Charities House.com

Is your online donation facility still storing customer payment details?

2011-02-18T15:29:00.000+10:30

The following article reinforces why all organisations should now be PCI (Payment Card Industry) Compliant - which includes never storing a customer's credit card details.

Credit card details stolen by Lush hackers - ABC News Australia

The article makes it sound like Lush shut down their website voluntarily. In reality, it was forced to do so by the credit card companies. To be able to sell online once again, they will have to go through a rigorous PCI audit by an external organisation - which they will have to pay for. They will also be fined by PCI for not being compliant, and they will have to pay anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 per month for PCI compliance violations. They will further be fined by increased credit card transaction costs, and will have to repay all the fraudulent charges on cards stolen from their website.

For details on the penalties, see http://www.pcicomplianceguide.org/merchants-20090416-cost-data-breach.php and http://www.pcicomplianceguide.org/pcifaqs.php#11

Heavy price to pay for not updating your system!

New Facebook Messaging service a potential windfall for non-profits

2010-11-16T14:49:00.002+10:30

Facebook announced yesterday their new messaging service which blends your email account, your mobile phone text messages, your instant messages, and online chats.

See http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=452288242130 and http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372719,00.asp

You will suddenly be able to track all forms of messages to and from all your contacts in a single application - Facebook. When you register your mobile phone with Facebook, people can send you an SMS from within Facebook.

If your charity is using Facebook, this has just given you many new ways of communicating with your supporters!

If you would like Facebook to invite you to join the new Facebook messaging when it is released, visit:
http://www.facebook.com/about/messages/

Another great article on this topic is at http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/7154/4-Action-Items-For-Email-Marketers-From-Facebook-s-New-Messaging-System.aspx

Is social networking a charity's friend or foe?

2010-10-05T11:30:00.001+10:30

Are charities and fundraisers investing too much trust and value in social networking - especially Facebook?

Two articles I've recently come across make me believe that we should exercise caution, and keep our biggest investments in those areas we can control - our websites and our blogs.

"Navigation Nightmare: The Deadly Danger of Facebook, Twitter, Google and the iPhone" is an excellent PDF whitepaper which makes a very good case for promoting your domain name, not your Facebook page or Twitter handle.

You never know when Facebook and Twitter will change the rules and their interface once again and everything you have invested in building a following via these sources disappears. Much better to keep your website domain name consistently in front of supporters and donors, with links to your social media, instead of being at the mercy of a giant that can change the rules on a whim.

"Is social networking a charity's friend or foe?" is an article that provides a similar argument. What happens when Facebookers or Tweeters turn against an organisation? It cites the example of the RSPCA which recently had its Facebook group hijacked by protesters. Save The Children and Comic Relief also have dedicated Facebook "hate" groups.

As I have advised a major charity a few years ago when their youth groups wanted the entire organisation to shift its focus to social media: Yes, we have to be involved in social media, and we must especially monitor and moderate social media about our organisation, but to control our image, our brand and our message we must invest in those areas we can control - our websites.

Two Cause Marketing programs that work

2010-10-05T10:48:00.002+10:30

http://selfishgiving.com/cause-practices/all-cause-marketing-not-gold

The Salvation Army is one of my favourite charities, so I'm always pleased to see corporates partner with them.

Also great to see a Facebook cause marketing program that is working!

New Google tools every blogger or webmaster should use

2010-10-01T14:47:00.001+09:30

Following are some new items released by Google that I have found to be very valuable:

Google URL shortener website - http://goo.gl/

Not only does it make long links manageable, but if you sign-in to your Google Account, you’ll see a list of URLs you’ve shortened in the past. Click the “details” link next to any shortened URL and you’ll find real-time analytics data, showing you how many people have clicked on your links, with traffic over time, top referrers, and visitor profiles.
Google Search Engine Optimization Start Guide - https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf&pli=1

Contains everything I've been telling my clients for years. Next time some SEO company starts talking rubbish (keyword tags, anyone?) I can just throw this to the client instead of having to persuade them once again that the supposed SEO expert is full of crap.
Google Font API - http://code.google.com/apis/webfonts/

Using this easy to implement API (one stylesheet link) I can now use any available font on my website. Its no longer necessary to limit your website to the basic fonts or use images for nice fonts!

"Remarketing" or "Retargeting" internet ads - is it a service or is it stalking?

2010-09-10T10:51:00.000+09:30

Recently I posted the following information to a Linked In group. I'm posting a follow up here with some additional information that I have come across.

Should Charities resist this new advertising development?

The NYTimes article "Retargeting Ads Follow Surfers to Other Sites" suggests that new Google and Microsoft technology that allows ads to follow you across the internet is "creepy", "disturbing" and akin to stalking - like "a commercial surveillance system in place online that is sweeping in scope and raises privacy and civil liberties issues, too."

While Google has long used information about the websites you peruse to suggest internet ads in which you may be interested, they are now offering it as a specific service to enable individual advertisers to "follow you" around the internet and keep throwing their ads at you.

This service for advertisers is called "remarketing" or "retargeting" and enables the advertiser - lets say a shoe store - to embed within their website a snippet of code which then gets saved to your browser cookies when you visit their website and look at their shoes.

When you later go to any other website that has Google ads, the snippet of code which has been saved to your cookies tells Google to show you the shoe store's advertisements again, and again, and again in the hopes that you will go back to their site and buy their shoes. (Let's hope it was just a harmless shoe store you visited!)

Does this take cyber stalking to a new level? If your charity uses this, could it give you a black eye? Or could it increase your hit rate and online donations?

Today I came across official information from Google which explains how they see it. The article "Now available: Reach the right audience through remarketing" gives us this scenario:

"Imagine you’re a travel company, and you’re trying to excite users during the holiday season about deals to tropical Caribbean destinations. Users may come to your website, browse the offers and think about booking a trip, but decide that the deal is still not cheap enough. Then, they continue to browse the web. If you later decide to offer discounted deals to the Carribean, how do you reach these users who have already expressed interest in travelling there?"

In other words, it makes the assumption that a person who visits your website is your potential customer and has (unwittingly and unwillingly) opted in to receive your advertisements anywhere they go.

This is where the privacy issue comes in - most countries with Privacy Laws stipulate that the consumer must consciously opt-in to a company's mailing list or make a purchase/donation before they can be sent marketing material by that company.

Remarketing or retargeting clearly violates this principle.

However, Google states that "we want to put users in control of the ads they see, so anyone can opt-out of remarketing by using the Ads Preferences Manager. Our remarketing product complies with industry standards developed by self-regulatory groups such as the NAI and IAB and IAB UK."

