There was a time – scarcely 20 years ago – when telling someone you were part of a “virtual” organization, run entirely on something called “the Internet,” would have caused them to stare vacantly at you while awaiting further explanation.
Today, for-profit and nonprofit institutions alike harvest the power of online communications and exposure for their own purposes, whether it’s for selling widgets or promoting research into medical science. Still, most of these also operate traditionally in buildings with offices, cubicles, equipment, and rental overhead.
But enterprising organizations are getting creative with their adoption of rapid advances in technology and the Internet. Some have even found ways to completely redefine how a charity or nonprofit can bring their causes to the public strictly via the Web.
Virtual Van Gogh
According to Whatis.com, the standardized definition of a virtual organization is, “one whose members are geographically apart, usually working by computer e-mail and groupware, while appearing to others to be a single, unified organization with a real physical location.”
One such endeavour is the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC), a project of the Canadian Heritage Department, administered by its Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) division.
Launched in 2001, the VMC is “a pan-Canadian initiative that involves heritage institutions from every corner of the country,” according to Daniel Feeny, head of business development and marketing for CHIN.
Its mandate is simple: to promote and create Canadian cultural content unparalleled in cyberspace and to “advance” the country’s “museum community.” And it seems to be working.
According to Feeny, the success of the project is proven by the 2008 statistics of visitors to the site. Last year, on a monthly basis, more than one million visitors hit the VMC for a dose of Canadian culture, a total of more than 12.5 million visitors for the year. Not too shabby when you consider that the Royal Ontario Museum, one of Canada’s largest and most renowned institutions, physically pulls in only one tenth that number of visitors per annum.
Feeny shared a summary of the “VMC in numbers” with CharityVillage, citing:
- More than 13 million visits from more than 200 countries every year
- Over 500 online exhibits that “bring to life” Canada’s treasures and stories
- Nearly 630,000 images of museum objects
- More than 150 interactive games for kids of all ages
- Detailed listings for its nearly 3,000 partnering Canadian heritage institutions
“I don’t know of any other project in the world that…involved all the museums, of all sizes and types, in the same country with support and investment programs for the creation of online content,” he said.
Playing the portal game
Another Canadian charity making tremendous use out of the cyberverse is Canadahelps.org. The online project is really a clever portal site and facilitator for donors to find and contribute with ease to more than 80,000 Canadian charities listed on their site. Since 2000, it has helped raise more than $80 million for the nations’ charities, all for the price of maintaining a single website.
According to the website, CanadaHelps is effective because net surfer donors can “give when you want, in the amount you wish, to the charities you choose, and in the manner that suits you best…We ensure a donor’s privacy, and strive to meet the needs of today’s donor. And we do all of this online.”
And the portal’s executive director, Owen Charters, believes his virtual organization’s user friendliness might help cushion some of the economic brunt being borne by charities in today’s unstable market.
“This year, there’s an even greater reason to give. As faltering stock markets, bailouts and industry-wide layoffs dominate the news, it’s the charities in your community that will be responding to the growing needs of those most affected. Food banks, shelters, religious organizations, social service agencies, and all charities are on the frontlines of helping out when times are tough,” he said in a recent statement. “Many charities are already feeling the impact of slowing donations as the need for their services increases. As you plan your holiday budget, remember that even a small gift to your favourite charity will make a big difference.”
Plugging in and costing out
Feeny believes the virtual route taken by his and other sector organizations has been an immeasurable help in keeping costs down while keeping interest up.
When asked to compare what the VMC would look like as a traditional, walk-in museum with all the associated costs therein, he responded:
“A website will never replace a museum and [its] professionals and volunteers. But using the web wisely for a museum is an invaluable resource with tremendous advantages. The ability to extend the life of exhibitions indefinitely, to arrange materials in different contexts so as to present multiple perspectives, to create exhibits that would otherwise be impossible to mount, or to recreate past exhibits, all at a minimal cost compared to that required for mounting or maintaining the same exhibits physically.”
He added: “Visiting the website before a physical [museum] visit optimally pre-educates the viewer so that the museum brings an intelligent, informed audience into the physical space and thereby deepens the “conversation” that can take place during the visit. It could be seen as an extension of the real museum. The web will never replace the experience in situ, but has the advantage of being accessible at all times, to give greater scope to the contents and also to establish another type of channel of communication and interaction with visitors.”
Knocking @ technology’s door
For voluntary sector organizations contemplating going the virtual route, Feeny says executive directors and boards should consider that production and maintenance of a website can be difficult for museums and other culture organizations.
- Ask yourself, “Why do we want or need a website?” Answers will vary for different organizations.
- Consider the experience from the point of view of the virtual visitor and what they might wish to gain from using the website, rather than just considering what the organization has to offer.
- Do not try to recreate the physical. The web is a different medium with its own strengths and weaknesses, which should be exploited to enhance the virtual visitor experience.
“CHIN maintains close ties with the heritage community, providing skills development resources and tools for museum professionals. Museum workers have been exploring and using these tools, such as social networking, to engage new audiences in the museum experience. In addition, the unique perspective and expertise of museum professionals is essential to the development of cutting edge research into digital technologies,” he said.
Feeny also points out a section on CHIN’s “institutional website” that promotes community engagement through the use of new technologies via e-courses, community of practices, access to experts, guides and fact sheets. Those interested can follow this link: http://www.chin.gc.ca/English/Knowledge-Exchange/index.php.
Those organizations able to take advantage of what the Internet can provide, could be the ones that survive.
Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com.
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