It can cost just as much to have a beautiful looking website for your charity as it does to have an unattractive one. It's all in the art direction and design. Even if you don't have the budget for a site with all the bells and whistles and state-of-the-art functionality, you can still up your websites gorgeous quotient.
Award winning art-directors get their inspiration from all over - but most commonly from looking at other's great art direction. The same holds true when finding the perfect look for your online presence.
Check out these resources for creative inspiration:
Devour the examples of stellar design nd choose the ones that you gravitate to the most. Use them to inspire your web designer when you brief them on how you want your site to look.
It's okay to be beautiful.
Every charity organization exists to make the world a better place. Whether it is to help those in need, find the cure for a disease, save the environment or promote the arts, we all have one common goal - to make a difference.
And to make that difference we have the task of inspiring supporters, volunteer and staff to give of their time, talent, hearts and wallets. Every one of those stake-holders that rally behind your cause has a story. A story about themselves or someone they love or someone they barely know who inspired them with a reason for wanting to champion your issue.
But what is your story?
And have you told it?
I recently started telling my personal story of why I was moved to dedicate my life to working to help women and children escape abuse. It was a story that I thought too intimate to share and too narcissistic for anyone to be interested in.
But when you get intimate and authentically share your passion and motivation, it incites the same in others. Since I've been including my story in talks and presentations around the country, the flood gates have opened. Countless supporters have come forward to share their story. Stories that may have been locked up and never before told. Stories that drive us all to work harder. To do more. To take our efforts to newer, bolder heights.
As non-profit leaders we aren't just charged with leading but with connecting too.
Share your story.
There are dozens of reasons why today's savvy charitable organizations are leveraging social media to raise funds and awareness for their cause. Gone are the days where the only non-profits that could reach mass audiences were those with uber advertising spends. Social media has leveled the playing field and provided an inexpensive, real-time, organic way to communicate.
Whether your charity is completely plugged in or just starting out, social networking is impossible to ignore if we wish to remain relevant and connected (literally and figuratively).
They key is to be strategic. Evaluate your ROI - both for time and funds spent. One way to maximize your time on-line and increase your efficiency is by using tools like Hootsuite to update your various social media profiles and schedule your messaging. We couldn't live without it.
Our favourite topical blog for all things social media for non-profits is the Non-Profit Tech 2.0: A Social Media Guide for Non-Profits. Check it out - you won't be disappointed.
Other great resources and articles for charities interested in Social Media include:
Follow us on twitter @inspiredcharity.
Is your charity inspired?
Does your non-profit value innovation?
Too many organizations whose mandate is to change the world and to make a difference live squarely inside the proverbial box. Too many charities do what they know really, really well but rarely step back to revisit if there is a tweak to be made that can enable them do it even better.
"But we have such scare resources."
"Our budgets are too tiny to explore creative solutions the way that big for-profit companies or gutsy entrepreneurs can."
"Invention is a luxury - we don't have the time or money."
Really?
It's not an enormous feat to conceive big ideas with big budgets. But true creativity - really extraordinary concepts - they are born from zero budgets. The very best innovation springs from an empty fountain when one is forced to be resourceful and strategic and turn a problem upside down to find the most effective, efficient, inspired solution.
In our field, we excel at inspiring our donors and supporters to join our cause. We are in the business of inspiring.
Now let's inspire ourselves. Let's work smarter with our donor dollars. Let's be fresh in our approach to operating our charity. Let's find more compelling and better ways to raise awareness. Let's look beyond the tried and true to forge savvier processes and procedures. Let's empower our staff and volunteers in new ways. Let's be strategic in even the tiniest of decisions.
Let's change the world.
Join us at Inspired Charity as we brainstorm, share new ideas for our sector and spotlight the leaders in fresh thinking.
