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Is Your Nonprofit Prepared for Web 3.0?

Web 3.0? Give me a break! We just got a Facebook page up, what’s next?

First you needed a website. Did it take a while to get one up and running? Then you needed social media, that changes so rapidly it’s hard to keep up! You integrated a blog, that now you need to find people to write for it.

Do you really need to do more? 
Yes you do.

I’m writing this in the summer so you can start to put it into your budget for the next fiscal year. Let’s talk about what you need to do to be Web 3.0.

1. Get your website ready for mobile.

It’s not just that people are looking at your website from a smart phone, but they are starting on a laptop, moving to a tablet, onto a smart phone and back again. This means you have to design your site so it fits on all these devices. 

In order to do it on the Cheap-and-Easy, design your site in a WordPress or Drupal template that is mobile ready. The template description should tell you if it can be applied to smart phones and tablets. This way you only have to design once and it can be on the go.

For a few more bucks you can ask your web developer to make your site mobile ready. What this means is they write code that is wrapped around your site so that it looks good on any device. It’s like wrapping your site in plastic wrap. You see this often when you are looking at a site that starts with m.website.com. The “m” stands for mobile.

2. Make an App for your cause

This is an optional feature. Not everyone needs an app and if they don’t work well people will delete them.  If your organization is doing something that can invite people to take action, participate in an activity or is involved in an event that has a lot of information that you need on the fly, then an app would be good for you. Apps can be expensive, minimum $5000 up to $75,000 depending on the capability. You can also go with pro bono groups such as Code for America who make apps for good causes. You need a technical advisor to think about the type of App you want.

App options:

iOS – Anything Apple. Needs to be approved by Apple, takes 1 – 2 months to be completely approved and ready. Many people around the world have Apple products, broad market. Good thing is you design it once and it fits on all iPhones. Negative, it can be rejected, which puts you back in line to be approved.

Android – Most other smart phones (except Microsoft) are run on Android. The nice thing about designing for Android is you can put it in the App store immediately. Negative, since there re so many different types of Android phones, it doesn’t always look good on every phone.

Microsoft – Only runs on Microsoft smart phones.

Portable App – This basically is a website designed to function as an App. This is a great option if you want to design something cheaply that goes on every phone. Negative, you need to be connected to WiFi.

3. Preparing for .NGO

Your website most likely ends with a .ORG. Theoretically this means you are a “nonprofit organization.” Did you know that anyone who wants a .org can sign up for one even if they are not a 501c3. In 2014,  PIR.org, the agency that owns .ORG will be introducing .NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) and .ONG (Same as NGO but for latin languages.) The difference is you have to prove you are a .NGO before you can get the domain. This will be simple for US Based organizations that can prove 501c3 but more difficult for those around the globe that don’t have such a system set in place.

Why .NGO? The term “nonprofit” has a lot of klout in the US Market but not so much internationally. On a global level international governments and organizations understand the term NGO more than nonprofit. Adopting .NGO will be good especially if you plan to work internationally.

The other great things about .NGO is if you have an organization without a website they will give you to the tools to make it easy and cheap. To sign up for more information on .NGO click here for the Expression of Interest Form.

Alright, now you have some of the key elements you will need for Web 3.0. You can take these pointers back to your board or team to look at planning for 2014. Good luck!

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