Book review ‘Direct Connection’s guide to fundraising on the Internet’ by Howard Lake (Aurelian, London, UK; 1996; ISBN 1-899247-06-8; 130pp.; softback f 12.99)

Howard Lake is a fundraiser with Am- nesty International in London and has been one of the few nonprofit people in Britain with in-depth knowledge of the Internet and the World Wide Web. His book, 130 pages and fourteen chapters, plus glossary of terms and a bibliography, is as comprehensive and focused a collec- tion of information for the nonprofit fundraiser as you are going to find among the huge volume of hype that appears daily on net/web matters. Each chapter has a useful summary of key points.

What is clear from his research is that there is actually not a great deal of fundraising being done on the Internet or the web, and in this respect the title of the book leads one to expect more than there is. The examples of successful fundraising are small in number; it is all still too new. In the opening chapter Lake describes means of raising funds - encouraging donors who are on-line to upgrade their donations for example - that use the Internet simply as a substitute for existing communication channels. Where innova- tion appears, howcvcr, is in the use of net-based services to gather information

fovfundruisers: advice networks, grant and funding data, training courses and con- ferences, market research - without leaving the comfort of one’s desktop.

One of the principal attractions to fundraisers will be the very low cost of keeping in touch with donors who happen to be ‘wired’, and this could be made much more of. It is so absurdly

cheap to send communications to people; one local call does it all whether it is to one or to one thousand supporters. Charities being as parsimonious as they are, one day this will be seen for what it is, namely a powerful incentive to use e-mail rather than snail mail.

In the absence of a body of practice on which to report, Lake gives information and advice on what fundraisers might do on the net. There is coverage of the ‘why should you?’ questions; jus- tification issues that we will all have to deal with to get resources to set up netlweb services. He follows with practi- cal ‘how to’ advice, and concludes that at present it is the communication with other fundraisers that appears to be the most common usage of the net. There is a look at the demographics of net users, acknowledging that estimates of quantity and quality of the user base vary widely. Appeals on the web via e-mail are covered in two chapters and eighteen pages.

There is practical advice on how to build a web site and manage it (although therc is next to nothing on costs) where to get information using the web as a resource for research, reflecting Lake’s own profcssional interest as a fundraiser for Amnesty, and a chapter on the future of thc Internet. There is a useful directory of resources.

Should you buy or read this book? Any book that is a ‘first’ in a field that is growing and changing daily has a problem: the target is moving so fast that

it is out of date as soon as it is published. But Lake has done a good job in describ- ing components of a phenomenon that often bewilders newcomers. However, this book does assume prior knowledge and from time to time the newcomer will be confused by what he or she reads. The book is almost entirely words, and some diagrams or drawings would have helped newcomers understand at a glance the inter-relationship between the Internet, the World Wide Web and the many other oddly named (Tel-Net, Ping, Gopher) components.

There are useful nuggets of informa- tion: web site addresses of intrigu- ing nonprofit web pages for example, but they are widely scattered and my copy is annotated throughout with page references.

Each chapter is headed by a quotation, usually to offer proof or support for what follows in the text. There is a sense of preaching or exhortation in some chapters, reflecting the scepticism that many people still have about this new phenomenon and the reluctance to embrace or invest in technology not yet proved to be an essential tool for fundraisers. Ken Burnett is quoted often and it is clear that Lake has read ‘Relationship Fundraising’ from cover to cover and more than once.

Where is this roller-coaster thing called the Internet going? In some ways it reminds me of what was said about the laser in the 1950s: a solution looking for problems to solve. The best days of the Internet are yet to come, but we have to wait until the wires and cables that connect LIS via our ’phone lines are replaced with high-speed fibre optics in order to use net/wcb services to receive what is obtainable now via TV, C11 or satellite.

One should also look a t the Icssons of the telephone. When Bcll produced his

invention, people were unsure just what it would be used for. Perhaps, some surmised, lonely farmers’ wives on the prairies could keep in touch with people while their menfolk were away for weeks at a time on the ranches. There was no inkling that we would one day regard the ’phone as a cheap and indispensable com- munication device. So it will be with the Internet; the communication possibilities that it offers are huge.

Then there are the Internet’s media capabilities. I t was thought that Edison’s recording phonograph would allow ‘gentlemen to set down their memoirs in a convenient fashion . . .’ No hint of a multi-billion-dollar entertainment in- dustry when the invention first ap- peared.

Read this book if you are interested it1

the Internet and the web and want one slim volume to get you ‘up to speed’. Personally I can testify that the myriad seminars that have niushroomed recently are almost useless to get an overview, and just under &I3 is a relatively small price to pay for useful, if rather dryly written, information.

The book is stocked by Dil- Ions and Waterstones. Alternatively it can be ordered direct from the publishers, Aurclian Information Ltd., on 0181-960 7918. I t can even be ordered over the Internet a t http://www. fundraising. co. uk/books/ 1akc.html where there is a choicc of sending a credit card number or downloading a form for posting.

Also visit Lake’s own web site, the only site dedicated to UK fundraising matters, at http://www. fundraising. co. uk.

John Rodd is Information Technology editor of

the Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing.