RSS
Follow Prospecting through your favorite RSS reader.
Category Archives: Online Fundraising
December 3, 2012, 9:22 am
#GivingTuesday’s Most Successful Charity Raised $1-Million
Volunteers gathered at The Associated’s headquarters to make phone calls to donors, urging them to give on #GivingTuesday.
Organizers of #GivingTuesday report that The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore raised the most money during the inaugural national day of giving, attracting $1-million in online donations. Last year, the organization raised $81,000 on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
The charity’s fundraising strategy wasn’t new or innovative; instead it relied on an old-fashioned tactic: the phone-athon.
After sending supporters messages about #GivingTuesday and advertising in local papers, The Associated gathered more than 100 volunteers, and from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, staff members and volunteers called donors, told them about that day’s national giving…
November 30, 2012, 5:01 pm
More Charities Report Fundraising Boost From #GivingTuesday
How the Pennsylvania SPCA thanked supporters on Facebook for their #GivingTuesday contributions.
#GivingTuesday, the effort to turn the Tuesday after Thanksgiving into a new national day of giving, is getting more momentum as charities tally their hauls for the day.
In addition to Blackbaud and Network for Good, which on Wednesday both reported more than 50-percent increases in dollars, more Web sites that process charitable contributions are offering similarly sunny data.
• Razoo, whose fundraising Web site lets charities raise money for specific projects, said it received a 50- percent increase in donations on Tuesday compared with last year’s Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
• SofterWare, whose DonorPerfect fundraising platform is used by many small to midsize nonprofits, reported a 46-percent increase …
November 28, 2012, 5:21 pm
#GivingTuesday Sparks Big Spike in Donations
#GivingTuesday may well become a new holiday tradition, as donors generously responded to charities’ pleas to take time off from shopping days like Cyber Monday and Black Friday to give and volunteer.
The amount of online donations processed by Blackbaud, a processor of online gifts, shot up 53 percent to $10-million on Tuesday, compared with the same day last year.
Network for Good, another processor of online gifts, also reported a spike. The total number of donations more than doubled, to 113 percent, on #GivingTuesday versus the Tuesday after Thanksgiving 2011. The amount collected Tuesday was also 55 percent more than the amount of donations collected on Monday.
Of course, with the holiday season just starting, it’s hard to know yet whether people accelerated the giving they typically wait to do until the end of December or whether the money will be an overall lift for …
November 26, 2012, 8:23 pm
Thanksgiving Week Shows Healthy Giving Signs
Americans didn’t increase their spending only at the malls over Thanksgiving, they gave a lot more money online to charity in the past week than they did at this time a year ago, producing a 61-percent surge in online donations.
The data come from a Chronicle analysis of gifts processed by Network for Good, which handles online donations for charities. The Chronicle looked at gifts that the group processed for over 8,700 nonprofits in both 2011 and 2012 and found that not only did the amount of donations increase, but so did the number of donations, which rose 16 percent compared with Thanksgiving week last year.
“Corporate partners urging employees to give, coupled with [Superstorm] Sandy relief, have significantly boosted giving,” says Katya Andresen, chief operating officer at Network for Good.
The year-end surge was not just a one-week phenomenon. Since October,…
September 19, 2012, 3:11 pm
Nonprofits Hope for Holiday Fundraising Boost on #GivingTuesday
What comes after Thanksgiving? Black Friday. Cyber Monday. And now, perhaps, Giving Tuesday.
This holiday season, a group of about 60 nonprofit organizations and businesses are hoping Americans will mark a new tradition by opening their wallets one more time after their post-Thanksgiving shopping ends. But instead of buying, they want them to give to charity.
The new national campaign is called #GivingTuesday, an idea the group hopes will spread largely through social media. On November 27, the campaign will urge people to donate or volunteer to causes and charities they care about. They can also participate in events #GivingTuesday organizers are holding that day.
