|
In my own experience as a volunteer with various charities throughout Aberdeenshire, I have found that there are many wonderful people working hard to make a real difference to peoples lives. Their faith in the cause they are supporting, be it people, groups, animals, buildings, or anything else, is truly remarkable. They work very long hours, often for little or no pay, or recognition, because they have hope that what they do will further their cause and bring benefits to the organisation, cause, or people they support.
However, getting help to share the burden is not easy, many charities rely on just a few people to keep things running. Funding and donations are more difficult to get, as more and more charities compete for a limited amount of money.
Is a website a necessity or an expensive luxury?
Why do we need a Charity website?
So much has changed within charity organisations in the last few years. The image of charity in the 21st century is one of sponsored skydives, bungee jumps, or walking the Great Wall of China. We think of Live Aid, Comic Relief, and Children in Need. But at the heart of the matter things are still the same.
Charity is still about people giving up something to help others. However, more than ever, modern technology presents new ways to achieve the aims of charity and interest groups.
A recent article in the Guardian looked at charities and the importance of the web to them, with 82% of respondents claiming that it was "vital" and 14% that it was "fairly important" to their work. This compares with figures of 70% and 23% three years ago.
Monday July 9, 2007
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
To read more from this article Click Here
 In 2006 a report was compiled called Online Charity Benchmarks by iConcertina, a London-based new media agency with a focus on the charity sector. iConcertina's Dean Russell was interviewed and expressed these comments.
“I appreciate the time and resource limitations that charities face. However, I passionately believe that charities will benefit immensely from having a website that fulfils the criteria we looked at in the report. I see no point in charities investing time & energy into a website if the online message is not aligned to the charity’s goals and purpose. This includes getting donations but also building awareness and making sure that if someone wants to support the cause they can easily do this from anywhere in the world by simply going online. This includes making sure supporters can continue to see the real-world benefits of the charity. Just having a pretty website with no useful information doesn’t do this, nor does a site with copy that’s a year old or one that doesn’t allow donations online. A poor site is more likely to risk damaging a charity’s credibility and this is likely to impact on online donations, especially considering the web is increasingly used to support how and where we spend our money. As a society we are moving more and more towards using the web for online research and purchasing or donating. Therefore it’s important that the website be used as a tool to support the charity’s offline charitable efforts and enables stakeholders to engage with their cause.”
Dean talked to Chris Lake, editor, E-consultancy.
To read more from this article Click Here
Enterprise Design makes having a Scottish charity website easy, accessible and within a budget which charities can afford. We have experience of working with a number of charities in Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Banff and so we know peoples needs are different. Why not contact us today and I’d be happy to answer all your questions.
What are the real benefits?
 Charities with a website from Enterprise Design benefit in many ways, not least of which is that people can check that you are who you say you are, what your charity number is, and what your work is all about and establish your credibility. Funders can find a mine of information about your cause, much more than they can from the few words you can write on an application form. That may make the difference between you being funded, or the money going elsewhere.
We know how to:
- Help raise awareness of your charity or interest group
- Give a much wider access to your information, publications or research
- Increase your opportunity to raise funds
- Develop new ways to recruit supporters, members, or volunteers
- Let a wider community see the work you are doing.
- Provide support through e-mail, newsletters, blogs, or a forum
- Save time and money on advertising, do it through your website
Enterprise Design provides a full and comprehensive range of services to ensure that all the areas of your website design and development works together to provide a professional, businesslike, and quality appearance every time.
|
