June 4, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Employees responsible for a charity’s online activities are likely to be spread throughout the organization, rather than concentrated in a single department, according to a new report.
An online survey of 60 nonprofit groups found that only 12 organizations, or 20 percent, had organized all of their employees who work on online programs into a single department whose leader is responsible for those programs. The study was conducted by Convio, an Austin, Tex., company that provides Web-based software to charities.
The other organizations were split almost evenly between a decentralized approach — 23 groups or 39 percent — where employees working on online efforts were spread across several different departments, and a hybrid approach — 25 groups or 40 percent — where a majority of employees were located in a single department, but some staff members were in other departments.
The study’s findings suggest that how charities structure their online programs can be a factor in how successful they are.
Survey respondents at organizations that centralized their employees who focus on online activities gave their programs higher marks for planning, decision making, internal communications, and accountability than did respondents from charities with hybrid or decentralized structures.
The study also found that charities taking a centralized approach were more successful than the other groups in both raising money online and collecting e-mail addresses.
The groups taking hybrid and decentralized approaches had similar success garnering online donations, but hybrid organizations outperformed decentralized groups in collecting e-mail addresses.
To read the report: Go to http://www.convio.com.
