With many of its facilities in ruins, and its employees, customers, volunteers and donors scattered by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ Audubon Nature Institute turned to the Web to raise the money needed to get back to its mission.

By Abny Santicola

But with its facilities in need of repair, its staff off site, its membership base scattered across the country and dealing with life-and-death issues of their own, and its admission gate closed, ANI realized that its fundraising focus needed to change. The capital campaign was temporarily shelved, and the organization looked at its options. Though ANI had a Web site in place and sent monthly update e-mails to constituents, its site was fairly passive and had not been a major fundraising channel. But with phone lines, including most cell phones, down, and the postal system disabled, the Internet was the only viable way to rally support.