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How to Keep Your Organization Relevant Online: 3 Tips

February 13, 2023 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Online conversations move quickly. Your nonprofit fundraisers can underperform if you aren’t able to capture your supporters’ attention.

Whether your nonprofit already has a digital strategy or is just branching out to online platforms, an overview of how to maintain attention online can be helpful for maintaining your audience. We’ll review three tips for attracting and holding your supporters’ interest in highly competitive online spaces.

1. Create regular engagement opportunities.

When determining your approach to a social media site, first consider why supporters use that platform. Are they looking to connect with friends? Interact with new people? Create content themselves? Knowing what your audience is looking to do on social media first will help you shape your engagement strategy.

Your audience will likely scroll quickly through most posts they see online. However, they are far more likely to remember content that invites them to engage with it. Your approach to engaging supporters will depend on the platform, but it may include:

  • Interacting with supporters online. When someone comments on one of your posts, whether they’re asking for more information or sharing a personal story about how your cause relates to them, respond to their message. This type of communication shows that there is a person behind your organization who is interested in what supporters have to say, creating memorable connections.
  • Creating content that encourages comments. Your nonprofit should aim to create shareable content that your audience will spread to their friends and family. One approach is designing content that encourages comments. These might be posts that ask questions, invite supporters to share a story, vote in a poll, take a survey, or otherwise share their thoughts. Many social media sites also have algorithms that will promote content with many comments to other users.
  • Encouraging supporters to make their own content. You can build a community online by encouraging your current supporter base to interact with your new social media accounts through their own content. For example, during and after a volunteer day, you might help supporters take photos of their hard work, then encourage them to tag your social media accounts when they post them.

Engaging content will help you create a strong first impression. Create a social media calendar to manage your posting schedule and ensure you are regularly engaging the supporters your first posts attracted.

2. Empower your supporter community.

Regularly creating new content for your social media accounts is important but also time-consuming. To cultivate an active online community, your organization should  empower supporters to hold conversations about your nonprofit between posts.

Nonprofits rely on highly dedicated supporters known as “superfans.” These superfans are passionate about your nonprofit and willing to advocate on your behalf. You can encourage these superfans to continue promoting your nonprofit by:

  • Highlighting key supporters. Public recognition can go a long way towards deepening a supporter’s commitment to your cause. Show your appreciation and draw attention to interesting projects in your community by creating support spotlights. These could be features in your nonprofit’s newsletter, blog, or social media accounts.
  • Providing communication channels. Supporters will stay engaged with your nonprofit if they have other supporters to talk to about your cause. Encourage supporters to interact with one another in the comments of your posts, whether they’re on a social media platform or your blog. Nonprofits with membership programs can consider creating forums where supporters can engage with one another and create their own discussion threads.
  • Establishing a group identity. There are many ways to build a community, and you can encourage supporters to form a connection with your organization faster with branding. Give your dedicated supporters a name to help them identify as part of a group. For example, the Big Brothers Big Sisters youth mentoring nonprofit calls their volunteers “big brothers” and “big sisters,” providing a sense of community identity.

Ensure your supporters are aware of the resources you provide to encourage their involvement in your community. DNL OmniMedia’s nonprofit website design guide lists “ways to get involved” as one of the top items supporters should be able to find upon landing on your website. This might take the form of either a single page with engagement opportunities listed or a dropdown menu with multiple resources, including links to follow your nonprofit on your social media accounts.

3. Conduct market research.

Staying relevant with your audience requires understanding your audience’s needs and wants and knowing when those needs and wants change. This could be as simple as your audience losing interest in one social media platform in favor of another or as complex as needing to reconfigure your entire engagement strategy after a major rebrand.

To stay informed, regularly conduct market research. This includes polling your audience and taking note of supporter demographics, as well as monitoring other similar organizations and how they engage with their supporters. Also, strive to stay up to date with broader changes in the nonprofit sector. Resources like NXUnite’s nonprofit conferences page and similar listings can be useful for identifying where and when professionals in your industry are gathering.

If you are unsure how to make sense of your market research or apply your findings to your strategy, consider partnering with a nonprofit consulting firm. Nonprofit consultants that specialize in digital marketing can offer a professional, outside perspective on your current strategies. Services like this can be especially useful for launching new types of campaigns and outreach your nonprofit is trying for the first time.


Carl Diesing DNLCarl Diesing, Managing Director – Carl co-founded DNL OmniMedia in 2006 and has grown the team to accommodate clients with on-going web development projects. Together DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues. Carl lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Sarah and their two children Charlie and Evelyn.

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How can nonprofits support local communities?

January 24, 2023 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Harry Lopez

If you run a nonprofit organisation, consider your local community to be the heart of your cause. The people surrounding your doorstep are those who will bring the biggest positive impact to the recognition and success of your organisation.

Nonprofits are an integral part of society. They are the voice of the people they serve, heal, protect, shelter, educate, support, rescue and nurture. Often it is nonprofits who offer life-saving aid and life-changing support and opportunities for disadvantaged people. They are the voice of the heartbroken, the struggling and those in need.

So how exactly can nonprofits support local communities?

Community of many hands

You are a part of your community

Be an active part of the community

To support your local community, you must first be an active part of it. So get involved in the social club, run a stall at the summer fair, donate new art equipment to the local schools, and help to serve tea and coffee at the village hall.

Loyalty is extremely important when it comes to keeping your followers repeatedly donating and supporting your nonprofit. Making a positive impact in your community will not only help you to continue spreading kindness, but it will also improve your brand recognition and help to increase the visibility of your cause.

After all, the more people you can reach, the more donations you can receive, and the bigger impact you can have for your community and the lives of those who are loyal to your organisation.

Be the voice of change

Often, it is nonprofits who pave the road to change. From wildlife conservation, environmental protection, ending child marriage to promoting equality and social justice, it is because of their positive impact on their communities and people world-wide that these organisations are remembered and admired.

Whatever your cause is, brainstorm ways you can directly help the people around you in line with your brand values. Be there for important events that matter to your people, and become their voice and advocate. By doing so you will inevitably start conversations and begin to build relationships with the people around you.

In time you will gain their trust and respect, and help to strengthen the overall fabric of your community.

Give back to your warriors

You need people who are passionate about your cause to make your organisation successful. Whilst you may aspire to eventually have a worldwide following, the best place to start is with the people on your doorstep. You may be surprised just how many of your neighbours resonate with your cause. Most people are empathetic and so long as you act with integrity and goodwill, they will be glad to help if they can.

Make sure you give back to your warriors, those who are loyal to your cause and shout about it from the rooftops. Show them how much you appreciate them by supporting them with acts of kindness. There are many ways you can give back to your community, from simply publishing an appreciation post on your social media pages, to gifting a loyal donor their weekly food shop.

Be there for your people

Be your community’s hero, the people they turn to when they need a helping hand. Giving back shows that you care and are willing to spend money raised to help further the lives of everyone in your local community.

Work on gaining the trust and respect of the people around you by recognising a need and finding a creative solution. This can be as small as organising a group of volunteers to go litter picking, or as dramatic as collecting donations of clothing, home supplies and food for a local family who have suffered a house fire.

If one of your local supporters has lost a loved one, make it your business to know about it and send them a card and some flowers. These acts of kindness build your integrity as a brand and grow the trust and loyalty of your donors.

Become a community hub

If you are looking to boost your brand’s impact and get to know the people of your community better, why not host a monthly or weekly meeting? You may be able to hire the village hall or community centre for a couple of hours to invite everyone to come and have a cup of coffee and chat about what they feel is important to their community. Discussion can be open ended, or planned if there is a specific campaign you are planning and would like opinions on.

You may find some people come to enjoy the relationships they build at your meetings, and soon you will have created a mini society of loyal followers for your cause.


Harry Lopez is a financial advisor who specialises in giving unbiased advice to nonprofit start-ups. Harry works closely with many entrepreneurs to ensure their businesses are environmentally friendly and will positively impact the lives of everyone they reach.

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4 User Experience Mistakes to Avoid on Your Website

January 16, 2023 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Anne Stefanyk of Kanopi Studios

When it comes to your nonprofit website, first impressions are everything. Studies show that 88% of website visitors won’t return to a site after having a negative user experience (UX). Your website’s UX is the way visitors interact with your website and how they feel when using it.

To communicate with your audience and design a positive user experience, your website should get supporters involved with your mission. User-friendly nonprofit web design can turn even the most casual visitors into passionate supporters.

Let’s explore four common user-experience mistakes and how to avoid them on your website:

1. Failing to follow accessibility guidelines

Web accessibility is the process of making your website usable and readable for all audiences, regardless of any disabilities they may have. The Americans with Disabilities Act states that websites that offer public accommodations must be accessible to people with disabilities.

Failing to meet accessibility standards can create a negative user experience for many visitors. To cover your accessibility bases, follow these steps:

    • Reference the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Regulations include ensuring that all images have alternative text, videos and audio clips have captions, and text has sufficient color contrast.
    • Use accessibility testing tools. We recommend using accessibility tools such as Lighthouse or Siteimprove. Thesetools help automatically identify accessibility issues on your website. They provide a good starting point.
  • Manually test your website for accessibility. Just relying on accessibility tools might cause you to miss issues. Manually test your website by navigating the site with your keyboard or using screen reader software. See what the user experience is like from the perspective of someone using assistive technology.

Following accessibility guidelines improves both accessibility and user experience for all visitors, no matter their varying abilities or devices.

2. Designing your website without consulting audience research.

Creating a positive user experience starts with understanding your audience. Ensure you have a clear picture of online visitors’ interests, behaviors, and motivations.

Get to know your audience members, including donors, volunteers, and other supporters, using these techniques:

    • Use a tool like HotJar to track user behavior. HotJar can generate website heat maps that show you how visitors interact with your web pages. You can also collect direct audience input using feedback widgets that track your visitors’ feelings about your website elements.
  • Carry out A/B testing to assess design elements. A/B testing is the process of creating two different versions of the same website element and assessing which version is more engaging. For example, you can create two different event landing pages. Then, track registrations for each page to determine which one is more successful.

According to AccuData’s marketing analytics guide, you can use the data from these sources to understand the messaging and design elements that will resonate with your audience. This allows you to make research-backed decisions that increase website engagement.

3. Not creating a content strategy.

Your website’s content—whether your written copy, imagery, or videos—is the heart of your user engagement strategy. Compelling content gives audience members a reason to engage more deeply with your website and browse for longer.

Plus, there’s nothing more discouraging than arriving on a website that looks like it hasn’t been updated for a while. If your content is out of date, visitors will get the impression that your organization is not very active.

Create a clearly defined content strategy to ensure your content stays relevant and fresh. Ensure your strategy includes the following components:

  • A blog posting schedule
  • Reminders to create event calendar updates
  • Instructions for updating highly visible imagery, such as the photos on your homepage or donation page

Keeping these elements updated shows current and potential supporters that your organization is energetically working to achieve its mission through different initiatives and events.

Increase website traffic by promoting your fresh content across your digital marketing platforms. Share your event listings in your monthly email newsletter and include links to your blog updates in your social media posts.

4. Having unclear user pathways.

User pathways are the actions an audience member takes on your website based on their motivations and interests. For example, the user pathway for someone who arrives on your website looking for volunteer opportunities will be different than for someone who wants to donate or listen to your podcast.

Unclear user pathways can lead to lower audience engagement and ultimately underperforming fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, and events. Create streamlined user journeys by doing the following on your nonprofit website:

 

    • Offer clear calls to action. Calls to action (CTAs) are buttons or links that lead visitors to different sections of your website. For example, you might include buttons on your homepage that point visitors to your volunteer registration page or online giving form. These buttons help users find what they’re looking for quickly, improving their browsing experience.
    • Provide simple navigation tools. Offer an easy-to-use search function and a simplified menu to make researching different topics on your website easier.
  • Created tailored content for each user group. Create valuable landing pages for different users, including your constituents, volunteers, donors, advocates, and other community members. Ensure these pages include the information and forms supporters need to get more involved, like a donation form or volunteer sign-up page.

 

For example, take a look at how the Habitat for Humanity website has organized its navigation and user pathways:

This top-level header offers links for volunteers, advocates, and those looking for housing assistance. There is also a clearly-labeled search function alongside buttons for different social media pages and Habitat’s online donation form.

This clearly-organized navigation setup makes it easy for visitors to choose their own path and get more involved with Habitat’s mission.

 

As you improve your website’s user experience, review Kanopi’s roundup of the top nonprofit websites for inspiration. Note each website’s approach to developing streamlined user journeys and incorporating audience research and accessibility guidelines. Use these examples (along with the help of a web design firm when needed) to avoid common UX mistakes and create a user-friendly website that stands the test of time.


Anne Stefanyk head shotAs Founder and CEO of Kanopi Studios, Anne helps create clarity around project needs, and turns client conversations into actionable outcomes. She enjoys helping clients identify their problems, and then empowering the Kanopi team to execute great solutions.

Anne is an advocate for open source and co-organizes the Bay Area Drupal Camp. When she’s not contributing to the community or running her thoughtful web agency, she enjoys yoga, meditation, treehouses, dharma, cycling, paddle boarding, kayaking, and hanging with her nephew.

https://twitter.com/Anne_Kanopi

https://www.drupal.org/u/annabella

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annestefanyk/

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