Is Your Web Site Designed for the Planned-Giving Audience?

Your planned-giving Web site can be a wonderful tool to educate, motivate, and inspire your potential donors. It can provide them with information on the types of gifts they can make, help them analyze the best gift to suit their individual needs, and illustrate how gifts from other donors have made an impact on your organization. But what good is all of that information if it’s difficult for your donor to understand?

Your planned-giving Web site should be an easy, convenient tool that your donors can use to research gifts and determine how your organization fits into their philanthropic plans. Since the planned-giving audience is typically older, there are some special considerations to keep in mind and tools that are available to make your donor’s experience while on your site more enjoyable.

One of the first and most important considerations is the size of the text on your site. You’d hate for your donor to visit your Web site only for them not to be able to read the information it contains once they’re there. Since the needs of your donors will vary in this regard, the easiest solution is to use a font sizer. A font sizer allows your donor to adjust the size of the text on your site, making it larger or smaller, as necessary.

You also want to keep the information on your site simple and to the point. Including a lot of flash, paragraphs, of text and downloadable documents such as pdfs can frustrate and confuse your donors when they are trying to find the specific information that they need. Instead including a logical, well-designed layout that highlights the most important features of your site on the homepage gives your donors a variety of options without overwhelming them.

While your planned-giving site can and should be a platform to promote your mission and the gifts that your donors can make to support your organization, it’s also vitally important to remember who that Web site is supposed to be speaking to. Keep in mind that if you don’t provide your potential donors with the information they need someone else will, and making these simple adjustments may be the difference between your donor finding that information through you or deciding to look elsewhere.

For more information on Pentera's donor friendly Web sites and Web site best practices contact us at info@pentera.com, 317-875-0910 x251, or visit www.pentera.com.