In other words - you can choose to opt out by going to http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

In theory, you can also opt out by disabling cookies in your browser. However, anyone who has tried that in the last couple of years has learned the hard way that it is now almost impossible to use the internet without having cookies enabled.

What are your thoughts?

Australian consumer ecommerce market lagging

2010-09-09T09:57:00.000+09:30

I found the following article, which confirms my impression ....

http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/view/australian-consumer-ecommerce-market-lagging-2239

A / B testing of websites - a note of caution

2010-09-01T13:23:00.001+09:30

Recently a client used Google Website Optimizer (available free with every Google Analytics account) to perform A / B testing of one of their websites. Google makes this relatively easy.

(A/B testing is the trialling of different changes to your website. You split traffic between your existing website and a modified version, and test which version performs better - eg. gets more traffic, more revenue, fewer bounces, higher click-through rate, etc. depending on what you want to measure).

However, my client was not told the A/B testing would be done using Google. They were approached by a company which convinced them of the need for A/B testing and presented their test methodology and approach and got the client to sign a contract.

Now, I tried to advise the client they didn't need an outside company to do the A/B testing - we could do it very easily using Google - but the client was intent on using the outside firm.

When the client signed the contract committing them to use the company, I was finally provided with the specs on how to implement the A/B test.

Guess what was in the specs?

The outside company had me implement Google Website Optimizer, then stacked their overhead costs and profits onto it. It was a waste of time and money, and the A/B tests were inconclusive and withdrawn after 30 days.

The lesson? Talk to your existing web hosting / web development team before agreeing to implement solutions that have been sold to you by cold calling sales reps.

I have to admit being a bit negative about A/B testing in the last few months since this happened, but here is an interesting article in defence of A/B testing: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/08/26/in-defense-of-a-b-testing/

Has anyone had a similar experience? Have you tried A/B testing with good results?

Charity supporters rank social media as least credible

2010-06-10T11:54:00.000+09:30

The 2010 Fenton Forecast focuses on "Leadership and Effectiveness Among Nonprofits".

While it is strictly an American view, the report shows some interesting trends, including:

Charity supporters rank social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as one of the least credible sources of information about a non-profit organisation
In contrast, the most popular methods for people to voice their opinion about a cause is via social media - 39% would use Facebook, 25% would use a website, 19% would comment on a blog, 12% would use Twitter, and 11% would write their own blog (obviously the survey allowed multiple selections).
It also provides Fenton's own ranking of which American non-profit organisations they view as top leaders - with the Diabetes Association and Special Olympics tied for 1st place, with Red Cross as 3rd place.

To download the report, go to http://www.fenton.com/intelligence-report/2010/05/fenton-forecast.html. As a pleasant surprise, Fenton have made the report freely available with no strings attached!

Useability Review of Charity Websites

2010-06-10T11:35:00.000+09:30

Are you looking for a review of prominent charity websites to see what works and what could be improved?

Smashing Magazine recently took a look at the following charity sites:

Red Nose Day
Give Us A Lift
Child Line
World Wildlife Foundation (WWF)
Macmillan
Dogs Trust
Shelter
Shelter Box
Action for Children
Stand With Haiti

Great feedback is provided on everything from colour schemes to use of graphics, gizmos, and calls to action.

See http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/26/usability-review-of-charity-websites-taking-the-lead/

Fundraising Trends, Plans and Predictions

2010-05-04T11:27:00.001+09:30

Three new reports have been published which show current trends, plans and predictions in the non-profit sector.

Charity Direct Debit Tracking Report 2010

http://www.rapidataservices.com/news/trackingreport2010

This report, published in the UK by Rapidata, shows that ongoing direct debit donations to 117 charities increased by 18% in 2009, while the cancellation rate is down by 3%. The average ongoing direct debit donation was £12 per month (or £144 per year.).

The report also provides statistics on the number of failed direct debit donations and the failed reason, and shows that donors tend to cancel their direct debit at the bank, rather than with the charity (mostly due to the way UK banks handle direct debit mandates).

Fundraising Predictions

http://www.blackbaud.com/default.aspx?pgpId=2531&PRID=349

Blackbaud's news release states many obvious fundraising trends, such as the shift from Baby Boomers to Gen-X and Gen-Y donors, and the importance of social media and relationship fundraising.

Worth reading the article to see if there is anything you didn't already know.

Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report

http://www.nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com/

According to this report, up to 50% of American non-profits plan to increase the amount of staff time spent supporting social networking sites.

Most organisations report they currently have 1/4 to 1/2 of a full-time equivalent (FTE) staff member dedicated to supporting Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube content, with a significant drop in MySpace usage.

Unfortunately, they require you to register to receive the report, including a US zipcode, but a clever Australian fundraiser can pick a random zipcode that will work - like any number between 90001 to 90899 for Los Angeles.

Changes to Facebook accounts

2010-04-29T15:27:00.003+09:30

If your non-profit has a Facebook page, or is thinking of creating one, here are some new developments you should be aware of:

Community Pages

This is a new type of Facebook page that allows users to promote a cause or topic. BE WARNED:

postings will not show up in News Feeds of fans
the pages are not controlled by an author or administrator
the content is automatically created by Facebook using information and a profile picture from the article for that topic in Wikipedia.
when people post an update on their page which mentions a topic, it will automatically be pulled into the Community Page for the topic.

For more information, see http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php#!/help/?topic=profileconnections and http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Connections

There is no longer an option to create "fan" pages, and Facebook is changing the terminology from "fans" to "likes" and "connections".

According to Facebook, connecting to Pages will now be the main way to express yourself on your profile. If you have previously filled out fields for current city, hometown, education, work and interests, then Facebook will suggest pages for you to connect with. See http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php#!/help/?faq=17123

As I have advised in previous Tweets with links to http://mashable.com/2010/04/21/facebook-f8-2 and http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-07/ff_facebookwall, these changes are all part of Facebook's new push to utilise all the demographic and social data it has accumulated into the Open Graph API and onsell it to developers and businesses who will use it for targeted marketing.

See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/21/AR2010042103555.html for the big picture on how Facebook plans to exploit your data.

Official Pages

If you are a business or non-profit entity, Facebook now wants you only to use Official Pages. You must verify that you are an official representative, and you must now pass one of their authentication tests. See http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=authenticate_page

However, if you are an Australian entity of an international organisation, be aware that Facebook is ruthlessly deleting all except the Official Pages for the head office.

In a conference call on Tuesday with clients in London, Sweden and Australia, I was advised that the Australian Official Page (with thousands of fans) for the organisation had been deleted by Facebook without warning - apparently because there was a USA Official Page created by the parent organisation. They are attempting to appeal, but Facebook is famously unresponsive. The Sweden and London offices were planning to create Facebook Official Pages for their countries, but are now putting such plans on hold.

Most common reasons for abandoned shopping carts

2010-04-23T09:48:00.002+09:30

A study by PayPal and comScore found that 45% of US online shoppers had abandoned shopping carts multiple times in just three weeks. The average cost of abandoned goods in those shopping carts was $109.

46% of online shoppers said high shipping charges was a “very important reason” for ditching their carts.

Other reasons for abandonment included:

Wanted to comparison shop: 37%
Lack of money: 36%
Wanted to look for a coupon: 27%
Wanted to shop offline: 26%
Couldn’t find preferred pay option: 24%
Item unavailable at checkout: 23%
Couldn’t find customer support: 22%
Security concerns: 21%

The last point - security concerns - can be overcome with excellent customer support, as described in my post on 16 December 09.

To read about the study by PayPal and comScore, go to http://www.emailmoxie.com/2010/01/plight-of-abandoned-cart.html

Enter the 4th Annual Do-Gooder Non-Profit Video Awards

2010-03-11T16:01:00.001+10:30

Enter your nonprofit's video created in 2009 in the 4th Annual DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards. Prizes will go to:

Best Small Org Video
Best Medium Org Video
Best Large Org Video
Best Innovation in Video

The winners in each category will be featured on the YouTube homepage, receive a grant from the Case Foundation, get a camera from Flip Video, free registration in the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) Conference, and have your work showcased at a screening in Washington DC.

March 19 is the deadline. A panel of judges will select finalists to compete in a public vote. Winners will be announced on April 10.

Entry is open to non-profit organisations in the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK.

For more information, see http://www.youtube.com/nonprofitvideoawards
For rules, see http://www.see3.net/dogooder/official-contest-rules

Rocketseed and CharitiesHouse offer free email branding to Australian non-profits

2010-03-03T14:48:00.001+10:30

Rocketseed is a patented service that allows you to control the branding and appearance of all the emails that leave your organisation with dynamic, consistent marketing messages. It turns every single email sent out by your staff into a communication / marketing / fundraising tool, and your marketing team can change the message as often as needed so that every email that any employee sends outside the organisation helps to alert people to your priorities and generates donations via links to your website.

You can also use Rocketseed on your website donation confirmation emails, encouraging your one-off donors to become regular givers. Rocketseed ensures that not only your supporters, but your suppliers and other people you communicate with, are involved in your promotional efforts and are encouraged to signup for special events such as walk-a-thons or charity balls or golf days.

Even better, you get reports which show the number of people who click on the links, the number who sign up for special events, and the number of donations. Rocketseed clients are seeing click-through rates of 10% to 60%, with a 10% conversion rate on the click-throughs.

The charge for Rocketseed is normally $3.50 per user per week, but CharitiesHouse has been authorised to offer a special rate to Australian non-profits until 30 April. Rocketseed will provide FREE email branding for one year to charities with up to 300 users. All you have to pay for is the once-off setup fee and any design services needed for your email banners. This is a limited offer for 1000 seats, so be first and get yours today.

For more information and to lock in this offer, contact Michael at CharitiesHouse on 0407 310 231 or email michael@charitieshouse.com

To learn more about Rocketseed please visit http://www.za.rocketseed.com/flash/demo2.swf

What are people saying about you on the internet?

2010-02-19T14:38:00.000+10:30

With so many different websites, blogs, twitterers, diggs and other social media out there, its hard to keep track of what people are saying about you, or your organisation, on the internet.

I use the following tools:

http://socialmention.com - This is my favourite. If your organisation has a single word name, you can type it directly into the box without quotation marks. If your name has multiple words, use quotation marks, such as "Australian Red Cross". You can even search for your personal name.

The site 'searches the universe' for every mention of the name, and you can sort the mentions by blogs, microblogs (eg. Twitter), bookmarks, comments, events, news, video, audio or all the above.

Even better, it shows you scores, such as:

Strength - the likelihood your name is being discussed in social media
Sentiment - measures whether the mentions are positive or negative
Passion - whether people are talking about you repeatedly
Reach - your influence, as measured by the number of mentions vs. number of authors

http://xinureturns.com - Type the domain name of your website and this service will go out and find everything it can about your site, with useful statistics showing your page rankings in Google, Alexa and Dmoz, as well as mentions in social media such as Digg, del.icio.us, plus how many pages of your site are indexed in Google and Yahoo, plus any backlinks from major site amalgamators.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo - gives you some rough site statistics if you have not set up your website with Google Analytics, but it is very limited. You are much better off using http://www.google.com/analytics/ to get every kind of statistic about visitors to your site - where your visitors are located, how they found your website, what content they are looking at, what keywords they used to find you on the search engine. Your Google Analytics account has to be installed by someone who knows how to embed the tracking code in your website. While you are at it, you should also embed the Google Webmaster Tools tracking code from https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools - this will tell you how the Google search engine sees your site and gives you recommendations to improve your site's visibility.

After you have learned what people are saying about you on the internet, you can set up alerts to let you know everytime a new mention is made. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts and you will be notified whenever you (or your organisation) are mentioned. You can have multiple alerts for different keywords or topics.

If you know of other great tools, please post them in a comment below!

Non-profits have mixed experiences using Facebook

2010-02-18T14:06:00.001+10:30

Nonprofit organizations looking for new ways to spread word of fundraisers and upcoming events are using a source that's free and accessed by an estimated 350 million people worldwide.

They're joining Facebook, the social networking site that has seemingly become a rite of passage for anyone with Internet access. Local nonprofits that have pages on Facebook include the Bakersfield Museum of Art, Alliance Against Family Violence & Sexual Assault, Arts Council of Kern, Kern Community Foundation and Kern Adult Literacy Council.

Beth Pandol, director of marketing for Bakersfield Museum of Art, said they use the site to announce fundraisers, exhibit openings and other events. Instead of mailing these announcements, which can cost hundreds of dollars, the museum can post them on Facebook without paying a penny.

The Bakersfield chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had a quite different experience when the organization created Facebook and MySpace pages. Instead of responses from people interested in helping the community's four-legged friends, the sites somehow led to people sending porn to chapter members' e-mail accounts.

"Our marketing guy said 'If I get another picture of a nude person I'm going to scream,'" said Director Sandy Dralle.

Another problem was ads for various pet food and insurance companies kept popping up on the SPCA's pages, Dralle said. The nonprofit has contracts with certain companies in which they agree not to promote competitors.

