Category Archives: Technology

Not long to wait now

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AGOSCI 2013 banner

Almost time for me to fly off to Sydney for the biennial AGOSCI conference being held at the Hilton this week.

A week of networking, learning, and a healthy dose of fun with a group of hard working and dedicated people. The conference theme this year is Connect2Commmunicate and it promises to be HUGE! And in the spirit of the conference theme I will be blogging at the end of each day and sharing my thoughts and viewpoints on the sessions I attend.

For those on twitter, you can join in the conversation by following the conference hashtag #AGOSCI2013

Journey of (IT) discovery as a small charity Part 4

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So now that you have a website up & running, what’s next? Search Engine Optimisation  or SEO might be top of mind, but as you built your site on WordPress chances are it is doing a pretty good job of that already – WordPress is well regarded as being optimised for search out-of-the-box. My recommendation, and what we have done at Glow Kids, is getting onto the key Social Media channels and promoting your website on them (and vice-versa) if you haven’t already.

Facebook should be one of, if not the first, port of call. Make sure you create a business page, not a personal one. If you do happen to create or already have a personal page you can convert to a business page easily enough, Facebook have a really useful page here that explains the process. The key advantage of a business page for me is that you have fans not friends, which means people can like your page without you havent to accept them. There are also a bunch of statistics available so you can gain some insights into who is liking your content, the penetration of your postings so you can tailor for your audience and your potential audience. There are a number of ways you can cross-promote your website and Facebook page –  Wordpress has a number of plug-ins available for social media, and the theme you choose may also have some integrated.

Two important things to add to your website – a ‘Follow Me on Facebook’ button and the ability for your content to be liked and/or commented on. The follow me button lets people easily find you on Facebook, and it doesn’t HAVE to specifically say ‘Follow Us on Facebook’. If you look at the Glow Kids website, we have a simple button at the top of the page which was part of the Admired theme we used. By making it easy for visitors to like and comment on your website content you make it easy for them to promote it on your behalf and again there are plug-ins you can use to achieve this. On the left you will see a sidebar plug-in that easily allows visitors to see your last Facebook post and Like your page.

On your Facebook page, remember to promote your website content. If you add new content to your website, put a link to it on Facebook with a hint of what it is about to get people to click through to read it in detail. Add your website URL to the ‘About’ section on Facebook so people can find your website easily. You do not have to post new content every day that links to your website of course. Depending on your charity you can promote affiliated organizations such as national bodys, or charities in a similar or aligned sector. Liking their Facebook page is a good start here as you can then easily share their contemt, and they may well like & share yours in return. And remember to keep it human on Facebook. For Fathers Day for example I wished all fathers a happy day and asked what everyone was up to for it. Not at all related to Glow Kids cause, but helps remind people that there are humans behind the page and that is what social media should be about – connecting people with people.

Coming up next, the ‘other’ social media channels and how you can maximise them for your charity.

Journey of (IT) discovery as a small charity Part 3

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One of the must-haves we identified as being needed on our website at Glow Kids was the ability for people to donate online. There were four companies in New Zealand that I considered before choosing PayPal, all with their own pros and cons. To save you some of the headaches I had, I have summarised them below, information taken from the respective vendors 16th August 2012 so may differ from their current rates.  Whilst PayPal best suited my needs, one of the other providers may be more aligned with what you want to achieve.

Company Setup Cost Annual Cost Transaction Fees Pros Cons
e-Way $0 $150 $0.30 No setup fees. Can setup recurring billing (donations) Needs SSL to be established on the website.
Need to set up an IMF (Internet Merchant Facility) with bank – separate from normal bank a/c and has additional fees.
Need a developer to implement
Payment Express $150 $600 $0.50 Flat transaction fees, no %age cost + Complicated to setup, needs a developer by the looks of it to implement.
Needs SSL to be established on the website
Need to set up an IMF (Internet Merchant Facility) with bank – separate from normal bank a/c and has additional fees
Flo2Cash $200 $120 0 – $5000  3.40% + 25c/trans
$5001 – $15000  2.90% + 25c/trans
$15001+  2.40% + 25c/trans		 Hosting company recommends them, no IMF needed
Basic Plugins available for WordPress
Appear to offer preferential fees for NFPs		 Needs SSL to be established on the website
Probably need a developer to maximise functionality
PayPal $0 $0 $0-$5000 3.4% + 45c/trans
$5001 – $15000  2.9% + 45c/trans		 A number of WordPress plugins available, incl recurring donation options
No SSL needed
No IMF needed		 Need to open a Paypal account, cannot have funds deposited direct into bank account

Paymark have a good list of providers in New Zealand, although not all offer online payment processing.

PayPal offer charities discounted fees, but one of the conditions is proving you are a charity. This is where it can get a little messy. I was unprepared for the amount of paperwork needed to get the account validated, and to make matters worse, there is a time limit of 7 days to get this done before the account is locked. So what information is needed? Helpfully the website doesnt tell you! But I will, read on!

Before you even THINK about opening an account with PayPal, get the following documents together on either pdf or jpeg format, as they WILL ask for them to confirm you are a registered charity and therefore entitled to the discounted rates:

  • A summary of the nature of the organization (the organization’s mission statement), and type and purpose of payments that you intend to process through PayPal.
  • Proof that you are a registered charity, a copy of the registration certificate is ideal
  • You need to add a bank account under your organization’s name and provide the bank statement or the voided cheque for it.
  • A letter of authorization on official letterhead of your organization, signed by an officeholder/bearer (e.g. Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer), to indicate the authorized persons (the PayPal account holder must be authorized) to manage all PayPal account related activities. The letter should meet the following requirements:

(1) The letter needs to be printed on the organization’s letterhead. The organization stamp (if available) should be added in the signature section.
(2) Please include the specific email address of this PayPal account in the contents of your authorization letter.
(3) One of the named authorized persons should be the PayPal account holder and responsible for all PayPal account related activities.
(4) The person signing the letter should be a different person from the authorized PayPal account holder and could be an officeholder/bearer (e.g. Chairman, Secretary, or Treasurer). Please state that the authorized person is acting for and on behalf of the organization in handling all matters related to the management of the PayPal business account.
(5) If the account holder is the sole owner of the business (i.e. there are no other directors), he/she may sign the letter. The company stamp is required in the signature section.

  • A proof of identity of both the authorized PayPal account holder and the person signing the letter of authorization. Examples of acceptable proof of identity (with photo) include: Passport or Driver’s License.

If you can get all of that ready you will be in business. Saying that, they do of course reserve the right to ask for more information or less information. The upside is you can start using the account as soon as it is active, you do not need to wait for it to be confirmed. I found the PayPal team to be really quick in responding to the information as I uploaded it and to email queries I had.