Attraction

Most non profit foundations run their relationship model on the foundation of a powerful relationship being trust. The issue with allowing trust to become your first variable in relationship building is that trust is usually not the first attribute that begins a relationship. The inception of any relationship is attraction. We don't walk up to people and ask, "Hey, can I trust you? Great! Let's go out sometime". If your website is outdated or not optimized for search engines you are instantly loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. More important, even if you have killer designs, with beautiful graphics, have you ever considered the location of your donation button? The location of your donation graphic, type of graphic you are using and link position is the single most important update you should be concerned with right now. If your non profit website is not attractive to your potential donor, you just lost an incredibly valuable opportunity.

you must have a modern day design in 2007. Don't expect a static website with outdated information to convert for you anymore.

Trust

Building trust online is one of the most studied and tested physiological methods of non profit internet marketing. Most people want to place the responsibility for trust in a relationship on someone else. They base their trust on how someone acts towards them. But, we've discovered that trust in a relationship doesn't start with your visitors; it starts with your foundation and how willing you are to open up and allow your visitors in.

Make sure you have your Guidestar and Verisign banners on your website.

Commitment

Is your foundation committed to providing regularly updated content? Remember my notes about the difference between a partnership and relationship environment? Partnership environment visitors look for one of three things on a website: entertainment, products or information. Non profits have content. We have information. We have to use that opportunity of providing information to tell a story so compelling that the visitor donates and enters our marketing funnel. Even if you do have a support group environment such as chat rooms, message boards and blogs, the initial visit is for current, up to date knowledge. Think about it for a second. If you are a non profit for cancer research, you are 1 of about 93,000,000 web pages (according to Google) competing for the same information. There is a good chance that you don't have any added information that another website provides unless you have up to date news posted on your website often.

Make sure to add news articles directly on home page.

Gratitude

The strongest relationship building technique your non profit foundation can have is to leverage your affiliates to give back to your donors.

Here is an example: Establish a small affiliate group that has allowed you to offer discounts to your members, keep them on reserve with out promoting it on your website. Don't allow any of your visitors to see you are partnered with them.

Send your donors an email with an affiliate discount code or link to say thank you after they donate. I like to wait a couple of days, but I know some non profit internet marketers that send it immediately after the donation is complete.

Chemistry

Chemistry is the elusive quality that will separate your donor from being a one time donor to being your best friend. The problem with physical chemistry and online chemistry is that the connection, that magical "a-ha" feeling is not as easily absorbed.

There is a powerful secret to leap frog this connection: Donor Testimonials.

Each donor has a story, and most are dying to share it with the world. They want to make a difference that is why they are on your website right now! Give an option for your donors to express their story, their gratitude or their experience with your mission and your foundation. If they permit, have a donor testimonial link directly in your navigation bar and have it lead to your donor testimonials. This is NOT the same as having a blog. These are specific emotional stories. You will be amazed at what kind of positive donor response, viral traffic and loyalty you get from your audience. It will immediately create an emotion and a response from your visitors.

This is a huge, huge money maker and will almost instantly connect your visitor to your foundation.

Responsibility

Successful relationships are based on both parties taking responsibility. As a non profit foundation, it is your internet marketing responsibility to let your donors know where your non profit foundation stands financially. This is not the same as linking to the BBC or Guidestar, and this could be the MOST POWERFUL TECHNIQUE YOU WILL LEARN TODAY.

Once a month send a separate email, outside of your newsletter, and let your donors know how much you raised that month. Thank them again for being a part of that successful month. You can even put a graph or data directly on your website, but I prefer to email it so I can become more personal and have the added option to have direct communication with that donor. You may think this would have a negative impact. Absolutely not! This incorporates the strongest elements in relationship building in one process.