All in all, it wasn't a positive experience, Dralle said.

But other nonprofits said Facebook has helped. Raye Bugnosen, clinical services manager for the Alliance Against Family Violence & Sexual Assault, said they started their Facebook account in October 2009 and hope it will reach people who otherwise wouldn't have heard of them.

"Our services are up there with links on how a victim can get help," Bugnosen said.

Salvation Army Major Daniel Abella said the nonprofit has a national Facebook site and Web site. Online donations to help recovery efforts following the devastating earthquake in Haiti reached $5 million as of Jan. 24, Abella said. It was far more than the $583,000 that was received through direct mail and the $1.8 million by lockboxes by the same date.

Read the full article at Bakersfield.com

YouTube 'brings sexy back' to charity work

2010-02-18T14:00:00.002+10:30

Feb. 15, 2010, CNN — The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank needed a way to tell the world about its work. Shawn Ahmed wanted to continue the video storytelling he'd begun on behalf of the poor in Bangladesh.

YouTube wanted to bring them together.

The result, YouTube's Video Volunteers page, pairs deserving but underfunded charities with creative video producers willing to help them. The page has brought hundreds of sometimes-offbeat fundraising and promotional videos to the same site that launched such Web celebrities as singer Susan Boyle and the "Leave Britney Alone" guy.

"There are all these really big, sexy parts of YouTube, but we need people to know about this [project] because it actually matters," said YouTube spokesman Aaron Zamost, invoking pop star Justin Timberlake.

Read more at CNN.com

How the Gmail spam filter rules work

2010-02-04T14:43:00.050+10:30

If you do broadcast (or bulk) emails to subscribers, hopefully the following information will benefit you.

One of my European clients has a form on their website to allow visitors to signup for their email newsletter. However, the client is finding their bulk emails sent to Gmail accounts are frequently (but not consistently) ending up in the "Spam" folder. We did some research to find out why.

The client uses a reputable 3rd party bulk email package called Promomail (see http://www.adrenalinmedia.com.au/promoMail.aspx).

Information on Gmail's spam filter rules is quite sparse. The following link provides helpful tips if you are doing bulk emails: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81126

This link http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/07/q2-2009-spam-trends.html also says that emails which consist mostly of a single image (which the client often uses) are being rated as "image span" which will also affect the delivery. Far better to use HTML and text and minimise the use of images. Be aware that Google uses optical character recognitions software to read the images in your email and help identify whether it is spam. See http://www.google.com/mail/help/fightspam/spamexplained.html

However, you should also ensure that you are using basic HTML and not lots of complex tagging. For example, emails with nested HTML tables are often flagged as spam by Gmail, as well as emails with large fonts and an excessive use of images. Avoid using Microsoft Word to generate an HTML message, as it creates a lot of excess tags which will get your message blocked.

Many 3rd party bulk email software will test your email against the Spam Assassin filter rules, which is one of the more popular commercial spam filters out there. If you can keep your SpamAssassin content analysis score below 5.0 in most cases you should be okay. You can see their rules at http://spamassassin.apache.org/tests_3_3_x.html

One important factor in the Gmail spam filter is that when Gmail users click "Report as spam" against an email, then Gmail automatically begins flagging all emails from that source as spam. Many other emails services do the same. In many 3rd party bulk email packages, there is a feedback loop which records these flags as "complaints". You should always treat any complaints as unsubscribe requests and remove the email addresses from your database prior to any future sends. ISPs monitor these types of complaints very closely and generally take the attitude that if the recipient doesn’t want an email then it can be counted as spam – regardless of how legitimate you would consider your email. If an ISP notices an excessive amount of complaints from users, they may end up throttling back your delivery or worse still, blacklisting you.

Using the wrong choice of words in the subject line can also result in your message being flagged as spam and blocked from delivery. For example, the following words will land you in trouble:

"as seen"
"your bills"
"your family"
"buy" or "buying"
"diet" or "lose weight"
"bigger"
"at no cost"
"do you have" or "do you want"
"will help"
"new software"
monetary reference
"owe" or "debt" or "eradicate"
using ALL CAPITALS
using G A P S to space out letters

See the SpamAssassin link above for a complete list of words to avoid. There is also a series of interesting articles at http://blogs.computerworld.com/15264/dns_blocklists_and_reputation_services_part_1

Any additional comments or feedback is welcome.

Australian Non-Profits Using Social Media

2010-01-27T20:49:00.024+10:30

How many Australian non-profits are actively using social media to get their message out, build online communities of their supporters, and help raise funds?

I spent a few hours today and did some digging and came up with the following lists. Please note that there were a few other non-profits with inactive Twitter accounts that have not been updated for months, as well as a number of social media accounts by supporters of organisations that are not part of their official communications. Only active, official social media sites were included in the following lists.

The most innovative use of social media by Australian non-profits that I found was the Tear Australia "Useful Gifts" application on Facebook. When you allow this application at http://apps.facebook.com/usefulgift/ you can "give your friends a goat, a toilet or other unusual gifts. Buy real gifts for people who really need them - like school supplies for a child in Zambia, or a goat for a family in India. Gifts start at just $5." Great idea that works year round!

Another good example of how charities can use social media is Cerebral Palsy Tasmania, which has a Twitter account, Blog and Facebook page following the progress of their 1000km for Kids fundraising campaign (see the links below).

The most worrisome social media site I saw is the blog of Project 18, where they have allowed spammers to fill their blog "trackback" with links to lots of rubbish. If you are going to run a blog or other social media site, you need to moderate "trackbacks" and comments and Twitter followers.

Of course the lists below are far from exhaustive, but they give a strong indication that many Australian non-profit organisations are actively using social media. Do you know of others? Feel free to add them in the comments section below.

