Why Your Foundation Needs a Website
Why is a website essential to your charitable foundation?
Sutton’s Law: Just as the legendary gentleman bandit Willie Sutton robbed banks “because that’s where the money is”, your foundation needs to be online because that’s where the traffic is.
There’s a reason that the internet is known as the information highway. It’s the first place most people nowadays will go to look for your foundation. So you need to provide something for them to find — preferably your own website. A website is the best way to tell your foundation’s story yourself, accurately and literally in a context of your own design.
If nothing else, your website should at least provide up-to-date contact information plus the foundation’s mission statement. However, a well-thought-out website does far more. It opens a communication channel with the world, giving grant-seekers valuable information about your purpose and programs.
Having a website expands your foundation’s reach. It also helps establish its legitimacy (and reputation) in the public eye. Best of all, you don’t need to have a lot of money or extensive tech skills to create an effective, professional-looking website. It just needs to be straightforward and easy to navigate.
Furthermore, once you have a website, you can start accepting applications online. An online application process is far more efficient than the old-fashioned paper trail or even email. It makes it easier for you and your fellow board members to review applications. It also makes it easier for grant seekers to apply.
For starters, you can weed out unsuitable prospects right from the get-go by asking the right questions. The first question in your online application form might be, “Is your organization a 501(c)(3) nonprofit?”
Applicants who answer “Yes” will be able to continue to the next set of questions. Those who answer “No” will be unable to proceed any further. The application form itself functions as a type of decision tree.
In addition, necessary supporting documentation such as a project budget and the applicant’s most recent Form 990 can be uploaded as PDFs.
Finally, an online application process works like an efficient administrative assistant. It handles correspondence with applicants via auto-responses that you write, then set up to be triggered at the appropriate steps in the process.
Unsuitable applicants can be told, “Thank you for your application; unfortunately, your organization/project does not meet our criteria”, while potential grant recipients can get a message saying, “Thank you for submitting your grant request; we will get back to you within thus-and-such time frame with a decision.”
As a bonus, information provided by both successful and unsuccessful applicants can be kept on file. This becomes a database for future reference. As with any other endeavor, information = power! Information from grant seekers may also help you to further refine your application form and process.
In Part 2 of this blog post, we’ll tell you what your foundation’s website needs to tell the world. For now, let’s boil it down to the ABCs:
A is for ABOUT and APPLY. Your foundation’s website should include:
Your mission statement
Information about the foundation and the people running it
Easy-to-find instructions for submitting a grant application OR a prominent declaration that grant applications may be submitted by invitation only
B is for BUDGET and BACKSTORY:
What does your foundation fund — and what does it not fund?
To what extent does it provide funding?
What are some examples of projects it has funded in the past?
C is for CONTACT: Make it simple for people to get in touch with you, preferably via a dedicated foundation phone number (even if it just goes to voicemail) and email address.
It’s 2022. The worldwide web has been around since 1995 — more than a quarter of a century. Clearly, it’s here to stay. In a world where not only does every dog have its day, but many of them also have websites (not to mention social media accounts), your foundation deserves an online home of its own.