The Charity Connect membership seems to come from every part of our sector, from organisations big and small; and 'medium'. There are bosses and volunteers, officers and managers, supporters and ambassadors. What we all have in common is no time, finance worries … and a love of what we do.

 

We do like 'free' things, to a point. Volunteering is giving time and skills and is the foundation of all that we do. We love donations. Then there are things which have a cost.

 

If anyone reading this doesn't love transparency … perhaps I should reword that statement – there is a list (a long list) of public and private perceptions which make our lives, and the work that we do, more difficult.

 

Your charity might be small, very small, but news (and actually PR from larger charities) about how you're not as effective as a larger 'version' makes your life more difficult. There are a growing number of charities whose expenditure and reserves make the headlines, joining those who have PR disasters that (long term) could be irrecoverable from.

 

The biggest disaster is connected with a form of fundraising. That a donated £ might actually only mean a few pence going to a charity irritates (to say the least). That a telephone number and address is a commodity (to some) exasperates more and more people.

 

Then there is the fact that a charity very often needs to pay people to run and manage it. Few complainants though look at (or perhaps appreciate) the cost of regulation, or proper management and the efforts need to to write many unsuccessful grant applications etc etc, coupled with pressure to conform to business models (collaboration …) that may not be as well prepared as they could be.

 

To counter, to alleviate, to actual manage all the above (and many more) issues – which have a cost – there is 'free' support. I say 'free', with the caveat that actually using the support does have a cost of time, your time. There is also lots of 'free' support for the free things we like – volunteering and donations.

 

This support comes from the Internet and its hugely disruptive to the established order.

 

As just one example, you need a new web site, or to upgrade what you have. You may have some experienced and actually quality volunteer advice to hand, or have a budget to employ someone or a company to do this for you. The problems?

 

They are numerous. For that volunteer, there is pride and passion in what they produce. They develop a style of their own which gets noted. When they make their offer, they want to be given the opportunity to be their own creative inspiration.

 

They may be a personal friend to many within the charity they are supporting and if that is a HiPPO, then maybe one person will actually approve their work.

 

You may be thinking – 'What is a a HiPPO?'. If you've read any of my other posts on Charity Connect, you'll know that I may sometimes upset some people and this could be such an occurrence. A HiPPO is a 'Highest Paid Personal Opinion'.

 

Should you be able to afford professional help, you need to be aware that web design companies cannot offer a bespoke service for a low price. They have back end infrastructure that they fit layouts and styles onto, and with the advent of mobile friendly design, the actual opportunities to be truly visually creative are limited. A price will rise when you want the infrastructure to do more, say personalise the look and structure of a web site for individual visitors.

 

So where can you find 'free' advice and how and why should you use it?

 

When you make that decision to improve your web site, you can (and should) integrate its abilities and performance into your overall business plan. Digital has to become a fully functioning part of your communications AND financial plans. I can't stress this enough. Your web site will lead people to you, show what you do, but it will also help retain the support you have and can create and develop income without a single bit of personal involvement. It can do accounts for you. It can find you new business and get them ready to join you with little more than a 'thank you' needed to start a partnership.

 

I've just made a bit of a mistake there – using the word 'business'. Some will have left this page/post just at the mention of commerce. Sorry, nearly all of you file accounts and open your doors to the general public five days a week (or more). You are a charitable business so, if you click on this link you''ll go to a page on which there are 10 tips on web design for small businesses.

 

You'll need some content for your web site – actually lots of it. Here are five examples of the content types a small business web site should have.

 

Part of your web site has to be a testimonials page. Here are some very high quality examples and if you haven't made a video (or six) yet, then this is how to make testimonial videos.

 

But what about the words that go with the images on your web site? If you've read some of my other posts about 'conversion' then you'll have a good understanding of why this REALLY matters and for detail, this article doesn't leave anything out.

 

All this said, a new or improved web site should really come with making the absolute most of your use of social media. If you've had a social media plan, then this level of detail is significant and may inspire a re-write.

 

For those still not sure about personalisation – and how a homogeneous web site could lead to a business actually 'going out of business' - then this white-paper will give you plenty of food for thought.

