May 19, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Jocelyn Harmon, director of nonprofit services for Care2, an online network that helps people interact with charities they care about, says she reviews at least 10 nonprofit Web sites every day. That’s why she can say with some authority that most of them are doing a very bad job of seeking online donations.
In her personal blog about nonprofit marketing, Ms. Harmon offers her concerns. Among them: charities that have no pictures on their site or bad stock photos of people who are not part of the organization.
Others, she says, have “way too much text” on their site. “Do not include a “letter from your executive director” unless he or she is famous,” she advises. “Instead, consider doing a three-minute podcast or video so people can hear what your organization is all about. Keep it short and sweet and make it good.”
Ms. Harmon also takes groups to task for featuring outdated content. “Don’t serve up news items from 2008 on your home page, even if your executive director was quoted in The New York Times,” she writes. “Archive them somewhere else on your site. I want to know what you’ve been up to lately, as in this year.”
The post concludes with three examples of sites others charities could emulate: Architecture for Humanity, Pilgrim Africa, and Push for Peace Corps. “These are not brand name charities with tons of money,” she writes. “Sorry [but] you’ll have to stop using lack of money as an excuse for your bad Web site.”
