Medium

Members

Board

Staff

Sample/Templates:
Letters
Admin Tools

1
15

0
0

0
15

E-mail

14

14

14

Member Directory

14

2

0

Workshops/Seminars

13

6

6

Brochure

10

0

0

Publications/Books

9+1

0

0

Meetings

9

8

2

Newsletter:
Electronic
Print

9
8

2
1

3
0

Website:
Member
Public

7
10

1

Listserv/Moderated E-mail

7

4

Speeches - Templates

7

2

1

Fact Sheets

6

2

1

Fax

5

0

2

Newspaper Articles

5

7

3

Telephone:
Direct
Conference Calls

5

7
2

3
0

Magazine

4

0

0

Membership Packages

4

3

4

Announcement Board - Notice Board

3

3

Radio/Commercial TV

1

1

0

Video Teleconferencing/Cell Phones

1

0

CDs

1

1

0

Annual Report

3

Bulletin/Flyer

Press Releases

Determine needs for communication & information

• Relate mission to activity
• Relate NGOs with promoting volunteer

Gather & use members' data

• Database information on members
• Surveys
• Tax returns

Types of messages

• Research
• Share what the association and its members have learned through their work; this is a good role for an association

Channels for communication

• Annual reports
• Bulletin
• Newsletters
  Website
• E-mail
• Forums
• Networks
• Face-to-Face Meetings

Best practices

• Build relationships with journalism students through internships at NGOs
• Offer Journalism awards for teachers and students
• Involve research fellows in association's work (on research projects)

Challenges

• Avoid information brokerage (though some associations provide information to NGOs on grantmakers as a source of revenue).

Determine needs for communication & information

• Take advantage of our understanding the sector
• Building trust is important
• Maintain a healthy suspicion of government

Gather & use members' data

• Annual reports
• Annual tax returns
• Research
• Relationship building
• Consulting

Types of messages

• Local stories
• Research and facts
• Information from members

Channels for communication

• Research papers
• Association of Foundations - Philippines uses tri-sectoral (business, government, NGOs) conference
• Association of German Foundations used traveling exhibit on foundations in specific regions of Germany

Best practices

• Use targeted information, such a statistics for a certain district, when meeting with the political representative from that district. (Link the politician's constituency to the association's efforts.)
• Represent interests of every member.
• Change environment by breaking down preconceptions.

Determine needs for communication & information

• Research

Gather & use members' data

• Survey data on member and the sector
• Database information on members

Channels for communication

• Meetings
• Networking
• Research collaboration

Best practices

• Involve academia in research on the sector or offer to cooperate on research.
• Offer awards for professors and teachers.
• Offer prizes for journalism students.
• Support Research fellows.
• Offer postgraduate seminars on themes related to philanthropy.
• Work closely with universities to incorporate philanthropic principles, examples, and themes into the curriculum.
• Assist in the development of mid-career programs at universities.
• Build relationships with graduate students and graduate schools.
• Collaborate on research of the sector.
• Examples from Practice: GIFE (Brazil) offers financial support to MBA students doing research on philanthropy and civil society. The Benton Foundation operates a Benton Fellow Program.

Determine needs for communication & information

• Identify and reduce misconceptions about the nonprofit sector (through surveys, research)
• Relate individual acts to a broader philanthropic movement

Gather & use members' data

• Survey data on members and the sector
• Database information on members

Types of messages

• Clarify the work and roles of the 3 sectors and demonstrate how the nonprofit sector fits into the whole

Channels for communication

• Magazine
• Websites
• TV
• Radio
• Newspapers
• Examples from Practice: The Centro Colombiano de Responsabilidad Empresarial (CCRE) uses regular newspaper supplements to communicate with the public.
• Newsletters
• Tri-sectoral (business, government, NGOs) conferences and meetings
• Examples from Practice: The Association of Foundations - Philippines organizes an annual tri-sectoral conference.

Best practices

• Make use of celebrities.
• Give prizes to effective grantmakers.
• Work effectively and professionally with the media .
• Place responses to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the website.
• Prepare materials and information that supplement the work of the media.

Challenges

• Funding
• Public resistance and/or lack of interest
• The work of the philanthropic sector is difficult to describe
• Tendency to over-communicate
• Avoid bringing our own internal divisions into the public realm (this only hinders our goals)

Determine needs for communication & information

• Make the media's job easier

Gather & use members' data

• Survey data on members and sector
• Database information on members
• Annual Reports and newsletters
• Website
• Meetings and peer briefings
• Local stories
• Growth of philanthropy
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Types of messages

• Local stories
• Growth of philanthropy
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Channels for communication

• Research
• Meetings and press briefings
• Website
• Annual reports & newsletters

