Fundraising To Make It Through A Tough Economy

In general, asking for money can be awkward, and asking for money in a bad economy is very difficult. However, for non-profits, there is no such thing as a recession or a good economy, they have to continue their work and to be able to do this, fundraising is a constant effort.

Usually, causes that are close to the heart rarely suffer too much during a tough economy because people always find ways to give and support a cause that has a personal affiliation to them. Typically, political fundraising campaigns bring big and small donors to contribute since people are always passionate about their political parties/affiliations. Fundraisers that emerge as a result of a natural disaster or tragedy such as the earthquake in Haiti will also bring a humanitarian response and get people to empty their wallets. Of course, one hopes that these disasters don’t happen at all or at least too often.

In a stable economy, there are several fundraising ideas that one can implement to raise money for their cause or campaign. Non profit fundraisers are mostly events, auctions and banquets – a great way to engage with donors but not the best and most sustainable way for non profits to fundraise. Event fundraisers usually come at a cost; even if the space or food are donated, there are overheads involved and this drives up the cost of the ticket for the donors; and eventually limits the number of people who can afford to buy a ticket or two for the fundraiser. As you can see, this is all too complicated and it really doesn’t have to be this way!

All non profits should look into online fundraising for their causes. It is the best way to fundraise without incurring additional costs. Setting up a fundraising page online is very easy, there are several websites that allow you to do this with little or no fees involved. There are some great fundraising tools available that will let you track the contributions made to your cause and also allows donors to keep track of how the funds are being used.

Especially today, with the whole world hooked on social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter, online fundraising allows you to connect with people all over the world. You no longer have to depend on the same group of donors to come forward each time. Your cause may appeal to a group of people half way across the world! Through online fundraising, you also eliminate costs involved in printing and postage for direct mail and through an email you may even get people in India or New Zealand to donate to your online fundraiser!

Online fundraising allows everyone to donate as much as they want to and makes every penny count! So don’t let the bad economy discourage you and hold you back from doing good…turn to online fundraising and be on your way to changing the world!

For online fundraising tools for your non profit and to monitor donations and progress of your fundraiser, check out the several fundraising ideas available on the web and get your fundraiser off to a great start

Raising Money Online: Little Tricks to Up the Ante

Ok, let’s give credit where it’s due. You’ve resisted the siren song of the fundraising tactics of yesteryear. Charity galas and bake sales SOUND really fun – for the people attending them. For the people running them, they’re the culmination of weeks or months of planning, logistics and hassles so that people can give you $1.50 for the banana bread you spent $10.00 on ingredients for.

Until recently, busting your butt in order to raise money for your cause was expected. And a lot of the time, when people hear the term fundraising they subconsciously feel the ‘raising’ efforts should be akin to raising a barn. Or one of those giant jugs upside-down onto the water cooler when no one’s around to help you, without spilling half of it onto the office carpet/the front of your pants (awkward). That is to say – pretty freakin’ tough. But raising money online means fundraising doesn’t have to be like that.

The arrival of online fundraising has made raising money so much easier. It almost feels criminal, posting bigger returns for less effort and, maybe, the fact that running it from a computer makes you feel a bit like you should be selling Nigerian investment scams. But that feeling quickly fades away when you realize that the easier it is for you to raise money online, the more your cause benefits.

Less time is wasted on the tedious elements of offline campaigns (there’s gotta be a pretty lopsided ratio between the amount of money raised and the amount of cut-eye from people who open their door to someone carrying a clipboard) and more people reached through the ever-growing tentacles of the world wide web (Twitter? Facebook? Anyone?). Along with the undeniable convenience of donating through the click of a mouse as opposed to the click of your high heels up the walkway to a dinner at the local community center, as they pinch your baby toes and you wish you’d just bought the ticket (it’s for charity, of course) and stayed home in your cozy, cozy slippers. All of this translates into a more efficient campaign and a bigger donor base full of happy people more likely to give their support and rally behind your cause.

