opinions on these topics on the Internet.

Comment from Patty:

I hope someone mentions learning on line... via scanning your archived forums, the online courses, fee based, being offered by HSUS (and others).... and the FREE webinars from PETsMART Charities. One shelter is ordering an LCD projector so the whole staff can sit together and participate it them via the projected computer image and a speaker phone! It brings in-service training to groups, like fosters, who may never have had the funds to attend a national conference.

Using e-mail alerts and updates constructively

Question from Madelyn:

There are so many needs in our county that I began e-mailing information to our membership including applicable Best Friends Forums, Freeholder Agendas and our newsletter. Since we were not getting the response I expected from all these good resources, I tried a digest format to cut down on the number of e-mails. Members are not reading them. Usually I begin each e-mail by saying if you don't want to receive this information just send it back, and I'll remove you from the list.

We are a county organization with everyone too busy, e-mail seems like a good resource if only I could learn how to use it more constructively for our group. How do you know what information to send, how often to send it and how to make the most impact with e-mail?

Joy Jett's response:

What is the response that you're expecting? If you're simply disseminating information, then it's entirely possible that people are accessing the information. For instance, they may be visiting the Best Friends forums, without responding back to you. That doesn't mean that your messages are not being read! We're all being inundated with junk e-mails these days.

Carefully choose your subject title to catch your reader's eye and let them know that they want to read your message. I would suggest moving the information about how to remove themselves to the bottom of the e-mail. Like any good piece of writing, start out with the important information first! I also wouldn't send out more than one message per week. If you try to send it on the same day each week, then people will start looking for it. I recommend that you choose your focus carefully. If your county has many needs, then pick one each week that you feel is most important. Explain the need to your membership, and what actions they can take to help. It's also important to know your audience. Are your members local pet owners, or are they interested in getting involved in rescue or activism? For instance, Best Friends magazine goes to our general membership, which are mostly pet owners. So we gear our articles toward them. Our weekly e-mail newsletter, on the other hand, goes to members of our Best Friends Network. These are people who have already indicated that they want to get more involved in helping animals in their area. So we can be more specific about rescue needs or issues in which they can help out.

E-mail, the Internet, and Technology

Introduction from Kate Schnepel:

Introduction from Joy Jett:

Introduction from Gail Berrigan:

Introduction from Paul Berry:

Questions

Telling which e-mails are hoaxes

Question from Rachel:

Joy Jett's response:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Having a database that multiple people can access remotely

Question from Michelle:

Paul Berry's response:

Comment from Christine:

Collecting e-mail addresses from supporters

Question from a member:

Gail Berrigan's response:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Using technology for nonprofit fundraising and learning from Howard Dean's website

Question from Marlene:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Paul Berry's response:

Updating a plain website

Question from Rebecca:

Gail Berrigan's response:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Accepting on-line donations

Question from a member:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Paul Berry's response:

Registering in different states if fundraising across state lines

Question from Julie:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Paul Berry's response:

Keeping e-mail list serves from getting out of hand with nasty e-mails

Question from a member:

Joy Jett's response:

Finding donated computers

Question from Melanie:

Paul Berry's response:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Comment from Kathy:

Promoting websites to the public

Question from Marsha:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Gail Berrigan's response:

What Internet fundraising efforts work well?

Question from Dominique:

Gail Berrigan's response:

What do most programmers like to build a website in, and how much to pay for updates?

Question from a member:

Paul Berry's response:

Gail Berrigan's response:

Kate Schnepel's response:

Comment from Len:

Comment from Jennifer:

Comment from Bob:

Gail Berrigan's response:

Comment from Patty:

Using e-mail alerts and updates constructively

Question from Madelyn:

Joy Jett's response: