The NonProfit Times - February 15, 2009 - (Page 5) Distinguishing features: Online program directory and gift catalog. Ross reveals: “What I love about this site most is how they use the main area of the homepage to tie stories to their mission. Most sites talk about their mission, but this storytelling is fabulous.” The September 2008 re-launch of the Heartland Alliance’s Web site was geared toward growth.The Chicago-based human rights nonprofit eyed goals of building a larger online constituency via increasing registrations for its email communications.They sought people interested in reducing poverty and advancing human rights, increasing online fundraising and growing its network of online activists for its state and federal legislative priorities on issues such as poverty reduction and immigration reform. The organization’s new site tied testimonials and personal accounts to its mission, which resulted in a more personal site. It also houses two unique features -an online gift catalog and the online program directory. The gift catalog provides a meaningful gift-giving alternative for people to honor their family, friends, and colleagues on holidays, birthdays and other special occasions. Supporters can browse the online gift catalog site, choose a gift for a loved one, and send a postcard or e-card as notification of the gift, which qualifies as a tax-deductible charitable donation. Popular items include a pillow and blanket for a refugee child, a wellness check for a homeless newborn and childcare for a single mother. Through this effort, the organization has made its work more tangible to external audiences -- especially prospective donors. “[Our] online program directory organizes our complex organization into a searchable, easy to navigate online database,” explained Bindu Batchu, director of marketing and communications at the Heartland Alliance. “The program directory was custom-built for us with some help from our online vendor and information was gathered from every program in our organization. It is both easy-to-search and easy to update, and allows an organization of our size (serving more than 200,000 people annually) to provide current information about our programs to our peers, staff, and program participants.” The new site runs on the Convio platform but is maintained in-house with all of the articles and images created by staffers and supporters. By maintaining the site inhouse, the organization can be strategic and nimble with its content and updates, campaigns, and analysis of its efforts, Batchu said. Ultimately, the site will be judged according to a few key statistics: • The number of new email registrations; • The number of advocacy actions complete, and; • The number and amount of donations. With the site just over six months old, the nonprofit is already planning its next moves on the Web. In the next year, more multimedia content, including podcasts and video, will be added. An expansion of the online program directory to include maps and additional content about its programs is also in the works. INTERPLAST URL: http://interplast.blogs.com/ Main or micro: Both -- utilizes the main site as well as Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites to house information. Traffic: Over 1,700 hits per month and more than 1,500 unique page views to its main Web site. Dollars raised online: More than $100,000 in 2008. Distinguishing features: Blog featuring stories and images from the field and Flickr-housed images. Ross reveals: “This blog is so great because it tells pretty raw stories from the field.” The primary goal of Interplast’s main Web site is to communicate the tremendous needs of those with clefts, disabling burns and hand injuries, the life-changing difference reconstructive surgery can make for people in developing countries and how Interplast is working to meet those needs. The Mountain View, Calif.based organization has designed its site to educate and inform its community, which includes volunteers, international partners and current and new potential donors by using its site as a hub for all of its Web 2.0 efforts. Links to its blog, newsfeed sign-ups and social networks like Flickr, YouTube and Facebook are all utilized with the goal of engaging users at a higher level of interacTop Web Sites, page 6 Tracey meet FEBRUARY 15, 2009 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com 5 http://interplast.blogs.com/ http://www.worryless.net/Giving http://www.nptimes.com
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