4) The Website Best Solution for a Start-up Nonprofit?

With so many online start-ups, I fear that we sometimes lose track of the best solutions for specific challenges. For example, suppose you want a quick-and-easy way to stage a new website for a start-up non-profit (i.e., a new mission organization). You would like to a) establish and manage your online presence, b) manage and communicate with inquirers, c) manage and communicate with donors, d) manage and communicate with volunteers. Suppose you have very little money and even less time. Suppose you aren’t sophisticated at writing HTML mark-up so you need a “website in a box” solution. What’s the best answer? Recently, one Brigada reader suggested

http://nationbuilder.com/nonprofit

Have you tried it? On the surface, it looks like it fits the bill. You get unlimited users, unlimited email blasting, custom domain mapping, a hosted website with multi-user content management, multiple themes and page types, search engine optimization and analytics, a lightweight customer-relation management software package built in, social media tools, an online fundraising, financial reporting tools, a virtual phone number, and real-time newsfeeds. You can even add an optional (somewhat affordable) package to do text-message “blasts.” It’s priced by the number of “emailable contacts” you have in your database. So… tracking contacts is easy and free. You can enter thousands without having to pay a dime. But if you add their email addresses, the costs begin to mount. $49 per month (which seems like a sweet spot) will take care of 2500 emailable contacts in your database.

Do you know of other such solutions? We’d love to hear your answer, especially if you have experience in this sort of area. Thanks in advance for taking time to share. (Thanks for the tip on nationbuilder, Caleb.)