The Do's and Don'ts of Online Fundraising and Communications

Goff cautioned about delving too deeply into “checking and noticing that you haven’t yet donated,” etc., because it can feel unauthentic. You don’t want to lose credibility with your supporters.

2. Transparency. Provide a glimpse into how the organization is funded, who runs it, where it’s headed, where the money is going, what the strategy is — “almost the way you’d give this information to a member of a board on a nonprofit,” Goff said. Use Twitter and/or e-mail to break news so your supporters feel like valued members. You don’t want them to feel like targets of public relations. A great example of this was U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney sending out an e-mail sharing that he had just voted and he hopes "you will too."