The integrated digital agency for charities big and small

Allergy UK website goes live

Adept have just launched the new website for Allergy UK, the leading national charity dedicated to supporting the estimated 21 million allergy sufferers in the UK.

Watch out for the full case study of how we approached this project with the charity – coming soon.

Click here to visit the website

Charity website tips - Accepting donations online

Donations are key for every charity, and in the 21st century accepting donations online are just as important. Accepting online donations isn't always that straight forward though, as there are considerable security implications that have to be considered, and different organisations that have to be involved such as banks and payment processing providers.

For small charities there are too many hurdles involved in setting everything up from scratch, which is where services such as Just Giving and Virgin Money Giving are ideal. While there are some setup charges, and limited customisation and integration options, these services allow you to take donations without worrying about the technicalities.

The next step up is to make use of a service such as PayPal as this service is relatively low cost, yet still allows a good amount of flexibility and integration options. Registered charities get large discounts on the payment processing fees through PayPal and there are no standing fees for their standard service. PayPal allows even smaller charities the ability to create flexible and complex payment integration facilities if they are prepared to put the effort into website development work.

The final step for most charities is to move to their own Internet merchant account, with a payment service provider. In some cases these may be provided by the same company. Any bank can provide the Internet merchant account however there can be some hurdles with applications, especially for small or new charities. You then also need the facilities of a payment service provider to handle the payments. Many of these services out the payment pages for you, to handle much of the security aspects, however some allow closer integration. Services such as SagePay, WorldPay and Secure Trading are well known in this area.

Adept are experienced in designing and building websites for charities, both straight forward sites and complex bespoke solutions. Our team of experts are fully versed in developing and running such websites through many years (and decades in some cases) of experience. For advice or to discuss an upcoming project you are considering please get in touch on 01263 734198.

Charity Web Tip - Effective Social Media for Charities

The benefits of social media for any organisation are often discussed at great length, which in turn encourages more organisations to feel they need to be doing it. This applies as much, if not more so to charities, who see social media as a way to increase support and exposure while decreasing marketing costs.

If you have the time and resources to devote to social media you can see great rewards. Facebook and Twitter are used by many organisations to effectively market to their supporters and potential supporters.

Before you jump straight in, here are some things to consider:

What are your competitors doing?

Every organisation, even charities should be able to identify competitors, or other organisations who market to a similar audience. Look at what social media platforms they are using and what sort of response they get to their content.

Which platform is right for you?

Everyone jumps on Facebook and Twitter, which are the most popular social media networks at the moment, but are these tools appropriate for the type of communications you want to have. Consider whether email marketing or a forum/message board would be more suitable.

Who is your target audience?

You need to have an audience in mind for you social media efforts. Think about how you are going to attract this audience, and whether they are an appropriate demographic for the platforms you have in mind. (For example, Twitter is widely used by younger people, but not so much by older people, who are you marketing to?)

Have a plan?

Effective use of social media doesn’t just happen. Someone in your charity needs to be in charge of monitoring and maintaining pages and posting content to keep your users engaged. Consider how often you want to post, what content your charity has that is appropriate and who actually has the time to do all this.

How will you measure success?

Often simple metrics like “Number of followers on Twitter” are seen as good measurements of success, but does this really fall in line with your charities goals. Having followers or members on a social media platform means nothing if they don’t engage with you, or take action that actually supports your charity such as making a donation or getting involved with an event.

In Summary

Don’t be scared! Social media is difficult to get right, but easy to get started with, and you’ll learn as you go along. If you have the time available to make social media a priority you can make effective use of the tools available.

If you’d like to discuss social media in more depth give us a call and we’d be happy to discuss your options with you, and help you to develop a suitable social media plan.