I hear a lot from local nonprofits that don't see the necessity of heavily investing in their Web Sites and in Web 2.0 tools because "the majority of their donors are older, and aren't using these 'unnecessary' forms of media." Uh oh. Let's take another look at that.
"A large portion of the [older] demographic, especially those under age 71, are online, and do more than check e-mail and share pictures with their grandchildren," said Enid Burns in her recent article on ClickZ, How Active Is the 'Mature' Market Online? Read the article and tap into some great stats on the percent of adults over age 62 who engage in various online activities.
AARP posted a very informative article on how to design Web Sites for "senior surfers," including elements of design, content, formatting and more. In my humble opinion, most of what the article suggests for our senior population is good practice for any audience. Examples are to...
- Make it obvious what is clickable and what is not.
- Minimize vertical scrolling, eliminate horizontal scrolling.
- Include a site map and link to it from every page.
- Make pages easy to scan.
- Visually group related topics.
- Use adequate white space.
- Focus the writing on purpose, minimize jargon, etc., etc.
Do a website audit for your organization to see if these basics are addressed.
Another must-read study to check out is "The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect With Your Middle and Major Donors," a survey and study by Convio, Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research.
The report defines the "wired wealthy" as a very generous group of givers, predominantly baby boomers, who are experimenting in social networks and Web 2.0. According to the study, more than half of the "wired wealthy" respondents have watched at least one video on YouTube and a quarter of the group at least occasionally reads blogs.
Lately, I've found an astonishing amount of very useful information along these lines from daily fundraising and advocacy strategies, trends and tips brought to me by The Agitator. If you're representing a nonprofit organization and aren't subscribed, do it TODAY!
If you're having trouble convincing your organization's leaders to follow your PR recommendations to connect your donors and or your senior constituents online, you have some great ammunition in the reports and articles above. Use them and please, remember to post your thoughts and comments below.
Inviting Your Insights,
Susie Bowie
That's exciting news for fundraisers.
An expert in the art of cultivating online donations for political parties and causes says the rule of thumb has been that most people donate $100 or less if they give on line.
Did you find any evidence of larger amounts of giving?
Suzanne
Posted by: Suzanne Dameron | June 05, 2008 at 09:36 AM