Blogs

Care Australia: http://careaustralia.wordpress.com

Cerebral Palsy Tasmania: http://1000kms4kids.blogspot.com/

Project 18: http://project18.org.au/p18-blog

Reach Out Australia: http://au.reachout.com/connect/blog

Facebook

Amnesty International Australia: http://www.facebook.com/AmnestyOz

Asthma Foundation SA: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asthma-Foundation-of-SA/27295811391

Australian Cancer Research Foundation: http://www.facebook.com/CancerResearch

Australian Cancer Research Foundation: http://twitter.com/Cancer_Research

Australian Conservation Foundation: http://twitter.com/AusConservation

Australian Koala Foundation: http://twitter.com/savethekoala

Australian Red Cross: http://twitter.com/ausredcross_em and http://twitter.com/powerofhumanity

Bankstown Womens Health Centre: http://twitter.com/BWHC

Baptcare: http://twitter.com/Baptcare

Butterfly Foundation: http://twitter.com/BFoundation

Cancer Council Australia: http://twitter.com/cancercounciloz

Cerebral Palsy Tasmania: http://twitter.com/CPTAS

Conservation Council of South Australia: http://twitter.com/ConservationSA

Cure our Kids (The Children's Hospital at Westmead): http://twitter.com/CureOurKids

Diabetes NSW: http://twitter.com/DiabetesAustNSW

DotComMob: http://twitter.com/DotComMob

Drug Arm Australia: http://twitter.com/DrugArm

Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria: http://twitter.com/epilepsyvic

Guide Dogs NSW / ACT: http://twitter.com/GuideDogsNSWACT

Headspace: http://twitter.com/headspace_

Humane Society Australia: http://twitter.com/hsi_australia

Hunter Aboriginal Childrens Services: http://twitter.com/hunteracs

Lasallian Foundation: http://twitter.com/Lasallian

Lifeline Australia: http://twitter.com/LifelineAust

Nature Conservation Council of NSW: http://twitter.com/ourlastsharks

Plan Australia: http://twitter.com/planaustralia and http://twitter.com/youthatplanaus

Project 18: http://twitter.com/Project_18

Reach Out Mental Health: http://twitter.com/reachoutmh

Reach Out Australia: http://twitter.com/ReachOut_AUS

Red Nose Day Australia: http://twitter.com/RedNoseDayOz

RSPCA Australia: http://twitter.com/RSPCAau
RSPCA - ACT: http://twitter.com/rspcaact

Rotary Brisbane: http://twitter.com/rotaryfunrun

SANE Australia: http://twitter.com/SANEAustralia

Save the Children Australia: http://twitter.com/savechildrenaus

School Aid Australia: http://twitter.com/schoolaidaust

Smith Family: http://twitter.com/SmithFamily_org

Sydney Children's Hospital: http://twitter.com/Sydney_Kids

Tear Australia: http://twitter.com/TEARAustralia

The Wilderness Society: http://twitter.com/wildernesstweet

United Way Geelong: http://twitter.com/UnitedWayGEE

Variety Club Queensland: http://twitter.com/VarietyQLD
Variety Club Victoria: http://twitter.com/varietyvic

Vinnies NSW: http://twitter.com/VinniesNSW
Vinnies Queensland: http://twitter.com/VinniesQLD
Vinnies Victoria: http://twitter.com/VinniesVictoria

Vision Australia: http://twitter.com/visionaustralia

Volunteering WA: http://twitter.com/VolunteeringWA

White Lion: http://twitter.com/WhitelionInc

World Vision Australia: http://twitter.com/worldvisionstir and http://twitter.com/WorldVoiceAU

World Wildlife Fund Australia: http://twitter.com/WWF_Australia

40K Home Foundation: http://twitter.com/40KHome

YouTube:

Amnesty International Australia: http://www.youtube.com/AIAustralia

Australian Conservation Foundation: http://www.youtube.com/user/AusConservationTV

Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME): http://www.youtube.com/aimementoring

Depression Services: http://www.youtube.com/user/depressionservices

National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect - Smart Online Safe Online (SOSO) program: http://www.youtube.com/soso

Plan Australia: http://www.youtube.com/planaustralia

RSPCA Australia: http://www.youtube.com/user/RSPCAAustralia

Tear Australia: http://www.youtube.com/tearaustralia

The Wilderness Society: http://www.youtube.com/TheWildernessSociety

40K Home Foundation: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=40khome

Assistance with Social Media

If your organisation would like assistance with setting up and managing social media, or developing a social media strategy, please contact us for information on how CharitiesHouse.com can help.

Comparison of Countries - charitable giving, living standards, health care and development

2010-01-20T16:33:00.017+10:30

I have an active interest in statistical comparisons between countries, as I have dual USA and Australian citizenship, have lived and worked in Europe, and have visited 22 countries around the world.

Over the last few days I have come across a couple of articles which compare cities and countries around the world in terms of living standards and quality of life. So today I have made an effort to locate further research and comparisons. Intriguing.

Your comments are most welcome.

COMPARISONS: Charitable giving and global development

Since this website is devoted to helping charities, let's start by comparing charitable donations by country.

2010 Charities Aid Foundation Rankings

The UK Charities Aid Foundation published an "World Giving Index 2010" in September 2010 which ranks countries according to the proportion of the public who had, in the previous month, given money to charity, given time to those in need and helped a stranger. Their rankings are:

1 - Australia 57%
1 - New Zealand 57%
3 - Ireland 56%
3 - Canada 56%
5 - Switzerland 55%
5 - USA 55%
7 - Netherlands 54%
8 - United Kingdom 53%
8 - Sri Lanka 53%
10 - Austria 52%
11 - Lao People's Democratic Republic 50%
11 - Sierra Leone 50%
13 - Malta 48%
14 - Iceland 47%
14 - Turkmenistan 47%
16 - Guyana 45%
16 - Qatar 45%
18 - Hong Kong 44%
18 - Germany 44%
18 - Denmark 44%
18 - Guinea 44%

Source: http://www.cafonline.org/pdf/0882A_WorldGivingReport_Interactive_070910.pdf

2006 Charities Aid Foundation Rankings

The UK Charities Aid Foundation published an "International comparisons of charitable giving" in November 2006 which ranks charitable donations by country as a % of GDP. Their rankings are:

USA - 1.67%
UK - 0.73%
Canada - 0.72%
Australia - 0.69%
South Africa - 0.64%
Rep. of Ireland - 0.47%
Netherlands - 0.45%
Singapore - 0.29%
New Zealand - 0.29%
Turkey - 0.23%
Germany - 0.22%
France - 0.14%

Note that this is donations as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, and is not donations per capita.

Source: http://www.cafonline.org/pdf/International%20Comparisons%20of%20Charitable%20Giving.pdf

2009 Center for Global Development Rankings

The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) rates 22 rich countries on how much they help poor countries build prosperity, good government, and security. Each rich country gets scores in seven policy areas, which are averaged for an overall score.