Best practices

• Appeal to the media through professionalism.
• Position your organization as a liaison with the media and main resource in the field.
• Initiate dialogue and invite journalists to take part in activities BEFORE you need them.
• Organize discussion forums that bring members and/or NGOs together with journalists to discuss issues of common interest.
• Design press kits for the association itself but special press kits can also be prepared for members to assist them in working with the media. In some cases these kits can be prepared so that all a member needs to do is add its own material and it is ready to be distributed. Press kits can also be prepared for special events of various types.
• Provide the media with facts and figures.
• Prepare materials to supplement the work of the media. Since dramatic events get a great deal of media attention, it is worthwhile to consider ways of piggybacking on such events, for example by offering more detailed information to the media and general public through the Internet or other communication tools.
• Press releases
• Place responses to frequently asked questions on the website.
• Make use of celebrities.
• Make use of awards and prizes.
• Give feedback to the media when they cover things incorrectly.
• This process can actually help build relationships.
• Write letters to the editor.
• Examples from Practice: The Association of German Foundations offers a prize to foundations that have done exceptional work. This captures the attention of the media.

Challenges

• Avoiding information brokerage

Determine needs for communication & information

• Partnership between business and philanthropy
• Research
• Add value to corporations through social investments

Gather & use members' data

• Annual reports
• Annual returns
• Research
• Relationship-building
• Consulting

Types of messages

• Networking

Channels for communication

• Good for business

Best practices

• Develop kits to show benefits of corporate giving as well as "How to" kits that make it easy for businesses to begin giving.
• Connect business giving programs to local NGOs working in the same field.
• Prepare facts and figures that show the value of giving for businesses.
• Help corporations measure the benefits of their giving.
• Establish giving clubs.
• Cultivate a norm of good giving.
• Examples from Practice: CEMEFI organizes an award to a corporation that has established a beneficial partnership with a foundation.

Challenges

• Demonstrate to business that investments in the society are a valuable and important part of their business.
• Translate the often confusing language of nonprofits for business.

1. Senior Management/Board Support

Challenge:

Board members or senior management are often unfamiliar with and/or do not use the technology themselves.

Response:

• Have a peer gradually introduce board members and senior management staff to new
  technology. Using peers may provide a safer learning environment can encourage them to want to learn. Once they have learned how to use a particular technology, give them the time and the opportunity to explore it on their own.
• Ensure that staff routinely use the same technology in their correspondence with the board and that staff increasingly expect use of the same technology by Board members
• Recognize that the process of changing people's approaches to technology may take years.

Challenge:

Board members or senior staff are, in principle, enthusiastic about the web, but do not use it themselves.

Response:

• If your organization produces an electronic newsletter, include links to the
  organization's website. This is also a good way of reducing the number of attachments you send to the Board or to members. In all cases, it is critically important for the Executive Director to understand technology and its potential uses by associations of grantmakers.

Challenge:

Not all board members are connected to the Internet.

Response:

• Find a way to obtain E-mail for all board members or adjust the criteria for board membership
  to include having a personal E-mail address. Explain to the board that, for the sake of efficiency, the primary method of information dissemination is E-mail and that over a certain period of time it will become the sole method of communication.
• Identify a "champion" on the board who understands technology and the cost implications of different choices. If no such person exists, recruit a new board member with these skills.
• Relate IT applications to the communication goals of the organization
• Consider using CD-ROM technology for board materials. For example, prepare a two-page summary of discussion points and agenda items and send board members a CD-ROM containing all of the supporting documentation. CD-ROM technology and CD burners are becoming increasingly inexpensive.
• Organize training in IT for the board or senior staff. Incorporate training on electronic communications in orientation for new board members.

2. Staffing

Challenge:

It is often very difficult for a small organization to find (and retain) staff with the right combination of skills to handle all types of communication and IT needs.

Response:

• Think about the complementary skills of staff members and use staff as a unit or team rather
  than thinking in terms of single positions that need to be (but typically cannot be) filled. If an organization does not have access to an expert in the given area, use peer-to-peer training by the staff.
• Pay attention to striking a good balance between technical skills and communication/writing skills in your staff. Identify new staff members with good communications skills who could then help some other staff members who need training.
• Consider carefully what capabilities an organization wants or needs to have onsite and what can be outsourced to others.
• Consider the possibility of establishing partnerships with other organizations in achieving technology goals. The US-based Regional Associations of Grantmakers (RAGS) do this quite effectively.

Challenge:

Technology staff often do not understand the substance/content of the association's work.

Response:

Educate technology staff about the programmatic work of the organization.

3. Funding

IT is often quite expensive and few nonprofit organizations have large budgets for these purposes. It is therefore crucial to gradually build board support for these activities.

Challenge:

Organizational budgets do not cover website development or redesign.

