Absorb What's Useful

Non Profit organizations Perceptions and Uses of the Internet

 by Linda Jean Kenix

Reviewed by Alvin Singh

This article was a article that caught my attention early since I am the director of the archive division of the Lead Belly Foundation.  Working with a non profit with a small budget really makes a individual appreciate the hard work that volunteers put into supporting causes without monetary benefits.  The true profit comes from the effect that these small organizations have on lives all across the world.  

Political non profit organizations like Save Darfur, Project for the New American Century, Move on or the National Center for Public Policy are just small examples of how non profits have influenced both pubic and foreign policies.  Some are think tanks and some are volunteered based which utilizes the Internet to organize rallies or joint letters to lawmakers.

Example 1:  Save Darfur has a prepared statement written to the UN or President Bush to join the cause to end genocide in Darfur, Sudan.  Here is the statement.

The author did a research of 52 people in 7 focus groups across the country to gain a better understanding of how nonprofit organizations perform and utilize the Internet.

Many nonprofit organizations believed that traditional media outlets misrepresented their mission statements therefore allowing the Internet to better communicate their purposes and fundraising goals.  The article bases most of its research from the social theory of Habermas and early scholars who predicted that the Internet provides a vibrant public sphere for volunteers and advocacy.  During the Enlightenment Age public sphere was celebrated and provide a forum for parliamentary democracy.  This began to change immediately once the industrial society was politically joined with state-organized capitalism that controlled the commercialization of mass media.  In the book The Creation of the media, Paul Starr explains how during the colonial days in America the printing press was a main source of information for political news.  Once the colonialist became more constant supporters of the local newspapers the literacy rate increased and more people wanted to be a part of the entire struggle.  This is a similar example of how non profit organizations which have normally been identified as grassroots can now reach a broader audience with less time and resources.  The major concern that non profits have about the internet is how will they know if their online presence is making a difference and what amount of resources do they spend to maintain a website.  

As more people get accustomed to the Internet and more confidence in the privacy of online donations grow their will be a increased support of non profit organizations in years to come.  

Example 2: Here is the website for the nationwide community organization ACORN that has been under recent scrutiny for voter registration fraud.  Many of its workers have failed to honestly register voters and the website provides a platform for ACORN to counter the attacks and “fight back”.  

Here is a video that was produced and placed on YouTube explaining the work that ACORN does for low income families and how the recent attacks from the media and right wing pundits are not new.

Discussion

How useful is the Internet to non profits?  Some of the participant of the research agreed that the web was a more valuable tool for staff than reaching clients.  Roughly 60 percent of the participants thought that the worldwide web was more of the same and that early hopes of democracy on the Internet were overstated.  One member felt that viewers of there website was privileged to have access to the information and could get the same materials from their paper-based promotional brochures.  

Some of the non profits admitted that they were adopting a “corporate model” turning the informational tool of the Internet into a marketing tool and built their sites around business models.  One New Yorker interviewed mentioned” What we’re doing more and more as an organization, is getting corporate sponsorships”.  Although some are skeptical of this practice most of them believe that this is the next step in any economic model based on the Internet.  These business models have increased online donations from 24% in 1999 to 48% in 2004 of total funds raised online.  

What happens when the business model is not turning in profits?  Some organizations have sold items that were once free, online or as some of the research participants admitted they even considered selling information that was once private.

How can non profit organizations measure success on the Internet?  Does a company measure how many emails that are able to enlist or how many visitors to the website? Is it how many viewers of a advocacy video or how many comments were made in response?

Example 3: This is a video of the Lead Belly Foundation that I produced late 2007 to inform people about the foundation and its mission.

Here is a video that was produced as a joke to get people to vote using a “viral” pre-produced customized video by Move On