Many nonprofits depend on building strong relationships with supporters, service users, volunteers, and other individuals in order to pursue their mission. There are many small changes you can make to your online presence that will encourage people to engage with you more and make them feel more comfortable doing so.
Be Transparent
One of the best ways to help your contacts trust you is to offer full transparency about the information you gather and why. If you're asking for their email, make it clear what you're going to use it for, how long you'll keep it on file, and whether any third parties (such as an email client) will have access to it. Create a policy that explains in plain language how you use your contacts' information, make it easily accessible on your website, and even include a link to it in any emails you send out.
Another great way to increase transparency is to ensure that you make it very clear what each link, button, and CTA will lead to. As users interact with your website and emails, and see that your actions match your promises, they will view your organization as more trustworthy.
Provide Choice
Within your clear, transparent communication with your audience, provide them with choice wherever possible. If you're asking for their email as part of an event sign-up, ensure that they have the choice whether to also receive a newsletter or any other communications. This helps to make contacts feel that they have agency over how you are using their information, which can improve trust and build a positive digital identity among your supporters.
You can also consider offering multiple payment methods for making a donation. Many people have payment methods they trust more than others, and allowing donors to use a method they trust can help them to feel safer and trust your organization more by proxy.
Humanize Your Brand
If users trust and identify with what they see of your organization online, they will feel more comfortable engaging with you. It can be helpful to literally "humanize" your brand by interacting with contacts on social media and showing the faces of leaders, staff, and volunteers. Telling your organization's story using accessible and relatable language helps users to understand you better, which will entice them to engage with you more.
You can also ensure that you are easily contactable by email and phone and that your customer service is fast and of a high quality. This will help prospective donors, beneficiaries, and advocates to feel heard and seen by your organization, helping them to trust you with their time, money, and needs.
Build Trust Online
In order to build genuine and long-term trust with your contacts, stay transparent and follow through on your promises. Understand the risks associated with storing information and take reasonable precautions to protect it, as well as offering choices where you can.
In addition to increasing your overall information security, positioning yourself as a trustworthy organization is a great way to help people feel more comfortable engaging with you. If they feel that their information is safe, that they have agency over how you use it, and that there are real human beings behind your online systems, they may feel more inclined to subscribe, donate, or access your services.
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