A growing body of experience shows that the greatest value of online technology for the fundraiser lies in its ability to execute online campaigns and build a broad activist base. Online advocacy has been evolving into a comprehensive, systemic approach to building membership, developing donor relations, establishing communities, and mobilizing constituencies. Nonprofit organizations increasingly integrate online and offline efforts, from culture jamming to facilitating gatherings and demonstrations. Now more than ever, a strong Internet presence is vital for small- to medium-sized nonprofits to meet their goals. It still takes as much foresight and strategy as before, but--thanks to a competitive marketplace--the tools have become better adapted to the challenging of meeting those goals.

What's Changed

The most significant developments in online advocacy during the past few years fall into two categories: how we think about online advocacy and electronic campaigning and the tools we use.

Online advocacy is about using your technology to meet the needs and desires of your constituencies while leveraging your supporters to take actions, both on and offline. In this sense, it's as much about relationship building and relations management as it is about enabling effective political change. One constant in the most successful campaigns is an intense attention to relationship building and seeing all aspects of your communications--from website to eNewsletter to action alert to event invitation--as integral and connected.

In the past few years, the technical tools appropriate for conducting online campaign work have become more sophisticated and varied in terms of costs, scope, and specificity. More service providers are offering integrated platforms that bundle the most commonly needed functionalities into one package.

Here are a few other important shifts in the practice of online advocacy for building your advocacy base:

Mobilization

In addition to the "traditional" actions of online donations and urgent action email alert systems, more organizations are breaking ground in getting people on the street for protests, candlelight vigils, rallies, and events. Such mobilizations and community building efforts are augmented--and in some cases, made possible--by the crafting of well-executed online campaigns. The most notable example of this is the work pioneered by MoveOn.org in mobilizing people to speak out and act against the Iraq War.

Relationship management

Becoming effective at building your base through online campaigns is as much about the tools you use as the art of "customer relationship management" (CRM). While outreach and online campaigns are increasingly refined and sophisticated, we see results where the effective use of tools is integrated into an approach to relationship building and good old customer service.

CRM translates into the desire to learn as much as you can about your stakeholders, installing mechanisms to tailor your communications to their needs and demographics, and ensuring all points of contact with your organization build upon existing relations. There is an abundance of tools designed with these objectives in mind, including tracking features, management of data sets, segmentation (the ability to segment your base according to criteria such as donation history, geography, age, and so on), automated follow-up features, and the ability to send an alert or eNewsletter quickly and easily.

Technology

The landscape of vendors and technology providers who cater to nonprofit organizations has developed as "e-nonprofits" have come to be recognized as a viable sector. The technology evolves faster than you can say "application service provider." During the time it took to write this article, there were two notable acquisitions among technology providers serving the nonprofit sector.

The most significant technical development has been the capacity to provide organizations with tracking tools. Coming from the world of CRM and the private sector, such tools are essential for an organization to measure and adjust efforts accordingly. Tracking means having both instant and aggregated feedback, which means more information about the efficacy of your work.

Finding the Right "Solution"

Selecting the right technology tools may be about your needs, but inevitably it's also about your budget, staffing, and scope. Generally, the options of tools and vendors fall into two main categories: higher-priced integrated solutions (includes vendors such as CTSG, GetActive Software, Convio, Kintera, Groupstone, etc), or a combination of lower-priced tools (includes vendors such as NetworkForGood, Groundspring, PayPal, Organizers Data Base, Topica, YahooGroups, NPOGroups, etc).

To match up your outreach needs with the features and functionalities a vendor (or combination of vendors) can provide, it's important to begin with a needs assessment. Also understand there are many types of vendors. Some are better suited for large membership organizations, others are more affordable and can meet the needs of a smaller size and budget.

There are understandable barriers to implementing an effective online advocacy campaign. The tools can be complex to deploy, or simply out of price range, and your eventual choice entails staffing issues, as well as challenging data management choices. I encourage you to keep the following ten points in mind when tackling the online advocacy challenge:

1. Resist number envy.
Sure, it would be great to have one million members in your database, but to what end? Do you have the systems in place to manage your data? Seek quality over quantity, and build systems that can scale effectively.

2. Get the timing right.
In launching online campaigns, be opportunistic. Think about when to deliver what messages to whom, and what events or moments present the best opportunities to do so. For example, the first of the month may be a good time to send your eNewsletter, but it's important to pay attention to what's in the news and what your organization is working on that can be tied to current events. This is also referred to as "handles" --leveraging time-specific events, such as media hype, to introduce your message to your community.

3. Manage your data sets.
You need to attend to your data--your lists and email addresses and any segmentation that may be appropriate, whether it's based on giving levels, issue areas, geographic location, or the people who attended your workshop, event, or conference.

Again, a needs assessment is critical here to know what your data needs are, what you have in-house, and what existing systems you have in place. Also take into account your available budget and staffing needs. Any technology system that you build or buy should be based on this assessment.

4. Your website is more important than ever.
Make sure your website is effective in terms of its clarity, design, and functionality. Can people easily sign up for an eNewsletter? Are the action prompts clear and direct? Is your site static, like a brochure, or does it have some interactivity to it?

5. Crossing the fundraising-advocacy divide.
One of the biggest enemies to effective online advocacy building is the "divide" between the development and communications staff: an office where the staff possesses widely divergent knowledge of what the tools are and how communications strategy meets advocacy. Organizations must become integrated in how they communicate, fundraise, and mobilize their communities. Fundraising appeals are more powerful when they ride the coattails of successful advocacy campaigns.

6. Budget basics--know your limits.
When you do your needs assessment, be mindful of the costs and the varying solutions. Do things in phases. Plan to implement your work over the longer term in order to stagger your costs. Being clear about what you can afford will enable you to launch and effectively execute online campaigns and to grow your network in a way that is sustainable.

7. Get your staffing in order.
Look to diverse staffing solutions to get you going. This might be a consultant to help you pick a vendor or implement your database. Your online efforts will require staff with skills and experience to update your website, write and send out email bulletins, conduct online marketing, and work with various Internet vendors to manage any technology component of your advocacy campaign.

8. Keep the doors open.
You can either design your approach to "channel" people towards one act, such as signing on to an action alert listserv, or you may want to "diversify" the action options and make it easy for someone to choose what level of involvement he or she may want. The clearer you can be about the options, the greater response rate you will see across the board.

9. How you say it.
Yes, it matters how you say what you want to say. Invest in a professional writer if you need to, but make sure your style and voice is consistent with your organization, and more importantly, is clear, personal, and direct. In this medium, the message is the foundation for establishing relationships and credibility.

10. Mind your metrics.
Pay attention to the metrics on visits to your website and on click-through statistics on your email messaging, including the open rate of your newsletters, what embedded links people click through in the emails you send, and the rate of alerts sent. Track how members, supporters, and friends have contact with the organization. Examine their patterns of behavior, follow-up, and actions. Tracking and metrics are powerful tools to ensure that you adapt and refine your practices. And tools like these can really change the way your organization operates on every level.

Author Bio

Michael Stein is a nationally renowned technology writer and Internet strategist with 15 years of experience working with nonprofits, foundations, labor unions, and Internet geeks. He is currently the Associate Director of Groundspring.org, a nonprofit technology agency that provides Internet software and learningware tools to nonprofits nationwide. Michael is the author of three books and numerous articles about the Internet including The eNonprofit: A Guide to ASPs, Internet Services and Online Software, with John Kenyon, published by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. His opinion and analysis have been featured in numerous media including The New York Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Nonprofit Quarterly, National Public Radio, TechSoup.org and Wired News.