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Why Charities Must Embrace Technology
Charities and voluntary organisations like so many other businesses have suffered in recent times and have looked to cut costs whenever possible. This article looks at why charities must embrace technology in order to survive and grow.
Most charities and not for profit organisations rely on the good will of donors and volunteers in order to carry out their work. The financial turmoil that much of the world has been hit by in recent times has had a dramatic effect on charities who rely on donations as donors often see cutting back on giving to charities as a way to cut their own expenditure. Donors and supporters of charities are also being more demanding when it comes to questioning voluntary organisations on how their donations are being spent.
Donors support charities for many reasons including wanting to help a good cause to the feeling of good will they get by helping out. There is clearly nothing wrong with either of these reasons for supporting a voluntary organisation but many consumers and donors now also want to know that their money isn’t being wasted.
An example of how charities can address this issue is when they are marketing their cause. Traditionally, receiving a letter in the post along with a free pen highlighting a particular cause was one of the most effective ways for a charity to reach their donors and prospective supporters. However, many consumers now see direct mail as an inconvenience. In fact, many object to receive such mailings in the post as they feel they are a waste of both money and natural resources.
Charities therefore have to become more savvy when it comes to promoting themselves and this very much includes utilising technology. Just two ways they can do this is by internet marketing and email marketing. For the cost of a few thousand or even hundred letters and leaflets, they could easily set up their own website and use online marketing to promote their cause. With social networking sites like Facebook now extremely popular with young and old, promoting a charity online is now easier than ever before as more and more people use the internet to communicate with one another.
And when people are sat at their computer discussing their lives with friends and family online, a perfect opportunity exists for charities to reach these same people by using email marketing. This form of marketing has suffered greatly in recent times due to the vast amount of spam that we all receive. However, if you treat email marketing as a communication tool rather than a selling tool, then providing what you have to say is of interest, it can be a highly effective way to reach tens of thousands of potential donors for a fraction of the cost of direct mail.
A charity would not think twice in using the internet to source their charity insurance or for getting a charity liability insurance quote but many still seem reluctant to use it as a way to tell donors what they are doing, how they are doing and how donors can help them.
If you run, manage or are involved in a charity and want to grow even when times are tough, get online and start marketing your charity in the most effective way possible.
NCi Charity is Charity Insurance Specialists and for details of their Charity Insurance facilities or to get a charity insurance quote simply visit the UK Business Insurance Brokers at http://www.ncinsurance.co.uk/charityinsurancequote.html
Date: 14/07/2009
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“On behalf of Longbridge Youth Club, I would like to state how satisfied I am with the Contents and Liability Insurance taken out with NCi Charity.
I am in the process of starting up a series of new Youth Clubs and would not hesitate to use your services for these new projects. I intend to use your Policy as a standard in each of these Youth Clubs.”
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Longbridge Safer Neighbourhood Team
