The Effective, Web Savvy NGO:Concern For Children Trust

In the past several issues of CIO Pakistan, we’ve looked at common issues that NGO’s, also known as Not-For-Profits in some countries, have with their IT knowhow. While every organization has the same challenge of reducing costs while increasing the bottom line, organizations that support the community have an even greater challenge of getting the word out. We’re hoping that this will let other IT managers know just how similar the technology challenges are for social organizations as they are for commercial companies.

Business in today’s world, is based on perception. Whether you run an IT-integrated set up and if your audience actually understands what you do, is all about impacting the bottom line. And until you don’t make a significant impact on your revenue or profit generation, whether you are a social entrepreneur or a commercial one, you will never able to bring any kind of change.

CIO Pakistan actually learned about the ‘Concern For Children Trust’ through its website. We found it hopeful that an NGO would put its faith online and use it to generate interest as they have. Zohreen Murad, Director at the Concern for Children Trust, explains what’s been on their mind.

Why online? Wouldn’t your target audience be more active offline than online?
I think that depends on what you mean by target audience. As a Not-for-Profit, we have various groups of people we need to be able to communicate with. On the actual program level they are, of course, designed and implemented in response to community needs, so we always want to be in close contact with the communities we work with. In our case, that is an “offline” group but we are very physically present in the communities we work in.

The second group contains the potential donors and sponsors. This group includes just about anyone who feels they have something to contribute. Being online is a way to show organizations that you are legitimate and it gives you an international presence. People half way across the world can learn about our projects or support our causes.

And finally, half of what you do in this arena includes raising awareness of the issues that keep people otherwise mired in poverty. For awareness and information dissemination, the approach is simple: use as many methods of communication as you can. A website is a great tool because it means anyone looking for specific keywords will find the website, or, for that matter, we can create linkages from other sites of interest.

How do you plan your online campaign? What things do you keep in mind – Could you give examples with specific projects such as perhaps the recent fundraiser you had?
The biggest hurdle any Non-Profit organization faces is the competition for already scarce resources. I think this is particularly problematic when you don’t do something that people can identify as tangible. It’s not a product or consumable item that we’re selling. Community development is a very slow and, often, intangible process because a lot of what we do is try to change mindsets – it’s really not the same as an immediate response to handing out a meal, for example.

Because of a shortage of resources, your campaign strategy is two-fold. One, you try to make it as public as possible with the idea that even if 2% of your target audience shows up, the campaign has achieved some degree of success. Second and depending on the nature of the project, you determine the profiles of the people and organizations most likely to contribute to you. Aggressively make personal contacts, have lots of meetings, display lots of documentation that you are legitimate and present audit reports to substantiate your position.

Do groups on Facebook or other social networking communities really work?
We have used them extensively in the past and they’ve certainly contributed to getting the word out.

What role does your website play in a campaign you have planned out? Or is it just in getting information out?
The website is a “go to” tool for the most part. You rarely have enough time or space to discuss all of what you want to, so providing a link to the website is usually a ‘for more information about our programs please visit our website’ situation. We never want to lose sight of what’s important. You see, the only reason we do fundraisers is so we can fund PROGRAMS, so we always want to get as much exposure for the program as possible. It’s not such a good idea to flood the target with information but providing people with an easily accessible place to get all the program information, is.

Do you keep track of what kind of people come to your website or community on social networking sites?
Not on the website, but we do closely follow what is ongoing on the social networking sites. We’ve had people disagree with us in the past on social networking sites but we feel that even that discussion is healthy. It is also necessary for an organization to be asked questions about why it does what it does.

Ideally, what role SHOULD an NGO’s website play?
An NGO’s website is its home base; it’s the source you send people to learn about what you do and it allows people from anywhere, to access that information at any time, make donations or simply find you.

Does it actually help to use the online media or do you think it would have made no difference in terms of funding or awareness building if you didn’t have the support of the media?
Support of the media is invaluable in our line of work, and not just the online kind. When we approach corporations for support, we are far more likely to get it if we’ve been in the public eye and we are ‘media approved’. The reason for this is simple. The more people know you, the more they can vouch for your work and, at the end of the day, people want to know that their money is being spent wisely.

What is perhaps the most important ‘tech tip’  you’d share with other NGOs working in Pakistan?
I think the most important one is to find a corporate partner who excels in what you need. We are very lucky because not only are the people at Creative Chaos good at what they do, they’re very socially responsible. Absolutely none of it would be possible without them because setting up and maintaining a website is not something we have the skills to do.

For more details, please visit the Zohreen and her team online www.concernforchildren.org.pk