So friend, good for you for realizing this, and readily embracing the world of fundraising online. Clap clap! Gold star! Smiley face! Whatever makes you feel best appreciated. But now that you’ve got your online fundraising campaign all set up and ready to go, there are a few tricks to take it from “what a success!” to “YEEEEAH BABY PEOPLE ARE ALL OVER THIS!!”

A Multiple Appeal Series: Send out several messages over the course of a period of time as a part of a cohesive campaign, as opposed to a standalone appeal. It not only serves as a reminder to people to give, but lets you approach them in a less aggressive way – you have more chances to talk to them, explain the cause, etc. It’s been shown that in a multi vs. standalone appeal, peoples’ response time was higher and average gift was greater. So give it some salad and boiled chicken and spread your message a little thinner.

Deadline-Driven Appeals: Tapping into peoples’ innate fear of due dates? Giving them a deadline for donations is more effective than open-ended appeals and reaps greater rewards. In fact, the average gift amount is almost double in some cases. So whether your deadline is tethered to an actual event for your cause or it’s the anniversary of that time your Chihuahua played with a rolled up potato bug for the whole afternoon (and you laughed and laughed), specific dates spark a bigger reaction when raising money online. Who knew?

Matching Gifts: We’ve all seen it before: “If we reach $2,000 for the One-Eyed Wallaby Foundation, the Two-Eyed Wallaby Foundation will match it to bring us to $4,000!” Maybe not that specific example, but promising a matching donation has been a proven motivator for both response rate and gift amount from donors. Most likely because it makes people feel like they’re doing more with what they give since anything they donate is literally doubled. This is also a great way to introduce deadlines into your online fundraising campaign. For example, “Whatever amount we reach by February 12 will be matched! We won’t stop until every wallaby gets an eye”.

Dollar Goals: This is the least effective out of all four on its own, but is great to use in combination with others as a solid goal for people to connect themselves to. For example, setting a deadline to reach a dollar goal and then sending out multiple appeals up until that deadline would be a tour de force of raising money online. Leave no tactic unturned!

The fact that you’re online in the first place is a great step in turning your fundraising campaign into a successful, ever-reaching Megalodon version of what it would be offline. Not only is online fundraising quicker, easier, and more expansive than its offline counterpart, but there are lots of ways to easily tweak your campaign to ensure more support and more donations from your growing donor base. So pat yourself on the back and throw out your comfortable “walking shoes” that you secretly know give you a bad case of the cankles. Your door-to-door days are over!

 

For free fundraising tools that will help you effectively raise money online for your online fundraisers, you can create, manage, and track the success of an unlimited amount of fundraising campaigns today by using a robust online fundraising platform. Fundraise with ease for your cause’s fundraiser now by using these free and easy to use, fundraising tools.

Twitter Fundraising is Changing the Way Fundraisers Connect with Donors

Fundraisers are beginning to tap into the potential Twitter has to offer by connecting with people and developing relationships that matter.  Fundraisers can converse with potential donors, exchange ideas, listen to feedback and change the way they approach fundraising.  Twitter is a real-time people driven information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find relevant and interesting: a tool vital to fundraisers that want to raise money fast and effectively.

Before Twitter fundraising and social media, connecting with a global donor base was next to impossible, unless you had unlimited access to capital, or you were Michael Jackson.  Now, Twitter can bring your cause to a global audience all for free.  

Twitter creates an environment similar to your local neighborhood.  Next-door neighbors chat about the weather, politics; issues that matter to them.  The same conversations form naturally on Twitter.  It acts as a forum of ideas and promotes intimacy amongst people who would never have met.  A follower can respond to a tweet by a favorite musician and develop a dialogue with someone he’s admired for years.

Before social media a picture of Twitter on the street might look something like this: Type 140 characters, in large font, on a sandwich board and place it over your shoulders.  Pick a busy area like Times Square in New York – which doesn’t even come close to the numbers of people on Twitter today – and walk around with the hope that someone will read your message and choose to engage the guy walking around Times Square with the sandwich board on his chest.

