Leverus Annual Internet Survey for Associations and Non-profit Organizations: The state of the Internet 2004

2 Goals of Session Trends in Internet Usage Focus on Communications where Appropriate Compare your Internet Usage with Others

3 Communications and the Web Web is pervasive to Association Sector Communications goals vary from organization to organization - Audience varies - Members, General Public, Government Relations, etc. Communications managers often have responsibility for the entire website

4 What the survey covers 1.Demographic Profile of Respondents 2.Website Planning 3.Website Maintenance 4.Website Budgeting 5.Web Design and Site Architecture 6.Website Usage (Organization Objectives & Services) 7.Website Communications 8.Source of Revenue 9.Website Hosting 10.NPO Internal Technology Usage

5 Who was Surveyed? More than 2000 Not-for-Profit Organizations directly invited to participate by Notification Placed in Newsletters of Related Groups – e.g. Canadian Fundraiser eNews, Charity Village, ePhilanthropy, CSAE

6 Respondent Profile 163 Respondents Majority from Ontario (About 50%) 22% of Respondents from U.S. 3% from other countries

7 Respondents: Type of Organization

8 Respondents: Staff Size

9 Number of Years Had a Website

10 % of Members with Internet Access

11 Website/Strategic Planning NPO’s are strategically planning their websites Plans are often prepared in-house Follow-up evaluation of websites is limited but improving Web traffic could be higher

12 Internet Strategy as part of overall strategic planning?

13 If strategy, who develops?

14 Integration of Web Strategy and Communications Strategy Inextricably linked Web is a tool to be used with Communications Strategy Communications Strategy is only one part of a broader Web Strategy

15 How often review web traffic?

16 Visitors per month

17 Website Maintenance Content upload policies are limited Organizations are taking ownership of posting their content Many organizations have some in- house html capacity Self-admin capabilities are growing

18 How decide whether info is posted to the web?

19 Who posts new content?

20 How is content posted?* * Note: More than one method may be used.

21 Self-Administration Tools Empower associations to control their own content Allow for quick updating and editing Negate web programming knowledge

22 Newsletter: User Side

23 Newsletter: Administrator

24 Has your organization’s staff received any web-related training?

25 If yes, what type of training?

26 How many hours per month are devoted to supporting and maintaining your organization’s website?

27 Website Budgeting Majority of organizations have a specific budget allocation for Web Web budget remains relatively low for many organizations

28 Do you allocate, on an annual basis, a specific budget amount for the Internet?

29 What percentage of your total budget is spent on Internet related costs?

30 In total, what amount per year does your organization collectively spend on web hosting, external web support, Internal web staff and related Internet costs?

31 Web Design and Site Architecture Almost as many respondents unsatisfied with current web design as satisfied Many organizations feel their websites are easy to navigate Most organizations plan on re- designing their websites

32 How satisfied are you with your website’s current design?

33 In your opinion, is your website easy to navigate

34 In the past two years has your organization re- designed its website?

35 Has your organization ever re-designed its website?

36 In the next year do you expect your organization will re-design the website?

37 In the next three years do you expect your organization will re-design the website?

38 The Home Page Most valuable “Real Estate” Projects a feel and image to a visitor Navigation Dynamic Features First Introduction to Organization

39 Sample Home Page 1

40 Sample Home Page 2

41 Website Usage (Organization Objectives and Services) Consensus that websites are important for achieving organization objectives Mixed view of effectiveness in contributing to achieving overall objectives Websites are primarily used to deliver services Most organizations plan on adding new interactive services to their website

42 Please rate how important you feel your website is for contributing to the success of achieving overall organizational objectives.

43 Please rate how effectively you feel your website contributes to the success of your organization in meeting its overall objectives.

44 Please indicate how important (if applicable) the use of the web is for achieving the objectives that relate to your organization.

45 Which of the following “typical” Association or Not-for-profit services are conducted on-line?

46 Website is Used For?

47 Which of the following interactive features does your organization use on its website?

48 Does your organization plan to add any interactive web services to your website in the next year?

49 Does your organization plan to add any interactive web services to your website in the next three years?

50 Are your organization’s website and database capabilities integrated?

51 Website Communications NPO’s are migrating more communications to the web Most communications produced by Associations are available on the web Lack of resources remains largest barrier to communications on the web

52 How is information disseminated by your organization?

53 Print Media vs. Web Media Portable Tactile Appeals to a particular Audience Printing can be expensive Mailing and labelling costs Involves substantive preparation time Must be viewed on a computer or PDA May not print well Some prefer to not have to read paper Relatively inexpensive Interactive Multi-media Can disseminate quickly

54 What communication tools does the association produce and distribute to the general public? Please indicate which communications your organization produces and which are on the web.

55 Sample: HTML Newsletter

56 Perceived barriers to communication on the Internet

57 Web as Source of Revenue Most feel that web advertising will remain steady or grow

58 Web Advertising?

59 Type of Web Advertising

60 Future of Online Advertising (next two years)

61 Website Hosting Microsoft products are most popular platforms for hosting Most NPO websites reside with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) Hosting costs are highly variable

62 On what platform is your website hosted?

63 Who hosts your website?

64 Monthly Hosting Fees 25% of respondents pay $15 or less 50% pay $50 or less 25% pay $200 or more 10% pay $500 or more

65 Internal Technology Usage MS Access is most popular database used High speed connection to Internet is common Internet Explorer is most often used web browser

66 Current connection to the Internet

67 Web Browsers

68 Databases

69 Overall Emerging Trends In-house management of websites Website are becoming a primary tool for communications Interactive technologies that create a more dynamic feel to website are being adopted Recognition of need for good design and navigation

70 Concluding Comments NPO’s identify their websites as important If you build it - will people come… and keep coming – (low traffic, lack of constant evaluation) Technology is being adopted by many organizations…but slowly (budget and staff constraints, limited in-house knowledge of how technology can aid organization effectiveness) Resource restrictions limit the capability of NPO’s to fully exploit the opportunities of the Internet Web is identified as a critical tool by most organizations, yet few have a strategic process for managing content on the website

71 Questions for Consideration? Have I identified my web audience? When was the last time you evaluated your web traffic…and acted on the results? Who prepared the strategic plan? Do you need some outside help? What are your policies regarding content on the web? Does everyone know what to upload? When? Who has approval rights? Do you have an established budget for the web? How does your budget for the web compare with the budget for other communication and services vehicles? Why do people visit your site – Content? Services? Are your hosting fees market competitive? How effectively do you think your website contributes to your organization’s success? What services are you running on the web? Off the web? Can they be migrated to the web (in some capacity?)

72 Leverus Inc. Questions regarding session, electronic documents, suggestion for next year’s survey?