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Investing in Online Fundraising

Jeremiah's complaint about why the wicked prosper and the faithless live at ease is a question that some ministry leaders may be asking during current economic times. More telling is God's response to his complaint. He addresses Jeremiah's attitude about managing adversity this way: "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with the horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?" (Jer. 12:1-5).

God's response to Jeremiah is still relevant. It is easy to look around and wonder, Why does it seem like everyone except us has the resources they need? A modern application of the response God gave Jeremiah: If you are worn out trying to keep up in the arena of resource development, you must learn to manage your technology resources and online fundraising more wisely.

Reflect with me for a moment. What is the purpose of technology for a ministry? At Donor Depot, we follow this guideline for technology: "To maintain donor loyalty and trust by equipping the nonprofit with productivity tools that enable the cultivation of long-term, high-yielding relationships."

Outside of building deep relationships with those who are fulfilling your mission, what else is there? If any part of your technology strategy does not cultivate relationships, you should look at ways to cut that part out of your overall budget.

Five Common Mistakes

Let's look at how ministries can best invest resources for online fundraising in the form of five common mistakes they often make:

(1) Choosing technology tools based almost exclusively on current trends.

Some of my more experienced clients have lamented that in the past they took a counterproductive approach to targeting technology resources. Instead of matching technology tools with specific development programs and events directly related to their mission, they acquired technology based almost entirely on recent trends.

It is important to note recent trends. However, ministries may struggle when new trends are the only measure used for choosing new technologies. Other factors such as constituent demographics, finances, technology staffing, and simply the time it takes to keep up with everything should be considered as much, if not more, than the new technology itself. Changing your online strategy based solely on rapidly changing trends would be like trying to give my one-year-old daughter a drink of water using a fire hydrant instead of her sippy cup—it's just not wise.

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Posted: October 06, 2009 4:39 PM Jim Clark

Very helpful insights. Blake made it so clear that just putting up a website is not enough. We need to connect with donors and build those relationships in creative ways through our website tools.

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