Surveying Development Websites: Harvard

So maybe Harvard just feels like it doesn't have to try. I don't mean that sarcastically. If I had a $30 billion endowment and raised about $600 million a year in gifts, I'm not sure I would want to try either. In fact, from a business perspective, why would I dedicate resources to "fixing" something that doesn't really appear to be broken?

Still, since I'm reviewing websites based on a standard set of questions, I'll go through the exercise with their site as I did with Princeton.

Let's remind ourselves of the criteria:
1) Does the main institution website link directly to the development website in a way that makes it easy for the user to give?
2) Does the development website do a good job of convincing me that my gift matters, no matter what the size?
3) Do they provide features that make me nostalgic about my institution or stories of students today that my gift will be benefitting?
4) Is making my gift easy?
5) Is my gift acknowledged?


1) Does the main institution website link directly to the development website in a way that makes it easy for the user to give?
Answer: No.

There is no giving button on the main Harvard page. Instead, a person interested in making a gift (who may not just be an alum as an aside), should click on the Alumni button in the upper right hand corner:



Once they click on that, they are brought to the alumni community page, which appears to be the main places for them to make a gift online:



We're only a few more clicks away from actually being able to make our gift! (Ok, maybe that one was sarcastic :-) ). So you click on "Make a Gift" in the left hand nav and are brought here:



Click on "Credit Card" and you are brought to an excessively long and overwhelming form:



I really have to wonder what percent of their users drop out at some point in the process. I know I would. I'd rather give my money to someone that's going to make my life easier!

2) Does the development website do a good job of convincing me that my gift matters, no matter what the size?
Answer: That depends on what you mean by "convince"

Ok here's the thing: After poking around for about half an hour, I finally found the annual fund site! This is a little better than the the alumni community site:



After poking around a bit further, I found this:



So it explains what the money would go for, but as far as making me feel like a $25 gift will make any sort of difference, I'm not convinced. Of course, we all know that a $25 gift is a drop in the bucket relatively speaking but there are ways to make people feel like its ok....that it may not build a new dorm, but it's better than nothing! I think this is an especially important attitude to build in younger alums who will not be able to afford making gifts right off the bat. Get them into the habit of giving to their school and one day, that $25 million gift may come.

3) Do they provide features that make me nostalgic about my institution or stories of students today that my gift will be benefitting?
Answer: The have a lot of news on their site, though I'm not sure it's the same thing.



I won't knock them for having news on their site but it also seems to do little more than aggregate content from other places. Not a bad idea to conserve resources certainly....I just think they could do a better job of actually featuring the news stories that are relevant to their audience instead of just linking them to other pages around the university.

4) Is making my gift easy?
Answer: HA! I think we already answered this :-)

5) Is my gift acknowledged?
Answer: Hmmmmm....

Well....there's a flash piece thanking donors for the 2005-2006 year:



(View the Flash piece here)

As far as any sort of honor roll though, I didn't come across one. Also, in 2008 I'm not sure it's still a good idea to have a thank you piece from a few years ago on your site....

Overall: I'll say it again - They're Harvard. They don't have to try.