Evaluating e-philanthropy: how to decide if online fundraising is an option for your association. (Board Primer).

Let me assure you, some organization will devise a strategy to cultivate and solicit your donors online. The only question is... will that organization be yours?

To answer that question, your hoard needs to think in broad terms about whether and how your association should be part of the trend toward online fundraising. As you do so, consider these three tenets of e-philanthropy.

1. The Internet will not replace your traditional fundraising efforts. But e-philanthropy techniques will help transform nearly everything your association currently does to raise funds.

2. Using the Internet as a fundraising vehicle requires that your association integrate online techniques with both its offline activities and its online efforts in support of its mission and programs.

3. The true power of e-philanthropy lies in the ability to do more than function as a novel way to raise money. The Internet is an ideal platform from which to reach, inform, and engage potential donors, many of whom may be beyond the radar of normal fundraising channels. Any seasoned fundraiser will tell you that when you can build and enhance a relationship with a prospective donor, you have a much higher chance of successfully soliciting a gift.

Back to the future

This is not the first time that fund raisers have adapted to new technologies. Just think of telephones, television, and computers, among others. Some of the new methods have evolved more successfully than others, and not all have been used with equal success by all nonprofit organizations. This is true for e-philanthropy as well.

As already noted, if your association devises an integrated communication and fundraising strategy, the Internet can provide an unprecedented opportunity to enhance relationships with the supporters, volunteers, members, and communities they serve. You have a new means to convert interest in your mission to direct involvement and support. You can communicate with a much wider audience than you might otherwise have the resources for. And you can do so without the significant personnel, printing, postage, and other costs associated with direct mail, telephone, radio, television, and personal visits. Nevertheless, e-philanthropy carries its own costs and considerations.

Both your board and your staff should regard e-philanthropy as a set of relationship-building tools first and as fundraising tools second. It's best to view e-philanthropy as an incremental change that requires appropriate allocation of staff and resources. Do not create a "silo" for Internet services. Although you may need to allocate new funds, do so in coordination with other outreach and communication activities. It's important for both board and staff to remember that it can take weeks, months, or years to develop strong relationships offline. This will also be the case online.

Again, nonprofit Web sites and the use of e-mail for promotional purposes will succeed best when they're integrated into every other form of communication your association uses (such as direct mail, brochures, planned giving, newsletters, telephone, radio, print media, etc.). Success will come as a result of careful planning and allocation of staff and resources to develop a strategy that integrates e-philanthropy with traditional philanthropy.

As your organization gets started with online fundraising, you must explore how to invest wisely in the various services relevant to e-philanthropy. Begin by understanding that it is not necessary to have all the bells and whistles before engaging prospects and donors online; there is value in starting small and building slowly. So start by collecting e-mail addresses. Communicate via e-mail. And offer the opportunity to give online via an encrypted Web page.

Good planning can mean the difference between simply using the Internet and actually developing a successful long-term strategy. The exact mix of strategies and techniques is as varied as the nonprofits that deploy them. Ephilanthropy techniques fall into six categories:

1. Communication, education, and stewardship.

2. Online donations and membership.

3. Event registrations and management.

4. Prospect research.

5. Volunteer recruitment and management.

6. Relationship building and advocacy.

When considering the best mix of tools and services, your association should always evaluate your options and test assumptions. Making improvements and adding services incrementally will help both your supporters and your staff grow accustomed to using the new technology and communicating via the Internet. Only by testing can your association learn which techniques perform best.

A revolution that's here to stay

As you consider e-philanthropy's role in your association's future, keep in mind this thoughtful observation from Harvard professor James Austin, writing in the March 2001 Kellogg Foundation Report on E-philanthropy: "Make no mistake; the ephilanthropy revolution is here to stay, and it will transform charitable giving in as profound a way as technology is changing the commercial world. Charities that have dismissed e-philanthropy as a fad, or run from it in confusion, will sooner or later need to become reconciled to it. If they don't, they risk losing touch with donors and imperiling the vitality of their work."

Ted Hart, an advanced certified fundraising executive, is founder and president of the ePhilanthropy Foundation and president of Hart Philanthropic Services Group. Washington. D.C. E-mail: [e-mail].