1 - Sweden
2 - Denmark
3 - Netherlands
4 - Norway
5 - New Zealand
6 - Ireland
7 - Spain
8 - Australia
9 - Austria
10 - Finland
11 - Canada
12 - United Kingdom
13 - Germany
14 - France
15 - Belgium
16 - Portugal
17 - United States
18 - Greece
19 - Italy
20 - Switzerland
21 - Japan
22 - South Korea

Source: http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/cdi/

2008 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Rankings

Ranking of donor country contributions to international Official Development Assistance (ODA) by percentage of Gross National Income as at December 2009:

Sweden - 0.98%
Luxembourg - 0.97%
Norway - 0.88%
Denmark - 0.82%
Netherlands - 0.80%
Ireland - 0.59%
Belgium - 0.48%
Spain - 0.45%
Finland - 0.44%
United Kingdom - 0.43%
Austria - 0.43%
Switzerland - 0.42%
France - 0.39%
Germany - 0.38%
Canada - 0.32%
Australia - 0.32%
New Zealand - 0.30%
Portugal - 0.27%
Italy - 0.22%
Greece - 0.21%
Japan - 0.19%
United States - 0.19%

Note that this is official government aid and does not include private donations.

Sources: http://www.oecd.org/document/9/0,3343,en_2649_34447_1893129_1_1_1_1,00.html and refer also to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_charitable_countries. Also see http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=984021 for more statistics.

2005 Boxing Day Tsunami Donations

Following the Boxing Day Tsunami (26 December 2004), private donations made to the tsunami appeal in the first 15 days were ranked by the UK Guardian newspaper in £ per head of population:

Norway - £7.06
Sweden - £6.44
Netherlands - £4.90
Australia - £2.80
Germany - £2.77
Saudi Arabia - £2.14
Canada - £1.99
Austria - £1.67
Britain - £1.65
Greece - £1.11
United States - 58p
France - 43p

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/16/tsunami2004.internationalaidanddevelopment2

COMPARISONS: Prosperity and Human Development

The following studies compare the standard of living amongst countries.

2011 Index of Economic Freedom

The Heritage Foundation (USA) and Wall Street Journal ranked countries on the ability of individuals to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please; and the ability of labor, capital and goods to move freely. For 183 countries, ten areas are ranked from 0 to 100, where 100 = maximum freedom. Following are the top 30:

1 - Hong Kong 89.7
2 - Singapore 87.2
3 - Australia 82.5
4 - New Zealand 82.3
5 - Switzerland 81.9
6 - Canada 80.8
7 - Ireland 78.7
8 - Denmark 78.6
9 - United States 77.8
10 - Bahrain 77.7
11 - Chile 77.4
12 - Mauritius 76.2
13 - Luxembourg 76.2
14 - Estonia 75.2
15 - The Netherlands 74.7
16 - United Kingdom 74.5
17 - Finland 74.0
18 - Cyprus 73.3
19 - Macau 73.1
20 - Japan 72.8
21 - Austria 71.9
22 - Sweden 71.9
23 - Germany 71.8
24 - Lithuania 71.3
25 - Taiwan 70.8
26 - Saint Lucia 70.8
27 - Qatar 70.5
28 - Czech Republic 70.4
29 - Georgia 70.4
30 - Norway 70.3

Source: http://www.heritage.org/Index/Ranking

2009 Legatum Prosperity Index

This index ranks 104 countries according to their overall abilities to foster the nine drivers of prosperity. The top 15 countries are:

1 - Finland
2 - Switzerland
3 - Sweden
4 - Denmark
5 - Norway
6 - Australia
7 - Canada
8 - Netherlands
9 - United States
10 - New Zealand
11 - Ireland
12 - United Kingdom
13 - Belgium
14 - Germany
15 - Austria

Source: http://www.prosperity.com/rankings.aspx

2009 Human Development Index

This index, published by the United Nations, ranks the achievements of countries in three basic aspects of human development: health, knowledge, and standard of living.

1. Norway
2. Australia
3. Iceland
4. Canada
5. Ireland
6. Netherlands
7. Sweden
8. France
9. Switzerland
10. Japan
11. Luxembourg
12. Finland
13. United States
14. Austria
15. Spain
16. Denmark
17. Belgium
19. Italy
20. Liechtenstein
21. New Zealand
22. United Kingdom
23. Germany
24. Singapore
25. Hong Kong, China (SAR)
26. Greece
27. Korea (Republic of)
28. Israel
29. Andorra
30. Slovenia

Sources: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

2009 Education Index

The United Nations also publishes an annual Education Index, which measures the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting). The adult literacy rate gives an indication of the ability to read and write, while the GER gives an indication of the level of education from kindergarten to postgraduate education.

1. Norway
2. Australia
3. Iceland
4. Canada
5. Ireland
6. Netherlands
7. Sweden
8. France
9. Switzerland
10. Japan
11. Luxembourg
12. Finland
13. United States
14. Austria
15. Spain
16. Denmark
17. Belgium
18. Italy
19. Liechtenstein
20. New Zealand

Source: http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/93.html - there are many other indexes from the United Nations that can be browsed at http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/

COMPARISONS: Quality of life

2010 International Living Quality of Life Index

Every January, International Living magazine rates 194 countries in nine categories: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk, and Climate. This involves a lot of number crunching from "official" sources, including government websites, the World Health Organization, The Economist, Freedom House, United Nations, etc. Following are the current rankings:

1. France
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. New Zealand
6. Luxembourg
7. United States
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Italy
11. Netherlands
12. Norway
13. Austria
14. Liechtenstein
15. Malta
16. Denmark
17. Spain
18. Finland
19. Uruguay
20. Hungary
21. Portugal
22. Lithuania
23. Andorra
24. Czech Republic
25. United Kingdom

It is interesting to note that International Living scores all the above countries in the "Freedom" category at 100% - with the exception of the United States and Italy, which only scored 92% in the areas of political rights and civil liberties.

Source: http://www1.internationalliving.com/qofl2010/

COMPARISONS: Health Care

2006 Per Capita Expenditure on Health

The following statistics are taken from the World Health Organisation Statistical Information Service (WHOSIS) and are the most recent figures available. Amounts are calculated in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) international $ exhange rates.

1. Monaco - $7154
2. United States of America - $6714
3. Luxembourg - $5773
4. Norway - $4521
5. Switzerland - $4312
6. Canada - $3672
7. France - $3554
8. Austria - $3545
9. Netherlands - $3383
10. Denmark - $3349
11. Germany - $3328
12. Iceland - $3319
13. San Marino - $3297
14. Belgium - $3183
15. Australia - $3122
16. Sweden - $3119
17. Greece - $3101
18. Ireland - $3082
19. Andorra - $2910
20. United Kingdom - $2784
21. Italy - $2623
22. Japan - $2514
23. Finland - $2472
24. New Zealand - $2447
25. Spain - $2388

Source: http://apps.who.int/whosis/data/Search.jsp?countries=[Location].Members

2000 World Health Organisation Index of Health System Performance

This index (the most recent available) ranks the overall performance of a country's health system as measured by comparing overall health system achievement to health system expenditure.