Organizers hope nonprofits across the country will tie their fundraising appeals to Giving Tuesday or schedule their volunteer projects and campaigns on that day.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting to take a page out …
June 11, 2012, 4:34 pm
Tips on Great Web-Site Design With Donors in Mind
The problems with most nonprofit Web sites today are too much text and not enough great visuals, said Ann-Laura Parks at last week’s AFP TechKnow conference in Orlando, Fla., hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Charities can go a long way to make their Web site more reader-friendly so potential donors can scan a page and quickly pick up whatever information they need.
For example, instead of using a lot words, Web sites should contain strong visual cues to guide donors. “You can use design to move a reader’s eye,” she says. “Good design means never having to say, ‘Click here.’ ”
As a graphic designer and artist—and director of development and communications at South Arts, a nonprofit arts group in Atlanta—Ms. Parks constantly monitors how her organization’s Web site comes across to visitors and often looks at other charity sites….
June 6, 2012, 10:48 am
8 Tips for Raising Money and Attracting Support on Social Networks
The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind received $25,000 from a campaign called "Winks" that featured pictures of guide dogs "winking." (Cody Sabatine )
Nonprofits seeking support on Facebook, Twitter, and social networks may struggle to attract donations, but they can count on doing well when they send out pitches on the first and 15th days of the month.
“Payday makes people feel generous,” says Liam Copeland, a digital marketing specialist at the consulting firm Grizzard.
Mr. Copeland was one of several specialists in social-network fundraising who offered suggestions for charities at this week’s inaugural AFP TechKnow, a technology conference in Orlando, Fla., organized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Following are other suggestions:
Get creative, especially if your…
May 4, 2012, 9:02 am
Environmental Groups Get New Outlet to Raise Money Online
Environmental organizations from around the country last week got a chance to seek support for local projects by creating fundraising pages on Ioby, which stands for “in our backyards.”
The nonprofit hopes to become the environmental equivalent of DonorsChoose.org, which raises money for teachers in classrooms across the country.
The organization has already achieved great success in New York, where it has operated for the past three years. Since Ioby got started, it has raised $250,000 for New York grass-roots environmental efforts, with gifts averaging $35. Among the results of those donations: About 250 tons of food waste were composted, 36 farms and gardens were started, and nine bike and recreation days were held.
The organization hopes opening its online platform nationwide will enable groups and individuals to raise a total of $300,000 in a year.
“We wanted to…
May 2, 2012, 2:23 pm
Charities May Soon Get a Way to Seek Bigger Text Gifts
Donors who give through mobile text messages could soon have the options of giving a larger donation and setting up repeat text gifts, say the leaders of two of the organizations that oversee text giving in the U.S. and Canada.
Jim Manis, chief executive of the Mobile Giving Foundation, and Bernard Lord, chairman of the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada, said in an interview that they are working with some cellular service providers to allow $20 donations—double the current $10 limit—and recurring donations, though they gave no timeline on when those features would be available.
Mr. Lord said 75 percent of donors are willing to give $20 or more through text messaging, according to research his group has conducted. Forty-seven percent say they are willing to donate $25 or more through the platform.
Text-message gifts remain popular, the two men say, even though it is quickly be…
April 17, 2012, 8:56 am
New Groupon Site Allows Charities to Update Donors
With the unveiling of a new Web site, charities now have a better way to tell subscribers of Groupon, the popular discount and deals site, how their money has made a difference.
Groupon Grassroots has replaced the G-Team name and online portal that simply allowed charities to learn how to get their cause in front of Groupon subscribers. Such online “daily deals” have become an increasingly popular fundraising method among nonprofit causes.
The new site has the same features, but charity officials can now also write updates on the projects that people have financed by buying Groupon “deals.” The updates will also allow potential donors to find charities or projects to support in their community. “It’s an easy way for people to see the collective impact that they’re having,” says Patty Huber, manager of Groupon Grassroots.
Groupon officials saw the popularity of its charity…
E-mail a Friend