Now that the sandwich board is virtual, the possibilities are considerable: ask questions, connect with interesting people, promote causes and websites, share links, swap news stories, raise donor awareness and recruit volunteers.  Twitter fundraisers give non-profit, political and community fundraisers instant access to all of these tools in the few minutes it takes to sign up.

You can use tools like TwitterFeed to automatically broadcast your blog posts over Twitter updating your followers automatically.  If a follower likes your post they can retweet your posts.  Tweeting and retweeting become infectious as others promote your cause.

In conjunction with Twitter, online fundraising platforms have developed to maximize the potential of a connected world.  People using social media are most often found on more than one platform.  Twitter users have accounts with Facebook and LinkedIn and engage in Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, and podcasts.  Online fundraising platforms create fundraising campaigns that connect all the different forms of social media.  And like Twitter, it’s all for free.

Twitter can help your cause further by:

  • People across the globe can be informed of your cause with a click of the mouse
  • Twitter is succinct, people voice their opinions keeping you up to date about what they are thinking
  • Follow other fundraisers to share ideas and receive real-time advice
  • Twitter gives you the tools to promote your website and cause

Virtual communities are developing every second and the world of interconnectedness positions the smart fundraiser to capitalize on its unlimited potential.  Twitter and online fundraising platforms are bringing the world to your doorstep and many in the world, are interested in social good.  Try connecting today.

How Charity Fundraising Benefits from Technology:Online fundraising is changing the game

Charity Fundraising has moved to the web.  Today an individual or group with a charity fundraiser can sign up and create an online fundraising campaign with just a few clicks – all for free.

As budgets are slashed to meet the new fiscal demands of the twenty-first century the return on investment of traditional charity fundraisers is sinking precipitously. In response charities are developing new cost effective ways of generating funds.  They realize that in order to compete for the money available each year, they need to harness the power of technology.  

With the advent of social media, and the development of online fundraising platforms, charities can pursue a multitude of web channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkeIn for the cost of sitting down and navigating through a few clicks.  Once your page is setup you can add widgets that connect with your friends, followers and connections alerting them to the positive change you are effecting.  With one click every friend you have on Facebook will know what you are doing and how he or she can help.

The online fundraising platform provides your charity fundraiser with the tools to connect to the social media platforms but further allows you to connect using a variety of devices: desktops, laptops, iPads, mobile devices – including SMS texting.  We live in a connected world.  The more opportunities you have to connect with your donors the more efficiently you will raise money and the more successful you will be with reaching your charities’ fundraising goals.

Traditional forms of charity fundraising like bake sales require the generosity of people to make and sell the goods, collect the money and securely transfer the funds so the charity so it can support its efforts in positive social change: a big effort for a small return on investment.  With technology the old ways of doing things have become just that, old.

Technology is developing at light speed in directions that mimic a three-dimensional net: reaching out in every direction.  The online fundraising platform is developing around this net, taking advantage of this ever-changing paradigm.  And the charities are reaping the benefits: connecting with more potential donors than ever before for very little cost increasing their return on investment in ways not imagined even ten years ago.

The charities that recognize this evolutionary process will prosper and compete for years to come.

 

 

Connecting with Donors in the Digital Age:How Savvy Charity Fundraising is Finding Success in the Modern World

Bake sales, 5K runs and raffles have traditionally been tools of charity fundraising.  While these methods remain relevant forms of raising money, many charities are beginning to tap into the potential of the Internet by bringing their fundraising efforts to the web.

 It is estimated that 240 million people in the United States use the Internet according to ITU – the UN agency for information and communication technologies.  That’s about 77% of the population.  And those numbers are projected to grow. 

 If your charity fundraising goal is $1 million dollars and you potentially had access to 240 million people in the United States alone – the World Wide Web is accessible to 25% of the world’s population, about 2.1 billion people – it would be a foolish choice to disregard the web as a viable source of funds for your cause.

