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Charity.ca - The New Face of Giving

NetBlazer Series - #3

Another installment in a series of NetBlazer profiles-- businesses that are shaping e-commerce.

For this issue we reviewed Charity.ca, one of our most innovative NetBlazers to date. To understand why Charity.ca is such a unique dotcom, let's turn back the clock one year. Last May, in 'Funding on the Internet: Finding dollars online requires more sense', we reviewed the current state of affairs of fundraising on the Internet. At that time, despite the Internet's potential for bringing donors and charities together, almost no one had successfully applied the critical online fundraising principles we identified. Our research found that to be successful, online fundraisers had to adhere to four guiding principles:

- Ensure fundraising direction and initiatives are integrated into a firm's overall strategy

- Fully integrate online and offline initiatives

- Use the Internet to build meaningful, dynamic and on-going relationships with donors

- Make it easy and desirable for charities to register their site and donors to donate

Fast forward six months to November, 1999. The number of charities in Canada was over 77,000; average response rates to fundraising initiatives were continuing to drop; and the competition for each donor dollar was increasing exponentially.

Enter Charity.ca. the brainchild of long-time Canadian philanthropist Richard Ivey and the groundbreaking Internet incubator the NRG Group. Two entrepreneurial spirits, fueled by passion for worthwhile causes, envisioned a Canadian online charity portal where the 'economy of unselfish activity' could re-invent itself. Their dream was to create a place where donors and charities could better help one another and in real-time.

At the same time, Richard Ivey and the NRG Group wanted to transform the old economy view that making charitable donations is an after thought to being a reflection of individual, organization and communities' core values and interests.

With this vision in mind, Charity.ca hired Vaughn McIntyre, a seasoned marketing professional in January, 2000. Vaughn began strategic planning for the development of Charity.ca. This meant devising a series of online features that would simultaneously entice four distinct groups:

1) charities, many of which are challenged to devote dollars to establishing a web presence;

2) established donors accustomed to responding to traditional direct mail campaigns;

3) businesses that don't always recognize the tax and public relations advantage of donating to charities; and

4) the new generation of potential charity supporters.

Working with the NRG Group, Vaughn and Charity.ca soon developed website features that immediately began tantalizing these disparate participants:

- A guarantee that 92 cents of every dollar collected is received by the charity

- Electronic receipts that save charities' hardcopy related expenses

- A section for donors to organize 'charities of interest'

- Education and guidance to encourage targeted and balanced giving

- A forum for soliciting and collecting donations other than cash

- Calendar of charity-specific and cross-charity events

- A searchable index, allowing donors to easily identify favourite causes

- Easy form-driven methods for charity enrolment

- Prime advertising and promotion webspace that comes with being a portal

- The Internet's most secure and trusted environment and procedures

Charity.ca also offered charities three key benefits at no cost:

- A one-stop source for the e-commerce technical infrastructure

- Marketing initiatives designed for and executed on behalf of the charitable community

- Exposure to new and previously un-tapped donors

In April 2000, Charity.ca went 'live' for charities to register, focusing particularly on the two thirds of Canadian charities whose annual revenue remains below $2 Million. Within weeks local charities were signing up enthusiastically.

Recognizing the need to act on 'Internet time', Vaughn in April embarked on a cross-country media tour to heighten the profile of Charity.ca. He met with over two hundred charities and community and business leaders to identify what intrigued and concerned them about online commerce and how Charity.ca could help them achieve their goals.

He found much common ground:

1) only a fraction of charities are currently web-enabled;

2) charities recognize that a strategic web presence is essential to their continued fundraising success;

3) charities understand that access to a corporate marketing platform is critical; and

4) security and privacy issues remain a key concern for donors and charities alike.

Looking back on this the exhausting experience of jumping from interview to interview, Vaughn says it was an 'unqualified success' - 'People now clearly understand that Charity.ca is the new face of giving."

The pace of development and continued innovation hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. By the end of June and into the summer months, Charity.ca will have added a French-Canadian site, upgraded their charity enrolment process, built the means to accommodate memorial gifts and established an online e-zine that will profile charities.

Soon after that, Charity.ca and the NRG Group will focus their attention on re-building the image of donating for GenXers and Nexters through sponsoring fun summertime programs.

Not only has this NetBlazer excelled at the core principles that we identified twelve fast months ago, they have created at least two new ones from which other fundraisers and dotcoms can learn:

1) create a website that provides more added-value than simply enabling a business transaction; and

2) create communities by going to those communities, to conduct meaningful research, build strong ties and identify key supporters and skeptics.

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