As the world has moved increasingly online, so have charities, and it is rare these days to find a charity without a web presence. Some charities, mostly bigger ones, use their sites for fundraising while others make use of the growing number of bespoke charity donations sites such as JustGiving, bmycharity and VirginMoneyGiving.
www.civilsociety.co.uk publishes regular reviews of charities’ websites. Please email tania.mason@civilsociety.co.uk if you would like to suggest a website for us to review.
The British Polio Fellowship has created a new website aimed at documenting the history of polio to help raise awareness of the disease.
Resident web expert Mrudula Kodali runs the rule over the recently redesigned RSPCA site.
Oxfam is set to benefit from the creation of the first online price comparison website dedicated to raising money for charity.
Comic Relief has announced the technology partners for its forthcoming fundraising campaign Sport Relief.
Civil Society is searching for two new bloggers in a nationwide competition to find fresh voices in the sector.
Google has its fingers in many pies but it appears it is not always easy to eat them all at the same time, as visitors attempting to access Shelter’s fun new Housebling website with Google’s Chrome browser will have found.
British Red Cross has implemented Agresso Business World as its new enterprise resource planning system, replacing its previous PeopleSoft application from Oracle.
Microsoft is still far and away the most trusted IT brand among charities, according to new research from ASI Europe.
Charities and environmental organisations can win a day’s free website user testing and usability consultancy in a competition run by digital media company Cogapp. Launched to coincide with World Usability Day on 12 November, entrants must send a brief summary of how their organisation could benefit from a website usability MOT and send it to UXcomp@cogapp.com by 26 November.
The Charity Commission’s website fares well in some areas but is let down by poor usability practices in others, says Mrudula Kodali
Tim Parfitt’s checklist aims to increase the likelihood that your next website project runs as smoothly as possible while maximising the effectiveness and success of your new site
Over the last few years, the development and mass adoption of new web-based services which specifically support collaboration and sharing between users – known as Web 2.0 – has transformed the way in which we can engage with each other, and with brands, online. It has also resulted in the proliferation of a whole new generation of collaboration-related buzzwords, which is great if you like that sort of thing. Personally, as someone who spends a lot of their time working to demystify the complexities of digital marketing to help people do it more effectively, I try not to throw jargon around too much.
The internet provides a secure, controlled environment for charities to provide support and advice to people and at a fraction of the cost of conventional counselling, says David Simmons. The benefits of charities delivering counselling to vulnerable or distraught people over the internet may not be immediately obvious. The internet is full of hackers, charlatans and predators – isn’t it? At least, if you read any tabloid newspaper, that’s the perception you’re likely to come away with. But it must also be remembered that the internet provides instantaneous communication across vast distances using a common set of languages. It is the ultimate collaboration tool.
The Adopt a Word site sets out to raise money for the children’s charity I CAN by allowing you to pay £20 to literally adopt a word. Conceptually it’s like buying a piece of the moon – you wonder whose it is to give away in the first place. But that aside I Can aims to support the development of speech, language and communication skills in all children – hence the link to words.
Web 2.0 has been variously hailed as the vehicle that would revolutionise charity communications – and as a resource-intensive tool that would be monopolised by a few irritating comment whores and put your organisation’s reputation at risk. But while some charities have no doubt experienced the latter, the Blue Cross animal charity says its All About Pets networking site has proved an unqualified success.
The former founder of Freeserve has criticised charities for being too slow to respond to fundraising opportunities presented to them. Ajaz Ahmed recently launched JumbleAid.com, a not-for-profit auction website which works just like eBay except all the money raised goes to charity instead of the seller. People list items for sale and specify which charity they want to donate the proceeds to – there are more than 25,000 on the JumbleAid database. The money is collected by the Charities Trust, gift aided where possible, and distributed to the charities.
Online charity YouthNet has voiced concerns about targeted-advertising technology which it fears could compromise the anonymity of its users. The technology, from digital technology company Phorm, allows internet service providers to target customers with tailored adverts tracking their online behaviour. It will be rolled out to participating internet service providers in the UK over the coming months.
Here are a few sample websites that claim/attempt to reveal much about the inner workings of the sector....
In an increasingly online world, information technology has become a key driver of success for charities but also one in which charities struggle to keep up with developments. The Charity IT Survey 2009 allows charities of all shapes and sizes to benchmark themselves against their peers. Once again, the benefit of data integration across departments is highlighted, especially in the context of web based solutions. With increasing representation at board level, IT is just about holding its own in the contest for resources but charities are finding it difficult to really drive improvements with major investment or to adopt new technologies as they emerge.
The homepages of UK charities are failing to capitalise on opportunities to build loyal online visitor bases despite boasting top marks for engaging design and content, a new study suggests. Hitting the Heart, by digital marketing agency dotMailer, found that charities have generally failed to put their website at the centre of a wider digital marketing strategy. They have also neglected donor contact and up-selling opportunities.
A website has been launched with the aim of raising money for charity while reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. JumbleAID.com, which its creators say combines the ethos of Freecycle with the technology of eBay, allows individuals to post their unwanted items online free of charge, while nominating the charity they wish to support and their target donation. Prospective buyers then indicate how much they are willing to donate to the charity in return for the item.
The Children’s Society is set to implement a Content Managed Intranet to improve internal communications and engage all staff. The charity has teamed up with Unified Solutions to develop the intranet based on Percussion Rhythmyx 6.5 CMS. The pair previously worked together relaunching the charity’s website in 2007.
Crimestoppers claims to be one of the first charities in the UK to bolster its revenue by selling sponsorship on its website. The site, which relaunched in January, offers advertisers and sponsors three-month campaigns and promises five million hits a month.
The National Farmers Union has launched the annual Crop Protection Management Plan (CPMP) online in a bid to streamline processes and increase efficiency. The site, which acts as a land management advice centre, aims to measure ‘best practice’ for all 55, 000 NFU farmers across the UK by posing numerous questions on the website geared towards providing practical advice.
The Blue Cross has launched its own social networking site called All About Pets. Billed as the ‘Facebook for pet lovers,’ the site aims to allow pet lovers all over the world to share experiences and advice, but will also act as a tool for the pet care charity – one of the UK’s oldest - to disseminate its own guidance and other information.
The British Red Cross has become one of the first UK charities to produce an online Alternative Reality Game aimed at young people. Coinciding with the charity’s Civilians and Conflict campaign, the game, which went live on October 10, aims to raise awareness about victims of war in an engaging, educational and thought-provoking manner.
EveryChild, the international child protection charity, is to install a networked search function on its 50 intranet sites worldwide that will enable all employees to keep up-to-date on new laws affecting their work. The charity had already implemented a Microsoft SharePoint Module to replace its traditional shared network drive, but realised it still needed to enhance its search functionality.
The Asthma UK website is a fairly standard no-nonsense design with a crisp clean feel. When arriving on a website for the first time, visitors want a navigation scheme that’s easy to figure out. Fortunately the Asthma UK site has a consistent navigation with things where people would expect to find them. The only minor thing missing is breadcrumbs.
The Action for Children website does many things well – the homepage is easy to navigate and the site contains engaging, well written content. However the stand-out feature is its aesthetic design. The graphic design of a website is not just about branding and marketing, it can also have huge impact on usability and user experience. We enjoy using things which are aesthetically pleasing and we tend to trust them more, which is important for not-for-profit organisations.
Site savers: a guide to website quality control