Examples of online fundraising

  •  Email – Email campaigns can target donors and deliver personalized messages about your cause 
  • Websites – Websites can be customized to attract donors from around the world and provide detailed information about what your cause is and how to help 24 hours a day 7 days a week
  • Social Media – Social media is a more recent phenomenon that gives charity fundraisers the opportunity to connect with communities and inspire whole communities to join the conversation

 The Internet would not be what it is today without innovation.  That desire to create something new from what existed before has spurred a new wave of Internet tools looking to change the world.  These tools have come to be known asonline fundraising platforms. 

 Online fundraising platforms bring together email, websites, social media and other tools into one space centralizing the tools of the web.  Best of all these platforms can be created in minutes with a simple sign up.  Your donor page is created automatically.  It can be customized to your specifications from a simple donor page to full integration with your current website.  And you can connect with friends and followers in the social media sphere with the click of a button.  All for free.  Your charity fundraiser will not incur any cost for the life of the campaign.

 The Internet holds endless potential for individuals and organizations that possess the desire to change the world for the good.  If you have a charity fundraising campaign that needs to join the 21st century it would be foolish to overlook the possibilities forming on the Internet.

 

Fundraising Online with Free Fundraising Tools for Causes

If you want to raise money for charity, fundraising can be done online using various free fundraising tools that are available in websites. Internet surfers can become possible donors. The first thing to do is to create a website and make your presence known online. With a website or a web page, this will get you money from donors with just a click of the mouse. A website will allow you to make a fundraising event, do an online auction, accept donations and sell event fundraiser tickets.

Once you have a website, you can do all the preparations and invitations of a fundraising event. You can hold a dinner-concert where the proceeds will go to your favorite charity. You can invite donors to the event through your website which contains all the necessary information of your activity. They can buy the tickets online using their credit cards and confirm their attendance there. This will save you and your donor time and money spent on communication.

With your website, you can do fundraising online by accepting donations. A donor can just give your organization money using his credit card. For this, you will need a tool to be used on your website that will allow you to collect money via e-transaction. Make sure your site has a donor’s page and make it informative, attractive and compelling enough to capture people’s interest and encourage them to donate. Donating via credit cards is a way of showing that your organization is professional and legitimate and because of its convenience and accessibility, it will encourage supportive people who are far away to donate.

You can also sell event fundraising tickets via your website. People who are interested to attend the fundraising activity you have organized, such as a benefit concert, can with just one click and purchase many tickets at once. They no longer need to go to an office to buy the tickets thus saving them time and money. For your part, selling tickets online will allow you to make an easy inventory as online ticket sales can be immediately documented and easily tracked.

You can also conduct online auctions with your website. Ask your family, friends and members of your organizations to donate some things and sell them online. You can also enter into agreement with other websites that do online auctions and bid items with them. You share the profits, depending on your agreement. Donors will purchase something they do need and be able to contribute to the less fortunate or to the cause you are fighting for.

When you have a fundraising event advertised in your website, you can add a Sponsors Page where individuals and businesses can place their ads. They just need to upload their ad and pay for it via credit card. This will earn you money and give your donors exposure. You can also tie-up with a fundraising website that will allow you to create a web page with them. There, you can have free fundraising where you invite people to donate to you while the website owner manages the page for you.

With these fundraising ideas, your noble cause will surely succeed.

Church Fundraising Online with Free Fundraising Tools

 Churches need money for its operation, maintenance, renovation, charity, and mission trips. They are able to get money through communion services and offerings from parishioners and churchgoers.  Church fundraising is often necessary so that the church’s needs are met. They also solicit for help from the neighborhood or community they are situated in. There are times that the money raised is not enough therefore they constantly need to think of ways to generate cash for other necessities.

Nowadays, many churches have used online fundraising platforms to raise money for their needs. They have discovered that in having their own website, they can reach many people and solicit for their support. Their website serves as their virtual office and very minimal expenses are spent. They no longer have to incur communication expenses such as phone and fax bills and they can use the money saved for other charitable purposes. People, especially those who are located in other cities, states or countries, can still visit the church via its website and acquire information or make a donation with just a click of the mouse.