1. France
2. Italy
3. San Marino
4. Andorra
5. Malta
6. Singapore
7. Spain
8. Oman
9. Austria
10. Japan
11. Norway
12. Portugal
13. Monaco
14. Greece
15. Iceland
16. Luxembourg
17. Netherlands
18. United Kingdom
19. Ireland
20. Switzerland
21. Belgium
22. Colombia
23. Sweden
24. Cyprus
25. Germany
26. Saudi Arabia
27. United Arab Emirates
28. Israel
29. Morocco
30. Canada
31. Finland
32. Australia
33. Chile
34. Denmark
35. Dominica
36. Costa
37. United States
38. Slovenia
39. Cuba
40. Brunei

Sources: http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/whr00_annex_en.pdf (Annex Table 10) and http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMp0910064

COMPARISONS: Taxation Rates

2009 OECD Factbook: Taxes on the average worker as a percentage of labour costs

1. Belgium - 55.5%
2. Hungary - 54.4%
3. Germany - 52.2%
4. France - 49.2%
5. Austria - 48.5%
6. Italy - 45.9%
7. Sweden - 45.4%
8. Netherlands - 44%
9. Finland - 43.7%
10. Czech Republic - 42.9%
11. Poland - 42.8%
12. Turkey - 42.7%
13. Greece - 42.3%
14. Denmark - 41.3%
15. Spain - 38.9%
16. Slovak Republic - 38.5%
17. Luxembourg - 37.5%
18. Norway - 37.5%
19. Portugal - 37.4%
20. United Kingdom - 34.1%
21. Canada - 31.3%
22. United States - 30%
23. Switzerland - 29.6%
24. Japan - 29.3%
25. Iceland - 28.3%
26. Australia - 27.7%
27. Ireland - 22.3%
28. New Zealand - 21.5%
29. Korea - 19.6%
30. Mexico - 15.3%

Source: http://puck.sourceoecd.org/vl=5391202/cl=19/nw=1/rpsv/factbook2009/10/04/02/index.htm - also see http://puck.sourceoecd.org/vl=5391202/cl=19/nw=1/rpsv/factbook2009/index.htm for additional statistical comparisons

COMPARISONS: Most liveable cities

2009 Monocle Magazine Ranking of 25 Most Liveable Cities

1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Munich, Germany
5. Helsinki, Finland
6. Stockholm, Sweden
7. Vienna, Austria
8. Paris, France
9. Melbourne, Australia
10. Berlin, Germany
11. Honolulu, Hawaii
12. Madrid, Spain
13. Sydney, Australia
14. Vancouver, Canada
15. Barcelona, Spain
16. Fukuoka, Japan
17. Oslo, Norway
18. Singapore
19. Montreal, Canada
20. Aukland, New Zealand
21. Amsterdam, Netherlands
22. Kyoto, Japan
23. Hamburg, Germany
24. Geneva, Switzerland
25. Lisbon, Portugal

Sources: http://www.monocle.com/sections/edits/Web-Articles/Top-25-Cities/ and http://www.psfk.com/2009/06/top-25-most-liveable-cities-2009-monocle-magazine-zurich-copenhagen-tokyo-munich-helsinki.html

2009 The Economist List of Most Liveable Cities

The Economist ranking scores each city from 0-100 on 30 factors spread across five areas: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure:

1. Vancouver, Canada
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Toronto, Canada
5= Perth, Australia
5= Calgary, Canada
7. Helsinki, Finland
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9= Sydney, Australia
9= Zurich, Switzerland

Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2009/06/liveable_vancouver

2009 Mercer Quality of Living global city rankings

This survey is conducted by Mercer, a global leader in human resources and financial services. Their rankings are:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Vancouver, Canada
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Munich, Germany
8. Frankfurt, Germany
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Sydney, Australia
11. Copenhagen, Denmark
12. Wellington, New Zealand
13. Amsterdam, Netherlands
14. Brussels, Belgium
15. Toronto, Canada
16. Ottawa, Canada
17. Berlin, Germany
18. Melbourne, Australia
19. Luxembourg, Luxembourg
20. Stockholm, Sweden

Source: http://www.mercer.com/referencecontent.htm?idContent=1173105#Top_50_cities:_Quality_of_living

Feel free to comment or provide additional sources of comparison.

How do people read websites?

2010-01-12T15:50:00.002+10:30

This topic has always been of paramount importance to non-profit organisations seeking to raise funds, but very few non-profits do the necessary research to improve the conversion of website visitors to online donors.

Here are some important things to note:

1) On the average web page, users read at most 28% of the words during an average visit. The more words on your web page, the fewer words are actually read. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html

2) The "back" button is the third most commonly used feature on the web (see the above article). First most commonly used feature is links in text, and second most common are the buttons built into the website. What does that tell us? Use links in text whereever possible, and don't be misled into thinking people will keep digging around your website or proceed to use your online transaction page, as your visitors will more than likely be using the "back" button on their browser.

3) People read a web page in an F-shape pattern of eye movement. They first look across the website horizontally, then a little further down the page look horizontally again, then they look down the left side of the page. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html. Once again, people do not typically read your entire web page - they scan it for text that is meaningful to them. It also reiterates why a menu is best positioned on the left side of the screen.

4) Short text with explanatory visual elements is accessible and attractive to readers and helps improve memory retention. See http://eyetrack.poynter.org/keys_01.html

5) People ignore banner ads on a website or anything that resembles them. This is called "banner blindness". Instead, the viewers eye is attracted to plain text, faces and cleavage. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/banner-blindness.html. However, when a banner looks like a native site component, then viewers will focus on it - which sometimes leads to unethical banner ad designs such as those we see in Facebook "You are smarter than 66% of your friends. Click to see which ones."

6) While slightly off-topic, it should also be noted that emailed newsletters can create much more of a bond between users and a company than a website can. Newsletters feel personal because they arrive in users’ inboxes, and users have an ongoing relationship with them. Newsletters also have a social aspect, as users often forward them to colleagues and friends. However, those who receive newsletters want you to keep it brief and to the point, as there is a lot of competition for attention in a person's email inbox. See http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/summary.html

Do you have other points you wish to share? Feel free to comment!

Does social media work?

2010-01-08T14:23:00.003+10:30

A brilliant posting at http://socialnomics.net/2009/11/12/social-media-roi-examples-video/ shows that social media is being used quite successfully across the United States.

