Submitted by johnbaguley on 13 January, 2008 - 17:13.
About: Having seen so many comical attempts at fundraising over the years I intend to use this blog to question anything dubious that crosses my path – starting with 2.0. You can, of course, also find me on www.ifc.tc
Yes, web 2.0 is the way to go, reaching beyond the wealthy baby-boomers to the next age cohort; but what about charity 2.0? Where has the physical inter-activity between supporters and their charity gone?
As a consultant, I visit many organisations and whilst some are moving towards an acceptance that their websites would be improved with more interaction, most could benefit far more from such improvements as simply welcoming physical visits from donors on ‘open days’ etc. with time to spend with the CEO etc., plus plenty of feedback on their experiences. Look at www.torturecare.org.uk for their Supporters Reception.
Before your wiki is set up, I would suggest that the knowledge base is shared in other ways and that interaction carefully monitored; before an interesting but useless monstrosity is created. Several organisations do this well including www.healthlink.org.uk.
Before your widget wings its way onto their desktops I would consider if you have given them the choice of paper, phone or person. Now the age cohorts are clearly defined we would be foolish to ignore the bulk of our wealthy supporters in our drive to the cutting edge.
Am I so wrong?
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Interesting
Thank you John for an interesting take on reaching people.
Its good to look at new ideas, new ways of communicating. But not at the expense of every other means we have available.
And while web pages can be very impressive, there's nothing like seeing a project in action.
Martin
Thunder rolled.
It rolled a six.
Not so wrong!
I agree that it's easy to lose sight of one's goals when faced with exciting innovations.
The internet offers extraordinary scope for imaginative ways of engaging people and it is refreshing to see long-termism in the guise of priming major donors of the future, but I doubt the day will come when major donations are made online!
And from a researchers perspective, I think it's important that we don't forget that our donors are a varied bunch, so we need to make judgements about the most appropriate means of communication for individual prospects and offer a variety of means of communication rather than getting hung up on the cutting edge stuff in isolation.