Church fundraisers can also be conducted online. They can hold a live auction in certain websites that do auctioneering and ask their supporters to donate some items to be bid in these online auctions. Many people from all over can participate in this event and they can donate at their convenient time as the auction can run 27/7 for a year or so. In traditional fundraising activities, much time is spent on planning and these can also be very expensive. Churches have to rent a venue for the event, get additional staff, and spend on advertising and invitation.

The use of the Internet for fundraising activities breaks all geographical boundaries as people from the United States can correspond with individuals, organizations and governments from Asia in seconds. The Internet allows massive exposure of the church and its activities. Social media sites have millions of members and when the church has its account on such sites, its mission and objectives will reach many quickly. An online church fundraising campaign for an orphanage does not only reach a nearby community but a global level.

Most of the time, church fundraisers end up spending a lot of money for advertisements and other expenses. They make banners to be placed in specific locations. These banners however will not be used again once the activity they are promoting is finished. Sometimes, churches also advertise on local dailies and radio and TV programs to get support for their causes and this can be very expensive. With online advertising, such expenses are eliminated. There are even search engines that pay for ads of charities and place the link to the church’s website on their pages, as long as they are a registered 501 c 3 non profit.   

Donors can also make online donations to the church fundraisers using their credit cards. They no longer need to travel all the way to the church and give their donations. In just seconds, they can give to their favorite churches to support their causes.  Fees for credit card transactions online are paperless and less expensive and hectic than depositing money through a bank.

Using multiple channels for church fundraising online is indeed very convenient, traceable, and economical.

Charity Fundraising Online with Free Fundraising Tools

Organizers of charity fundraisers have discovered the benefits of technology. Groups and companies now conduct charity fundraising online where they are able to use and be aware of free fundraising tools and ideas available on the Internet. These organizations have set up their own websites where they can plan and conduct their charitable events. People and businesses donate money through credit cards, electronic payments and wire transfers.

One fundraising idea or tool is the use of a website to hold an online auction. Items are displayed and people bid for them online. The highest bidder gets the item and proceeds from the sale will be donated to charity. Such auctions can cater to people living nearby or in the other side of the world. Unlike live auctions that run on a specific schedule with a time frame, the online auctions are done every day therefore people can participate any time. With online auctions, you will also be aware of the items and products that are easily sold therefore you can use this information in similar endeavors in the future.

 You should also allow members of your organization to each have a fundraising page in your website. These pages should be attuned to the main site in terms of appearance and design. The members however can upload their own images, wordings and videos that describe the cause you are all advocating for. Studies show that organizations giving their members their own page from the main website raise more money. This is because these people know may other individuals whom they can tap to make a donation.

 Charity fundraisers like you can also hold an entertainment event such as a dance show or a gala to raise funds.  People love entertainment and they will actually be keen on the thought of enjoying something and at the same time giving to a cause. You can promote this activity in your website and people who will attend will fill-out a form and make the necessary payments online. You can also sell tickets to the activity in your website. Your event will entertain people and help the less fortunate as well.

 Fundraising for a charity can also be done through the popular social media websites. Almost everybody has an account in these sites where they have hundreds or even thousands of friends. Your organization can create a Fan Page in the popular social media sites and there you can invite everyone to donate to your cause. You can even put a link to your own website in this Fan Page so that people will click on it and will arrive at your site.  It is your job therefore to make you site appealing, interesting, informative, and convincing so that people can participate in your activities and donate online to your charity fundraiser.

 The internet is a very powerful fundraising tool because of its way of making people from all across the world to communicate, share and interact with one another.  A charity fundraising campaign will never go wrong and is sure to raise lots of money when he/she uses this tool for a good and noble cause.

