Page 176 - Electronic Commerce

Selling on the Web

Not-for-Profit Organizations
Auto makers enhance their images by providing useful information to customers on their
Web sites. The main function of their Web sites, however, is to promote their products
and get customers in touch with a dealer who can sell them a car. For other organizations, 151
the image-enhancement capability is a key goal of their Web presence efforts. Not-for-
profit organizations are an excellent example of this. They can use their Web sites as a
central resource for communications with their varied and often geographically dispersed
constituencies.
A key goal for the Web sites of many not-for-profit organizations is information
dissemination. The Web allows these groups to integrate information dissemination
with fund-raising in one location. Visitors who become engaged in the issues presented
are usually just one or two clicks away from a page offering memberships or other
opportunities to donate using a credit card. Web pages also provide a two-way contact
channel for people who are engaged in the organization’s efforts but who do not work
directly for the organization—for example, many not-for-profits rely on volunteers and
coordination with other organizations to accomplish their goals.
This combination of information dissemination and a two-way contact channel is a
key element on any successful electronic commerce Web site. For example, the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is devoted to the advocacy of individual rights in the
United States, includes many communication opportunities on its Web site. The ACLU
home page, shown in Figure 3-6, gives visitors an opportunity to learn about the
organization and contribute money or join if their interests are piqued by what they see.
The ACLU home page includes links to information about each major issue on which the
ACLU has taken a position. The ACLU’s Web site is especially valuable to it because the
organization serves many different constituencies, not all of whom agree with the ACLU
or with each other on all issues. If the ACLU were to create a print newsletter that
contained interesting information for some of its supporters, that same information might
offend other supporters. The Web site allows visitors to select the issues in which they are
interested—and only those issues.

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