Response:

• Establish a sponsors page on the organization's website and invite current or new sponsors to contribute specific funds toward the establishment of your organization's website. If you choose this approach, make sure that the contractual arrangements and relationship with the sponsor (especially with regard to their understanding of the content of the website) are very clear to both partners from the beginning and/or develop clear policies regarding sponsorships.
• Look for income-generating components that might be incorporated into the organization's website, such as online advertisements for employment (Minnesota Council on Foundations).
• Look for government programs that provide funding of IT activities. In many countries, this type of funding is increasingly available.

Challenge:

Creating an IT budget that permits necessary maintenance, upgrading, and other costs over time.

Response:

• When planning your organization's IT budget recognize that the first-time cost of equipment is only 30-50% of the cost of the equipment, over its lifetime. The rest is labor, repairs, etc. Base all budget decisions on true costs, including the recurring costs of staff training, board training, and repairs.
• Collect information about how much it costs for our organizations to be ineffective.
• Add a technology line item to the organization's annual budget.
• Share a host for your website.
• Buy the URL of the website early on and purchase all versions (.org, .com, and .net).

4. Integrating E-Communication into an Organization's Overall Communications Program

Challenge:

Compared to electronic publishing, costs of regular publishing are high, yet members are not accustomed to using electronic resources.

Response:

• Gradually phase out some print materials in order to prepare members for using electronic versions of texts.
• Print and distribute in hard copy a good excerpt of a text or resource and then direct people to the web for the full-length version.

Challenge:

Communications staff and technology staff do not work together effectively. For example, communications staff may be under one supervisor and technology staff under another.

Response:

• Encourage cooperation between the communications program and the technical staff and, if possible, integrate these individuals under one supervisor.
• Provide basic IT training to communications staff so they can ask the right questions of technical staff. Work to reverse the idea that experts can only understand technology.
• Recognize that technology staff and programmatic staff think differently about problems. Programmatic staff tend to be more concerned with the final outcomes as a whole, while technical staff tend to want to rapidly find a solution to the specific problem of the moment.
• Educate technology staff about the programmatic work of the organization.
• Involve a technology person at the beginning of every planning process to ensure that the organization is making good technology choices.

1. E-mail

Challenge:

How to encourage people to open and read E-mails when they receive so many.

Response:

• Use the title line creatively and accurately to encourage people to open your E-mail.
• Mark mail as urgent (red flag function in Outlook) judiciously so that people do not begin to ignore these messages.

Sending E-mail Attachments

Sending a Microsoft Word attachment is useful when you are sending a document on which you wish to receive comments or which you expect people will download and modify. In contrast, the formatting of PDF files is frozen and thus the recipient cannot make any changes to the document. PDF files also require that the user download Adobe Acrobat Reader before the document can be opened. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free and can be downloaded from the Internet. However, in order to create PDF files, one must purchase the Adobe Acrobat software or utilize an application that saves an optional PDF format or prints to PDF.

Attachments are places where viruses live. Always remember to scan all attachments, especially attachments with the ending .exe. Update antiviral software as often as possible. Experts recommend updating the virus guard every week.

Linking E-mail and the Internet

Prepare short E-mails containing, for example, the title of a new publication and a brief description. Include a link to the website and send it. Recipients of the E-mail will be able to click on the link and go immediately to a longer description or copy of the publication online, using their Internet browser.

Useful Resources: Macromedia Dreamweaver software permits one to prepare text in .html (for use on the Internet) and then add it to an E-mail. Microsoft products such as Outlook and Word can also be used to create HTML-based E-mail.

2. E-mail Newsletters

Challenge:

• A plain-text E-mail newsletter looks too much like regular E-mails and cannot contain more eye-catching graphics.
• The distribution list of an E-mail newsletter is ever-increasing.
• E-mail and E-mail newsletters are good for one-way communication, but not for the exchange of information.
• Resolving the issue of who has access to the list and who does not is difficult.
• One cannot always be sure how the end-user receives the E-newsletter as its appearance is influenced by the compatibility of the software used by the sender and user and by the way the user has personalized how he/she views E-mail.

Response:

• When initiating an E-mail newsletter, ask people to subscribe rather than automatically signing them up. In additional to the ethical issues, the fact that someone has requested the E-newsletter themselves often makes them value it more.
• Keep the E-newsletter simple (using simple text) to ensure that everyone can open it.
• Do not send overly large attachments (often those containing graphics or scanned photographs are very large) as these can significantly slow down or even shut down the E-mail boxes of recipients.
• Examples from Practice: GIFE (Brazil) produces two newsletters, one for members and one for the public, and has more than 1,000 subscribers. These newsletters are produced in Word and sent as attachments to E-mail messages. In a recent survey, they learned that people prefer short newsletters, no longer than two pages. Within one year, they hope to make the newsletters available on their website.

