Charity Organization Website, Essay Example

How many meals do you take in a day? According to United Nations, 25000 people die globally every day due to hunger. Lack of food affects people of all races, ages, and gender; therefore, the world needs to unite in assisting the needy and finding sustainable solution to the challenge. Six hundred sixty-three million people are undernourished globally, while 697 people suffer from severe food insecurity (Our world data). Action Against Hunger is one of the international charitable organizations at the forefront of finding sustainable solutions to hunger. The organization was established in 1979 in France by Françoise Giroud and Marek Halter, among others. AAH is present in 45 countries globally, assisting children against malnutrition and ensuring communities have sustainable hunger solutions. The organization’s website provides data of people assisted so far, the number of staff, donations, achievements, and why the organization’s work matters to the world (AHH). Most charity organizations depend on charity donations; therefore, the “donate” button on the website, what the donations would do, and the organizations’ work matter are essential parts of appealing to the global audience to donate. Therefore, organizations’ websites should have clarity, visual appeal, how donations are used, and easy steps to donate online. These will ensure that objectives are met.

Website clarity, explaining what a charitable organization does, is one of the essential features that would influence visitors to come back to any website (King, Lazard & White 508). A charitable organization should tell the target audience their type of work and how they do it (Jillbert 7); Action Against Hunger has achieved in this aspect because when the website visitor views the home page, there is a section for “Who we are,” giving the audience information about what the organization does and where, the leadership, partners and contacts. These features may influence the potential donor to trust the website and the organization. In addition, 85% of online charity donations come from people of 65 years and below (Jillbert 10); therefore, a charity website must be appealing to the younger generation in terms of speed and easy access to information. I a person try loading Action Against Hunger website. It loads faster, and information is easy to navigate, making it persuasive for potential donors who want things done quickly and in a simple manner.

Another feature on the site that persuades viewers to donate is the disclosure of how donations are used or “WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES,” as seen on the Action Against Hunger website. This aspect is persuasive because people donate based on varying reasons and not primarily the objectives of the charity organization. For example, people may donate because it is their moral norm to assist people like them and feel satisfaction, previous experiences, or future targets, among others (Knowles, Hyde, and White, 2097). Therefore, an explanation to viewers on where their money goes or how it is used may assist them in decision making, especially those that feel that assisting others is their moral obligation or those who want to give back because they were in a similar situation and were assisted. Also, telling the viewers how their money is used is a sign of transparency. They are assured that the money they donate will serve the intended purpose and not disappear through corruption or mismanagement. For example, action Against Hunger (AAH) tells donors that 0.93 dollars of the donated money is used for operations, and there is a chart that is simple and easy to understand that shows 93% of the donations is used for the programs, 5% used for management and 2% used for fundraising. This breakdown persuades the viewers to donate since over 90% of their donations are used to serve the purpose of fighting malnutrition and creating sustainable strategies for fighting hunger in the affected communities.

Further, displaying third-party partners is also an essential feature that persuades viewers to donate, volunteer, or joins the movement. Most website viewers consider the organization’s legitimacy and reputation for concluding whether the organization deserve their donation or not based on the present third party partners (Reinstein & Riener 222). If an organization has partnered with credible organizations such as the World Health Organization, viewers are likely to be persuaded that it is credible. Action Against Hunger has listed its third-party partners such as Google, Weight Watchers, and CocaCola. The listing of partners persuades the potential online donor that various companies and organizations have seen the need to fight hunger. Their donations would play a part in that goal. Third-party partners also show that the organization’s goal is essential and should be supported.

In addition, a charitable organization should provide an accessible link to donating since some people act by seeing (King, Lazard & White 508). A website with a noticeable donation link, especially on the home page, persuades viewers to donate since they are not required to navigate the website. For example, action Against Hunger has a “Donate Now” button, uniquely colored to attract the viewers’ attention, making it easier to act easily whenever they wish to donate. This feature persuades people because of its unique color and symbol next to it. Also, the “donate” process should take a shorter time. According to Jillbert, donating online should take the shortest time, possibly less than two minutes, because people have divided attention when visiting online websites, and donation processes that take longer may demotivate them. Finally, a charitable organization must have persuasive words that may appeal to the viewers to donate (Knowles, Hyde & White 2098). For example, the organization may use the word “a small donation” so that the viewers do not see the process as a huge task, “we need your help,” “you can donate here,” making the viewer be the center of attention and not the organization. The words may create a desire in people to donate the little they have and help assist the organization. AAH has applied this approach by making the statement “Donate Now,” making the audience believe the action is instant and faster, leading to a positive reaction.

In conclusion, clarity on what the organization does and where it does it, simplicity of the website design, and transparency on how the donations are spent, are the major features that persuade the charity organization website viewers. Therefore, organization website designers must enhance simplicity and clarity as possible. Also, charity organizations must make donations easier and faster to persuade passive viewers to donate before leaving the website easily. For example, action Against Hunger is a charitable organization whose website answers viewers’ questions on what they do, when it was started, the partners, how the money is spent, and the organization’s goals. These aspects persuade the audience because they understand transparency and a vision worth their donation, leading to positive action.

Works Cited

Action Against Hunger. “About Us.” Action Against Hunger, https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/about. Accessed 10 Sept 2021.

Jillbert, Julius. “E-philanthropy as a new way to gain online donation: a review on charity websites.” 5th International Conference on Information Technology in Regional Areas (ItiRA). Vol. 1517. 2003. http://users.dec.uwi.edu/smarshall/itira/proceedings_online/2003/non-ref_papers/jillbert.pdf

King, Andy J., Allison J. Lazard, and Shawna R. White. “The influence of visual complexity on initial user impressions: testing the persuasive model of web design.” Behaviour & Information Technology 39.5 (2020): 497-510. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2019.1602167

Knowles, Simon R., Melissa K. Hyde, and Katherine M. White. “Predictors of young people’s charitable intentions to donate money: An extended theory of planned behavior perspective.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 42.9 (2012): 2096-2110. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2012.00932.x

Reinstein, David, and Gerhard Riener. “Reputation and influence in charitable giving: an experiment.” Theory and Decision 72.2 (2012): 221-243. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11238-011-9245-8

Roser, Max, and Hannah Ritchie. “Hunger And Undernourishment.” Our World In Data, https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#:~:text=663%20million%20people%20globally%20are,people%20%E2%80%93%20are%20severely%20food%20insecure. Accessed 11 Sept 2021.