Missoula News

New West Event

Mobilizing on the Internet

By NewWest.Net Editor, 8-10-07

	Mobilizing Online's panel. From left to right: Tom Waddell of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation; Dave Budge of DaveBudge.com and the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre; Jonathan Weber of NewWest.Net; Jason Zanon of DemocracyInAction; and Matt Singer of Forward Montana and LeftintheWest.com.

In the non-profit world, the web is a critical tool for fundraising, organizing and membership development, but you have to know how best to take advantage.

That was the message at NewWest.Net's panel discussion last night with four local and national non-profit leaders at the Missoula Art Museum.

The forum, sponsored by Democracy in Action and Westridge Creative and moderated by NewWest.Net Founder and Publisher Jonathan Weber, explored topics ranging from recruiting new members via the web to how to take donations online.

Here are a few choice nuggets from the discussion:

Matt Singer, the executive director of Forward Montana and the founder of LeftintheWest.com, says blogs in particular can be powerful venues for organizations, but overall, he does not recommend institutional blogging.

"It's very, very tough to do well," he said.

On the other hand, organizations should not be afraid of engaging bloggers in their work. Singer says do your homework and pick writers who would be interested in your cause; know who you're reaching out to and "don't talk down, talk with."

Jason Zanon of DemocracyInAction gave a good overview of non-profits on the Internet."The bad news is the internet is changing a lot of the rules for organizations," said Sanon. "The good news is the internet is changing a lot of rules for organizations."

He recommended that organizations stay flexible and creative when working with the web. The good thing, he said, is that because costs are relatively low, there's a lot of room for experimentation and "you can afford to take a few chances and make a few mistakes."

On Web design, Zanon said, be succinct and be clean. He suggests short messages and lots of white space. Also, when thinking about a possible member or donor, think about answering these questions up front:

"Why me, why now, what's the result?"

Dave Budge, of DaveBudge.com and the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre, said that when he started working with the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre, one of the big things he had to consider with the company's Web site was the most basic one: what was its purpose? Was the aim to attract people to the site, or distribute information?

"Do you want to engage in push or more interested in pull?" he asked.

Tom Waddell of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation talked about how to get boards on board with Web creativity, and cautioned organizations not to think about their site as "just another brochure."

The event was the second in a series on Internet-related topics being presented by NewWest.Net. Details on the fall line-up will be announced in two weeks.

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