3. Listserv/E-Groups

Listservs are very easy to use, but require a moderator/administrator to approve the registration of new members, encourage exchange, edit or delete overly long or inappropriate messages or messages from non-members, and add/delete people from the list.

Listserv messages are easily archived and new technology permits easy archiving of these documents on the Internet.

4. Websites

Websites can contain plain HTML text or complex databases. Websites based on databases can generate outputs in multiple formats and are more efficient over the long term. They are, however, much more expensive to create.

There are various types of websites. Though websites can often contain features of various types, the categories are distinguished by their primary goals and features:

1. Brochure Site : static, small, provides information about an organization or activity, amount of traffic to the site is not important
2. News-Oriented Site : describes what is happening in the given field, announces events and activities of the organization and its partners, draws its content from many different sources updated regularly, requires an editor, more journalistic in style, usually requires the use of a database, evaluation of success is based on the amount of news and traffic to (and through) the site, this type of site typically has the highest volume of visits or hits
3. Community Site : permits online collaboration and builds online communities, based on trust and reciprocity, serves as a repository of content, requires an editor who can help build relationships between members of the community, evaluation of success is based on the amount of activity on the site.

Carefully consider the purpose of the site before you begin development. Answer the question: Why do you need a website?

Taxonomy is important for indexing the site on search engines and portals.

Tips when Undertaking Website Development

• Think about the website as a functioning whole.
• Prepare a detailed request for proposals for the technical assistance the organization requires.
• Do not be overly concerned about large costs upfront. Initial consultations are an important part of the process of translating your vision into technology. Changes to the plans later in the development process will increase costs dramatically and slow down the process.
• Use website developers who understand NGO work and the financial constraints in which NGOs work.
• Working with vendors is not always a simple process. It is important to:
• Look at the previous sites developed by the firm.
• Remember that it is a negotiation process. They want to give you the least for the most money and you want the most for free. Do not underestimate the time needed to negotiate the deal.
• Establish a strong relationship with the vendor in which you describe the organization, the problems you wish to address using the website, and the timeframe in which the effort must be completed. Ensure that they are committed to working with you.
• Consider whether the vendor is offering a fixed-time or fixed-requirement approach. The fixed-requirement approach is typically more advantageous for the organization.
• Examples from Practice: Centro Colombiano de Responsabilidad Empresarial (CCRE) described a project whereby NGOs and foundations in Colombia created a website portal to help educate them about creating websites.

Useful Resources: www.helping.org/nonprofit

Website as a Fundraising Tool

There are two kinds of online fundraising - one that is aimed at helping institutional funders better understand what the organization does and one that is aimed at raising funds from individual donors.

The Red Cross in the United States raises 3% of its funds through online donations.

Useful Resources: Credit card processing on the web is expensive, but some free services exist in this field, such as those offered by www.helping.org.

Selling Publications on the Web

It is important to index publications correctly and on a regular basis so that web users can locate them even if they do not know your website address.

Associations are finding that offering a downloadable PDF version and a book does not necessarily hurt the sale of the book. Many still prefer to have a hard copy for show, graphics, or easier reading. Others have successfully used the teaser approach whereby a longer abstract or sample chapter is available on the website, while the full publication is only offered in published format.

With the use of special software, a website can also be used to have people register for events and conferences.

5. Teleconferences/Webconferences

Common Challenges:

• Visual contact is always better in discussions. Sometimes not being able to see nonverbal cues/behavior leads to misunderstandings.
• Teleconferences can be exhausting.

Tips for Successful Teleconferences:

• In teleconferences, the preparation of the agenda is crucial to success.
• Teleconferences are best used when a concrete decision needs to be reached.
• Always participate in a teleconference in a room where you cannot be disturbed.
• Teleconferences are useful when participants are working in different time zones, but time zones must be taken into account when planning the teleconference.

Video- and Internet-based Conferencing:

The advantage of Internet-based conferencing combined with audio is that the group can discuss and review/edit documents in real time.

Examples from Practice: GIFE (Brazil) has experience using videoconferencing, an approach whereby groups gather and discuss issues and, at the same time, can see one another via satellite images. This approach necessitates the existence of video conferencing facilities that people can access easily.

Useful Resources: www.excite.com offers a free voice chat feature that is very good. Chat rooms are limited to 10 people.

6. CD-ROMs

Uses

• CD-ROMs can store many documents in a small and easy-to-use tool. For example, some organizations are beginning to prepare their Annual Reports in CD-ROM format.
• Examples from Practice: CEMEFI is preparing to put its Directory of Organizations on CD-ROM.
• CD-ROMs can be useful communication tools in places where Internet connections are unreliable because they do not require use of the Internet.
• CD-ROMs are also excellent for archiving materials.

It is now also quite simple for an organization to prepare its own CD-ROMs. All that is required is an inexpensive CD writer/burner.

Useful Resources: www.helping.org/nonprofit