 

This post was titled with some attention grabbing (hopefully!) headline issues for our sector. One of them was 'negotiating'. Do you struggle to get the best price or value when buying something or finalising the details of a contract? Is it hard to decide when to make a bit more of an 'ask' from a donor. Well this article reveals lots of the tricks of the trade for getting that best value.

 

Another of those headlines was Transformational Funding. Before I reveal a link you may well be very interested in, have you ever considered partnering with someone in the private sector?

 

Or what about crowdsourcing (rather than crowdfunding) to help you deliver the work your community needs?

 

OK, its time for possibly a major bit of help, something that could start a change in your charity that gives you a much more secure and long term future. This is a very detailed look at Transformational Funding.

 

Time for a break and a look at what you could do with any or all of the above. This means taking up some of your time, time that you don't have. You could have spent some of that time (that doesn't exist) looking for any of the above. You may well subscribe to sector newsletters which deliver sector branded content on any of the above. You may have no budget for staff training – fiscal and time – for individual and team development.

 

Well, it will take maybe five minutes to read the article on '10 web site must haves'. Print that off and make your own branded list and you have the basis for looking at your new or improved web site. Say that takes another 30 minutes. You can then circulate that across the whole of your team, no matter how small, and ask for feedback – saying to people to give links to other web sites which they feel do any of the 10 things well. That's a couple of hours to turn the basis of a new web site into something that everyone feels involved in. You've given any HiPPOs something to think about.

 

OK I've made another provocative statement but to get people onto your web site you are going to need to do some promotion and one of the ways to do that is by using social media. I've included a link about a social media strategy but it is very hard for social media not to reflect the personality of its manager over and above the direct needs of an organisation and the even more important need that social media delivers the best return possible on the time invested.

 

Is this what your Facebook page should look like – what content it should feature?

 

For those in charge of a Facebook page and who keep on hearing about Facebook groups, where do you get really good technical advice about managing all this?

 

Facebook is very much in the news at the moment (and on the Charity Connect blog posts section). There was a four day mini-on-conference that I promoted – an event entitled 'Four Days of Facebook'. I hadn't seen the presentations before (I have read everything that I've linked to on this post) so it wasn't exactly what I assumed it would be. There was though one feature that did really develop learning and it was No 2 on Day 2 – entitled The Impact of Social Influence in 2017.

 

It's a TED style lecture on why social media works in certain ways. Its for those who really want to know the background of influencing people on-line. You can actually track all this by listening to what is going on.

 

Social media has been around for about a decade. E-mail has been 'the governor' for far longer and despite everything you're presently hearing about variations of 'messenger' services, the data (the facts) say it (e-mail) isn't going anywhere soon. If you've around four hours to spare, the annual on-line conference 'All About E-mail' has just taken place and the many presentations and lots (and lots) of resources are available free and on-demand for the next 90 days.

 

My favourite marketer Scott Stratten gives the key-note and includes a section about social media quotes which some will squirm at, a vanity affair that is reinforced by this feature but do read this article about a fundamental misconception about what e-mail can and does do and maybe take a look at the most successful designs you could have (at a price)

 

What's left to cover?

 

Well branding is always a well used phrase and this article and this post covers just that – on a budget.

 

Your brand reach at executive level probably needs some astute use of Linkedin, so this cheat sheet could come in handy.

 

The denouement? I led the title of this post with Projects. Now some of the links above are for companies and businesses who would like to sell you something physical – they want you to have some software that will help you develop what you do, save money, be generically more efficient etc. I hope I've chosen options where they are giving practical advice not product promotion.

 

They actually need to do this before you consider their software as there are always fundamentals of content, story-telling and strategy that you need to have in place for this new support to actually work.

 

Others are there to give support to specialists – and the majority is free – with the options that you may like to attend events or take up on-line courses where a fee is charged. For anyone working on Projects, and anything to do with impact, then BATimes is a web site well worth a visit and joining gives you access to lots of online training and advice (its free), as well as the bonus of gaining credits for your new learning. The last webinar of theirs I watched was on 'requirements' and as the foundation of projects and development, it was top-notch.

 

That's it! I hope you've lasted this far or if you've dipped in and out, that some of the links have given you, at the least the inspiration to find that time which doesn't exist (maybe just a couple of hours). We all live in times of incredible change and our sector has no protection from disruption or even decimation (for whatever reason). Its the commercial world that is learning these lessons fast. We need to be as committed.