Some of the examples cited in the above posting are:

Dell sold $3,000,000 worth of computers on Twitter
By giving away 100 Ford Fiestas to influential bloggers, 37% of Generation Y were aware of the Ford Fiesta before its launch in the United States.
A New Orleans pizzeria set a one day sales record using social media. 68% of their sales came from people “calling in from Twitter.” 85% of their new customers were from Twitter.
Software company Genius.com reports that 24% of its social media leads convert to sales opportunities
Wine TV Library grew from $4 million to $50 million using social media.
BlendTec increased its sales 5x by running the often humorous “Will it Blend” Videos on YouTube blending everything from an iPhone to a sneaker.

The questions in my mind are:

(a) how do we get details of these successful social media compaigns?
(b) do you have to employ a social media campaign specialist to get these results?
(c) can we see the same success in Australia?

Your comments are welcome!

Great articles for non-profits

2009-12-29T16:34:00.004+10:30

Following are some great articles that I have gleaned from trawling through all the different postings I receive via LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs and other social media sites. Its a chore sometimes to sort the wheat from the chaff, so I hope this will help you:

Articles by Elaine Fogel

I came across Elaine Fogel's website today by checking out one of her postings in LinkedIn. She has posted a wealth of great information for non-profits:

Recipe for Nonprofit Branding Success - a 10 page PDF file well worth reading at:
http://www.solutionsmc.net/Recipe_for_Nonprofit_Branding_Success.pdf
A repository of articles on great topics ranging from celebrity endorsements to customer service, writing annual reports, and "How to influence marketing decisions when your boss is dead wrong".
http://www.solutionsmc.net/articles.html

Elaine also shared the following video on her blog (http://elainefogel.wordpress.com/):

A list of valuable reference websites

It is so hard to keep track of all the different websites and search engines that can be helpful to non-proft marketing. I found this 4-page PDF list to be a very good reference:

http://www.aprahome.org/Portals/0/connections/Winter09/SocializationOfResearch_APRA_Connections_.pdf

3 Powerful Social Trends for 2010

We all get sick of lists of predictions for the coming year - but this is different. It describes three social trends that will make a growing impact:

Social activism. The author mentions the dynamics of the Obama campaign, just as I did here, and what it means.
Micro-volunteerism. People helping out on a small scale.
Giving work to the jobless via the web. Great idea!

Read the article at http://mashable.com/2009/12/23/social-change-trends/

Postscript

Hildy Gottlieb, president of The Community-Driven Institute, has offered another great list of articles which she has made available at:

http://www.help4nonprofits.com/H4NP.htm%22

Some of Hildy's articles are quite intriguing, such as:

"The dirty little secret of non-profit boards" - they often don't know what they should know!
"FriendRaising and your board" - board members often don't want to get involved in fundraising, but they should help with "FriendRaising"

Good stuff!

What to look for on an Ecommerce site

2009-12-16T19:45:00.006+10:30

As an ecommerce professional, one might think that I buy everything over the internet. Not quite. Having built ecommerce systems, I know what to look for and what to be sceptical about. I trust banks, airlines and large online retailers, and I trust Expedia when I want to book hotels. I take these for granted.

However, I am very cautious about any other type of ecommerce transaction. We once made an internet booking (through an accommodation website) for a hotel in Frankfurt, Germany, and got there only to find it was a cockroach motel and they had no record of our booking even though we had provided our credit card details online. We had to find a better place to stay, then call our bank from overseas and see whether the hotel had taken money from our credit card, verify that our credit card details had not been stolen, and get the bank to place a watch on our credit card.

This week, I have had an exemplary ecommerce experience with a small company in Israel which I want to share.

THE SCENARIO

My wife has been using Premier Dead Sea cosmetics for the last year or two, and really likes their day cream and night cream. We first came across their products in a kiosk in a shopping centre in England. The salesperson stopped us and asked "Have you heard of the Dead Sea?" I replied of course - I've been there, I've floated on it. Amazing experience.

The salesperson then persuaded my wife to try some of their hand cream. She liked it, and bought some creams on the spot and has been using them since.

Problem is, she's now run out and we are now in Australia and no one seems to stock Premier Dead Sea cosmetics. So we went online.

We found their Australian website - and the prices were exorbitant. We found their USA website - the prices were better, but the website wasn't clear whether they shipped overseas and, if so, what shipping would cost.

Then I found another website with extremely good prices. I was tempted. But being cautious, I wasn't sure if I could trust them. So I started scrutinizing the site very carefully.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON AN ECOMMERCE SITE

1) Do they show their business name and street address?
No - this website did not. First cause for concern.

2) Do they have a phone number for customer service?
Yes - this website had a USA Toll-free (1-800) number, but I cannot call that number from Australia. Second cause for concern.

3) Do they have a policy on returns or product warranty?
No - this website did not. Third cause for concern.

4) Does the checkout page have an SSL certificate - does it change to https:// before you put in your credit card details.
Yes - this site does.

5) Does the checkout page have a Verisign or Thawte security seal, or does it show a PCI (payment card industry) compliance logo?
No - this website did not. Fourth cause for concern.

6) Is there an email address where you can contact them?
Yes - this website did.

So on six measures, this website failed four criteria for trustworthiness. The red lights were flashing. I was not going to place an order until I found out more. For all I knew, their fantastic prices were a trap.

THE EXEMPLARY EXPERIENCE

I wrote to the email address that was on the website and explained my concerns as outlined above, and asked them, "how do I know I can trust you? I don't even know what country you are in."

To my delight, I received a reply email later that day. They provided their company name and street address, and I found out they were in Israel, 15 minutes from the Dead Sea. They gave me their phone number and business hours and said they have two retail stores in Israel and have been in business for six years. It was everything I needed to feel reassured that this was a legitimate business, and I could easily verify any of the details they provided to me if I so wished.

So I went back to their website and placed an order for US$150 of products, the website automatically included 2 free Aloe hand and body lotions because the order was over $100, and they give you free airmail shipping anywhere in the world, or express courier shipping for US$12.50. I opted for express shipping to ensure the cosmetics arrived in time for me to give to my wife for Christmas.

Okay, order placed, credit card details provided, fingers crossed that this is legitimate.

Imagine my surprise when half an hour later they called me personally - from Israel to Australia - to confirm the shipping arrangements. Wow - talk about exemplary! Half an hour after that, I received a shipment confirmation email with a shipping tracking number. Now I was really impressed.

I placed the order on Friday evening, 12 December. The package arrived today - 16 December - only 3 business days later.

To me, this was an exemplary ecommerce experience. Yes, the website was lacking some important criteria, for which the company apologised as it was a new ecommerce platform and promised they would rectify. But they provided outstanding customer service, prices and delivery.

We will definitely be repeat customers.

If you are interested, their website is http://www.cosmetics-deadsea.com