For most organizations, the web is the “front door” to their organization – a place where people can connect with and engage in their work either as a donor, a volunteer, or a participant in programs or campaigns. But how many times have you visited an organization’s website only to find press releases that are three years old posted under the News section, a history of when the organization was founded, the number of staff and offices listed on the homepage, and a flashing ‘Donate Now’ button blaring at you everywhere on the site?

Would you invite someone over for dinner and as they walked through your door start shouting at them about what they should do in your house, talk not stop about you and your life and where you were born, serve them leftover food from two weeks ago and then call them two months later to see if they wanted to join you for dinner again, except this time they would have to pay for the privilege?

Needless to say, this experience would leave your guest feeling disrespected, not listened to, and totally minimized. Surprisingly enough, this is the exact experience that so many still have when visiting the websites of nonprofit organizations. This happens for many reasons, including:

• Organizational culture: If your organizational culture is not engaging its constituency, is not listening to those it wishes to serve, or has not created a space where staff, volunteers, and donors feel safe and respected in voicing their opinions, then chances are your website will reflect this cultural reality.

• Storytelling: Understanding what your story is will shape the experience of your website. Is your story about engagement, connection, change and collaboration, or is it about you and what you think I should do? Does your story meet with my reality or does it create a disconnect between you and your audience?

• Strategy: Have you developed an integrated online strategy for your web presence, or have you created a website in isolation of your broader organizational goals?

• Responsiveness: Are you using the web to be responsive and dynamic, or are you pushing out information that is important only to you as an organization.

 

A good place to start when determining what your front door should look like, feel like, and act like is to examine these broader questions above. There is a real buzz out there for new tools that apparently create new deeper levels of engagement. Blogs, chatrooms, wikis, RSS feeds, and so on are indeed great tools. But consider the dinner invitation again for a moment. Consider what you are inviting me to, how you intend to listen, where I fit in your home. As these tools become more and more common online, there exists a proportional opportunity to engage with our audiences and connect others to our work. There also exists an equal proportional opportunity to miss the chance to strategically and in an integrated fashion create positive social change through responsive storytelling.

Pattie LaCroix has directed marketing and communications programs for nonprofits for over ten years. As vice president of Communicopia, she is passionate about creating online communications strategies for nonprofits that engage their audience and build support for their work. You can contact Pattie through www.communicopia.net.