June 2002 - Issue 14

Successfully Deploying Multi-Affiliate Internet Solutions

By Michael Cervino, Vice President
Beaconfire Consulting

So you want to deploy an enterprise-level, Internet solution for your multi-affiliate nonprofit organization? The initial reaction of many people might be, to quote an American pop culture icon, "Good luck with that!"

The truth is that the successful deployment of a multi-affiliate Internet solution is not a matter of luck. It is the result of thoughtful planning and execution that takes into account the people, process and technology needs of the organization.  Developing a solution that addresses multi-affiliate brand management, content sharing, contact management, email communications, fundraising, advocacy and the myriad other enterprise-level Internet services issues is the most complex and interesting challenge facing many nonprofit organizations today.  But it certainly is very achievable.
 
Not surprisingly, the most difficult part is not the technology.  The technology marketplace has matured and there is an array of enterprise-level products that nonprofits can use for mission-critical functionality. The more significant challenge is managing the organizational business issues that will define the policies, processes and requirements that govern the configuration and use the tools. Creating and sustaining collaboration among the stakeholders who will use these tools can be even more challenging.

The key is to focus the organization's efforts on the priority business issues in order to deliver services and value to key constituencies. An organization's collaborative group - comprised of "national" and "affiliate" representatives - should pay the most attention to the following areas to develop the policies and procedures for set-up and adoption of the system.  While a nonprofit doesn't have to resolve these issues prior to software selection or implementation, the conceptual planning and process to achieve organizational buy-in should be far enough along to avoid significant misalignments between the business needs and the selected technology solution.

Brand Standards: Brand standards should include clear statements about how constituents should experience the organization's brand -- from how they see the logo to the satisfaction they feel when they receive a prompt response from the right person in the organization.

Localization: While global standards must exist for the brand experience, affiliates must have some flexibility on content, communication and services delivered at the local level to constituents. The division between "national" and "affiliate" or "state" or "region" becomes blurred for the user as he travels from one Web page to the next.  That transition will be seamless if the nonprofit gives proper thought to how the end user wants to experience the organization online.

Data Ownership: A major issue between national and affiliate entities is who owns and controls the contact and content data. Some organizations have business rules in place from other traditional, offline activities such as direct mail and research, which can be a starting point for creating the online business rules.

Data Integration: This is a significant component of a multi-affiliate solution. Existing donor, advocacy, client and other databases will most likely remain in place in some form when the new solution goes live.  Strategically selecting the data based on its purpose and value is essential and will often dictate the level of integration and rules pertaining to data synchronization.

Inbound Contact Management: Although constituents now expect real-time responses to online inquiries, few nonprofits are positioned to deliver -- not because they can't, but because they haven't yet had to do so.  It's important to define the policies and processes for how the organization responds to different kinds of inbound contacts.

Communication and Campaign Protocols: The low incremental cost of sending email communications and running online campaigns is a primary benefit of using Internet-based tools to support an organization's cause. With a multi-affiliate solution, it is all too easy to create enterprise "cacophony" in the constituent's inbox.  The organization must establish guiding principles for collaborative communications and campaigns to prevent this. 

Content Management: The mere process of capturing content as reusable data is an important stride for many organizations. Multi-affiliate solutions can provide content to localities that need it while giving flexible publishing rights to those who have sufficient content and/or resources to generate it.  Best practices include designing content workflow simply at first while building on a system that can accommodate more complexity and administrators as the organization evolves and needs more structured content publishing capabilities.

Resource Readiness: The organization needs to evaluate its ability to support a multi-affiliate solution, identify the gaps in funding and staff resources, and create the plan for closing those gaps. Chief among these gaps may be the staff capacity and training required to establish and maintain each affiliate's localized presence.

Cost and Revenue Allocation: The foresighted nonprofit develops a pricing and revenue sharing model that will often help attract participants. There is a range of options -- fee-for-service, share-of-transactions, free affiliate benefit offering, etc. The model can include funding, costs, services offered, return-on-investment (ROI) estimates and organizational strategic priorities.

Goals for ROI: The enterprise solution's total ROI must have a long-term time horizon.  An organization should measure the pay-off on the basis of both financial returns (revenue, cost savings, constituent growth) and social returns (programmatic impact, educational outreach).  While it's a long-term play, the enterprise solution must produce short-term "quick wins" and demonstrate near-term gains to foster adoption across the organization and secure ongoing funding.

Working through these business issues requires organizational commitment and collaboration. An organization increases the likelihood of success by adopting the following best practices:

• Identify and empower an executive sponsor within the organization who is accountable for the initiative.
• Develop a steering committee of enterprise-wide stakeholders to assist in addressing the business issues, validating directions and evangelizing the solution.
• Understand the internal "customers" who will adopt the end system and engage them early in the process.
• Prioritize near-term, mid-term and long-term functional needs based on the business drivers and let these drive technology decisions.
• Develop a pilot and rollout plan for iterative implementation -- this should cover both organizational users as well as solution enhancements.
• Start simple and expand over time -- the drive to over-design can kill any well-intentioned initiative.

Painfully aware that the online experience for constituents typically has been highly fragmented, many nonprofits have envisioned the enterprise multi-affiliate solution. The technical products have now matured to the point where the vision can become a reality. And with the right strategy, discipline and commitment, organizations can successfully navigate the complex business issues that will drive the policy, processes and, ultimately, the technical configuration of the solution.