Why a charity needs a Website

The Internet proves to be beneficial in more ways than one. It is one of the most effective means of getting a message across; so this is the main reason a charity should have their own website. With a website, any charitable institution can get their message across explaining the reason they are running the charity and calls for donations of any worthy cause. Just imagine the worldwide Internet population stands at about 1 ¼ billion people. This means that that many people visit the Internet everyday; what better publicity would your charity need?

For example, during the tsunami episode, it was through the Internet that maximum money was raised to provide relief for those who needed it the most. It was Amazon.com that led the way then to collect a record US$3 million in only four days time! This is the effect and magnitude in using the Internet for charitable institutions. You can easily inform every one of all activities and work that the charity is up to in a particular month or season.

With a website, the collection of donations is made easy as there is no need of running from one place to another. All that has to be done is for the potential donor to visit the website of the charity they wish to donate to, and make donations. Donations are all made using e-currency so there is none of the hassle of going to banks or drawing out cheques for the charity.

Donating through a charity website provides privacy, confidentiality and secrecy to the donor. There are people out there who do not want to be noted for the donations they made. So if you have a charity website with order form and e-currency options, donors can make donations without much publicity. This is more so applicable to people who make large, anonymous donations to charitable institutions.

Of course, the main benefit of having a charity website is that it provides advertisement and a reason for people to donate everyday of the year. If you place an advertisement in the local newspaper or some magazines, the advertisement will run for one, two, three or a few more runs. After that, there will be no advertisement for your charity for people to access to. However, with a website for charity, the website once created, will be on the Internet for as long as you need it to be. There is no need of making any renewals or paying recurring fees for placing the website on the Internet. In other words, a single website provides sufficient advertisement for days and days to come; this proves to be a great benefit for non-profit organizations where expenses should be at a minimum.

A charity website reaches an international market where people from all over the world can get to know about your charity, the benefits you provide, and the reason you are running the charity. This is not possible with advertisements in newspapers and magazines as this media only caters to people of a city and at the most, to those of a particular country.

You can let people from near and far see and learn about the activities you hold in your charity through your website. If you plan to hold a fund-raising activity like a music show or a garage sale or cake sale, you can reach a larger base of people who may be interested in such activities through your website. All you have to do is to add this additional announcement in your present website, and the message will reach anyone surfing the Internet. This is another great saving in the marketing budget of the charity.

With a website, people can make donations whenever they want, from wherever they are. People from across the world live in a different time zone; and so with a website, the prospective donor from there does not have to wait till your daytime to make a donation. All donations can be made online with the e-commerce facilities you provide on your website. There is no need of them meeting you personally to make a donation. All they will have to do is to fill out your form, and send it across to you with the necessary payment. In other words, your charity is never closed; it may be considered that it is open 24 hours a day.

With a website, you can also cut down on your costs, as you don’t have to employ people to answer the numerous queries donors may have. Create a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page providing most of the answers to possible questions that may be asked. And then provide a page for them to post questions they may need answers for, which you may answer later. There is no need of having people answer phone calls or write letters explaining situations with donors or people who are interested in your charity.

Your website does not describe the size of your institution; in fact, with the Internet and websites, small charities can claim as much donations as large charities. This is because no one will actually know how small or big your charity is; it is just the cause they know, and need to know to make a donation. In fact, you can run your charity with minimal employees as most of the marketing, and collection work is done through the website, and there is no need of hiring people to do these respective chores.

With a website, you can greatly save in your advertisement costs. There is no need of creating numerous advertisements to place in different media; a single website provides much more coverage to a much bigger clientele. Any changes to be made to your matter can be easily implemented in the website. However, changes to be made to matter in print media is more expensive and not that feasible when you run a non-profit organization. Why not put your applications for job vacancies or volunteering posts online, this is easily accessible to the public.

As it can be seen having a website proves to be beneficial in more ways than one for the charity. However, as the Internet is a vast with many websites of charitable institutions, you will benefit from the website only if it is found with a high ranking in charity directories. This is because the most probable place a donor will first look for making donation will be these directories. They will be provided with a list of relevant charities, where your charity website should be one of them. So once you have a charity listed in important search engines, you will learn that it is indeed very much beneficial for you to have a web presence for your charity.