Website Integration...
This is course 3 of 5 in The Online Donation Process
Integration of your online donation system into your existing website is not a trivial process. It requires complex programming in web languages and advanced knowledge of security and compliance with some fairly large technical hurdles.
In short, it should never be your organization's responsibility to integrate your online donation solution into your own website. An online donation provider should provide a way to integrate a turn-key form into your website quickly and easily without having to know any passwords or other login information to your site. No person in your organization should have to do any advanced website work that requires knowledge of website languages. In fact, you should not be doing anything more than placing a simple hyperlink on your website. And if you have a technical person or staff, an online donation company should be keeping both you and that staff member up to date on exactly what is going on during the creation of your new donation form.
Online Administration
Once your donation solution is in place, you'll need direct and complete control over your own online donation system. Having the ability to make changes, add events, create custom fields and pull your own reports in real-time is crucial to knowing you have control of your own system. You should not have to send off changes to a company and wait for someone to get around to updating your form. You should be in control from the beginning.
Your ability to make changes and pull reports should be centralized in a web-based administration area. This administration area should provide you every tool you require to manage your own donation system and be available twenty-four hours a day so you can make changes anytime you'd like, no matter where you are or what time zone you're in.
Types of Website Integration
How a donation form is presented to a donor is important. If the donor is asked to input their sensitive information for transmission over the internet, the donor must be comfortable with the website. Three main types of website integration methods are discussed below but there are companies in this industry that do more of a hybrid of two than fall into one category only. These three types are just a general overview of what you'll find as you decide on an online donation provider.
Third Party Un-Branded Forms
Un-branded third party forms have little or no relationship to the look and feel of an organization’s website. In many cases only a single line of text shows the relationship to the organization the donor is attempting to support. Although the third party systems sometimes have limited branding ability, the donor is still very aware that they are no longer on the organization’s website. The third party form is the least trusted option for donors about to give online.
Limited Branding
Limited branding allows donors to see a logo or an attempt at replicating the basic look and feel of an organization’s website. Often times the logo and brand are taken out of context and may look distorted or out of place. A donor is still very much aware they have left the organization’s website but recognize the attempt by that third party site to feel more like the organization’s real website. The Limited Branding Form is the middle of the road. Better, but not great by any means.
Complete Reproduction
A donation provider that replicates the exact look and feel of your website presents the most desirable option to potential donors. All images, tables, style sheets and navigation are replicated exactly but are actually hosted on secure transaction servers. When a donor clicks to give online, most of the time they will not notice the switch from the organization’s website to the secure servers. If the donor does notice, the exact replication puts them at ease knowing their money is going to the correct organization. The complete branding option is the best possible way to accept donations online, and the most popular choice among organizations.
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