May 2007 NEWSLETTER: 5 Minutes to Improve ...
"5 Minutes to Improve ..."
This newsletter is a free service to the North American not-for-profit community from William Harper Associates. Its focus is on helping organizations that do good, do better ... by identifying practical ways that small- to mid-sized organizations can improve their operations, one small step at a time, in just a few minutes.
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May 2007: 5 Minutes to Improve ... On-line donations and Board bio's on the Web
This month's '5 Minutes to Improve ...' ideas are to accept charitable donations on-line; and to post Board members' biographies on your Web site.
Accept On-line donations
If you are a charity, you are no doubt serious about fundraising! And, you should provide every possible opportunity for your supporters (existing and new) to support you.
In years past, this translated into passing the hat. At every event, activity and meeting, you could be sure that someone was ready to accept any and all support that attendees could offer. That support would generally be modest in each case, sometimes extremely modest. On the other hand, you never knew when you would run into someone of unusually great means, or who had just had a particular moment of good fortune and was ready to share. The point was, to always be ready. And, those generally modest donations added up to be an important source of funds.
Nowadays, one of the biggest places to meet our potential supporters is, of course, on-line. It could be an on-line meeting or seminar; it could be on a news or update page for existing supporters; or, it could be a complete stranger stumbling upon your Website (you MUST have a Website, by the way, no matter HOW small you are!). In the 21st century, your Website is your number one public face and point of access. And, similarly, accepting on-line donations is this century's equivalent to passing the hat. It's the way to "always be ready".
But, it's complicated, expensive, and risky to get into on-line transaction processing, you say. "It's OK for giant corporations to make huge investments in this technology, but we couldn't possibly put our limited resources into this". Implementing this kind of technology for our organization is a huge problem, right?
Wrong. There is a solution, and it is even easier than you might hope.
There's an old saying in the field of commerce that "you can have any two of good, fast or cheap". That is, when you purchase a product or service, you have to be ready to forego one of these three desirable attributes, but you should be able to rely on getting two. Well, the good news when it comes to on-line donation processing is that you can have all three: Good. Fast. And, Cheap.
A bit of recent history
A decade ago, it seemed like everyone was rushing to bring all sorts of applications to this wonderful new thing called the World Wide Web. We were going to do everything on the Web! Well, the gold rush mentality extended to this application, and a number of for-profit companies tried to get into the act, building various e-commerce and portal applications for donation processing. Of course, having several competing portals undermined the whole idea of "a" portal! Some of the technology was not the greatest; some of the players didn't understand our market; and, let's face it, a lot of our market wasn't ready to rush into some expensive, untried arrangement with these companies to do something that we weren't even sure would be accepted in the market!
So, a number of initiatives came, and most of them, ingloriously, went. But, the good news is that one remains standing, the market is now ready to embrace it, and the technology and processes are "ready for prime-time". And, the winner is … ?
Canada Helps
It's called Canada Helps, it's a CRA-registered charity, and it's an on-line donations portal designed specifically to help you accept on-line donations. Here's the scoop:
- Complicated? A ten-minute registration process starts the process. And, when the money starts flowing in, you'll need to deal with it. That's a complication that you can afford to have!
- Expensive? How about free! Well, there is a 3% transaction processing fee, which covers credit card commissions, banking fees, etc., but there is no set-up fee, no monthly fee, and no other cost. So, you can get 97% of your on-line donation stream or 100% of … nothing?
- Risky? Simply, no. Do you bank on-line? Millions of Canadians do every day, and it is safe. (Not 100% safe, since there are no sure things in life, but as close to 100% as you can get.) It is certainly safer than sending a cheque through the mail.
Sound too good to be true? Well, it is true, because Canada Helps is one of those rare breed of charities whose mission is all about helping other charities. So here's a beautiful synergy: the 3% processing fee goes to another CRA-registered charity that use those funds to offer (and improve) service to you and all the other charities out there. In a sense, it's like a giant collective of charities pooling resources and expertise to have an extremely cost-effective on-line payment mechanism for everyone's benefit.
Next Steps
Go check them out, at www.CanadaHelps.org. Register today, get on-line, and pass the virtual hat!
Post your Board Members' Biographical Information on your Website
Good governance practices give rise to transparency of operations and accountability for our actions. And, the need for this has never been higher. Even the most far-removed from the business world will recognize names like Enron and WorldCom as bad players, even if they aren't familiar with the particulars of their offenses.
A lot of what organizations need to do in this area is tough. Truly clear financial reporting, Board financial literacy and sound oversight of finance and accounting functions can be difficult and expensive to implement effectively. But, there are some steps that can be taken very quickly and easily. Not only will these send out positive messages about your organization's commitment to doing better, but they will actually move you a small step in the right direction.
Helping your organization's leadership be publicly accountable is such a step. Not sufficient in its own right, of course, but a necessary - and easy - first step.
Adding a page to your Website with Board members' biographical information is an easy thing to do. And, it's one that doesn't take a lot of continuing effort. You may even have all the information you need to do it at your fingertips. Often, Board members' biographies will have been included in grant or other proposals, or organization profile documents. Of course, it is always good to ensure that these are up-to-date (and, in that vein, why not mark a recurring task in your calendar, say, for the first Board meeting of each year).
Some additional benefits
Making your Board members' biographies public is a positive step for your organization from a governance perspective. But, it also has some fringe benefits:
- most Board members will react positively to having a little bit of public recognition for their efforts;
- linking these bio's to members' employers' Web pages (where applicable) gives them some added recognition, too. Employee-members may appreciate this support if they have to justify their time commitment to their employers. You may also find some of these organizations linking back to your Website, which helps in your Website's overall search engine rankings;
- it helps to put a human face on the leadership of your organization - no longer just "the Board", but a group of real, caring and dedicated people! And, those people's diverse skills and perspectives become yours, too;
- being seen as recognizing Board members' contributions this way may also make Board recruitment a little easier. It also gives prospective Board members more information about their potential peers;
- donors, other supporters and other stakeholders will be happy to have this information available at a click. It's one less thing they need to ask you for, and shows them that you want to be open.
As a first step, this also gives you a foundation to which you can keep adding. As you go forward, you can consider what additional governance-related information can and should be made public. Things to consider: Board policies and resolutions; committee roles, responsibilities, and membership; minutes of Board meetings, or (more likely) excerpts highlighting recent initiatives; interim financial information; operating reports; etc. The list is lengthy, and obviously needs to be vetted for details that shouldn't be public (for example, human resource-related decisions or discussions, personal information, sensitive/"competitive" operating information, and so on).
But, once you have a taste for living in a public world, many will actually appreciate the impact of having to be open - if you wouldn't want a particular piece of information or decision to be made public, it's a good policy to ask yourself why. Improved, more ethical, balanced and honest decision-making may result, and after all, that's what good governance is supposed to be all about!
Next steps
Consult with your Board or executive, break out the existing biographical information and circulate it to your members for updating, and determine where it best resides on your Website.