How Non-Profit Fundraising Programs are Using the Power of Social Media: Online fundraising platforms key to non-profits’ success in 21st century

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n the past non-profits raised money through community fundraising, government grants and relied on volunteers to help support the causes they were most passionate about.  Yet to compete and succeed in our ever-evolving world of connectivity savvy non-profits are turning to social media to advance their causes.

 Over 600 million registered users on Facebook.  That’s almost twice the population of the United States.  The more people you are able to get your message to the greater the opportunity to convince them that supporting your cause is the right thing to do.  And social media platforms do not operate as a collection of disparate parts.  When you connect with one person you are really connecting with a community of people.

 Online fundraising platforms like Piryx have developed to take advantage of the social media movement.  A non-profit can create a campaign for free with a few clicks of the mouse and be up in running in a few minutes.  Free fundraising tools alert your friends to the great work you are doing and invite them to ‘join in the conversation’.

 When people join in the conversation they are announcing their support.  Once one person joins, friends follow.  A feeling of social well being develops because people love recognition of the good they are doing and that feeling drives people to celebrate their goodwill by:

 ·      Liking on Facebook

·      Posting on their walls

·      Tweeting

·      Creating links in LinkedIn

That community of goodwill spreads as more and more potential donors are informed of the cause. 

 Oftentimes social media platforms are linked to spread updates automatically so a single tweet can ring across a range of social media platforms.  This gives non-profits unprecedented access to potential donors.  As word spreads throughout the social net more and more people are inspired to participate.  Inspiration drives action and the more people that become inspired to act the more work you can do to effect positive change.

 Online fundraising platforms are free to setup and simple to use.  Non-profits do not have to rely on a team of people to carry out fundraising efforts.  Resources can be devoted to supporting the cause instead.

 Connecting with people on a more personal level inspires call to action.  With social media people can share their social good with friends and inspire those friends to advance the good.  For non-profits looking to help their causes in the 21st century recognizing the power of social media is tantamount to their continued success.

Moneybomb!How Much Money Can You Raise in One Day?

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In 2007 the term ‘Moneybomb’ was coined to describe a grassroots political fundraising campaign in support of Ron Paul’s candidacy for President.  The explosive nature of the term is meant to dramatize the mass marketing frenzy intended to generate as much media buzz and excitement as humanly possible.  Everything is meant to happen in one day with the intent of raising boatloads of cash.

 On the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party in 2007 a group staffed exclusively of volunteers participated in a Moneybomb, an effort that rose between $6-6.5 million in a twenty-four hour period.  That effort is still the biggest one-day political fundraising event ever. 

 A bake sale just doesn’t cut it when running for President.  Looking for new and innovative ways to reach more people in less time political fundraising campaigns began tapping into the potential of technology and the evolution of online communities.  Social media has become the ideal vehicle for informing your entire base – and connecting with new ones – of where and how to donate with a simple click of the mouse.

 Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn boast hundreds of millions of registered users and unlike traditional forms of political fundraising, including direct mail marketing campaigns and email campaigns, social media provides a platform for connecting with your communities immediately in a much more intimate way.   Friends can discuss and share ideas in real-time while accessing those discussions on a variety of devices: desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices.   As friends discuss passionate ideas they invite more friends and so on.  In no time groups of social networks are engaged and the possibility of discussions going viral is considerable.

 Facebook is predicated upon the idea that users are part of a community of 677 million Friends: more than twice the population of the United States.  Now online fundraising platforms are developing to meet the twenty-first century demands of a connected world by creating tools specific to political fundraising that integrate with Facebook and other social media spaces like LinkedIn and Twitter.  The possibilities are limitless when you have the potential to reach 677 million people.

 Online fundraising platforms give individuals and organizations the power to create fundraising campaigns with a simple sign up.  A hosted donations page is created immediately with the functionality to customize a single page or fully integrate into your existing website.  All for free.

 Scalability is a key feature when considering how to get the word out to your donor base.  Whether your goals are $500 for a tee ball team or $1 billion campaign for the White House, online fundraising platforms help causes raise money online fast and effectively.