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Do You Have Permission? Some of the ideas we write about are thought-provoking and long-term, higher-level stuff. This article is something you can check on right now, and take action on this week. Do you have permission to email your own donors? While that seems like a trick question, we've spoken to many nonprofit managers who either don't think they have permission, or explicitly capture permission on only some of their donors. Many online donation forms contain an extra check box next to a question like this: "Add my name to your email list." Sometimes that box is pre-checked to indicate a "Yes" response and the donor must remove the check mark to withdraw their permission. Sometimes the box is not pre-checked. Some nonprofits, even some pretty big ones, have a multitude of convoluted questions regarding future email communication on their donation form. Do you want html or text? On this issue or that? Weekly or monthly? While we're all in favor of donor choice, your donation form isn't the place for it. You want their money, honey, and you want it now. Our suggestions for action you can take this week: 1. Remove any such checkboxes. State in your privacy policy that donors are added to your email list and given an option to unsubscribe with each mailing. State right on the donation page that online donors are thanked immediately and kept informed about how their money is being used. 2. Then check to make sure that new online donors are being added to your email list. In too many cases, that requires an update which should be done no less than weekly, but often is not on any set schedule. While you're at it, check to make sure the donor information is being updated to your offline database, too, so you can view a donor's activity across all channels. 3. Make sure that your email newsletters contain suitable unsubscribe option via a web form or an email address, and make sure it works. 4. Read NPA's Online Ethics and Standards: an Annotated Review to better understand the issues of ethical online marketing and donor choice. Sooner or later you're going to get a surge of online donations, and you're going to want to add all of them to your email list. NPAdvisors.com offers an Online Donation Processing Audit for nonprofits that is inexpensive and quick. Contact Rick Christ for more information. May 2005 | |
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