Comments on: Fundraising Tips and Tricks: Make the Most of your Personal Fundraising Page

By: BethP

BethP — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:50:04 +0000

Hi Mark,

What a fantastic idea! Thank-yous are a very important part of the fundraising process. Firstgiving only deals with the online donation process for Special Olympics, so unfortunately we don’t have thank-you cards. However, you may want to contact the non-profit directly; they might have resources like this for you to purchase/use. Some of our fundraisers also make their own.

By: Mark Alexander

Mark Alexander — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:32:26 +0000

I was looking for thank you cards to send out to all the very generous people who donated for my polar bear plung. Do you have any cards with the polar bear logo that I could purchase?

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:28:10 +0000

I have been raising money for the school I work for. We work with children who are on the Autism Spectrum and their families. I did the usual routine email all I know and ask for donations and got quite a few donations.
One day while cleaning out some things I came across my jewelry making materials and decided I wanted to get rid of it all. I had many necklaces, earrings, bracelets, key chains, and wine charms left over that didn’t sell at local craft fairs. I brought them into work and set them up in a display and put a note up telling my co-workers to take what they wanted and leave a donation that would go towards my firstgiving page. Even though many of my co-workers have their own firstgiving page they donated to mine after finding something they liked in my collection. Later I opened up my collection to the families and displayed things for the families to go through. So far I have made $80 and have more donations coming in daily.
I accomplished two things, helped raise money for a wonderful cause and got rid of my Jewelery collection that was collecting dust. It’s great to see my co-workers wearing the necklaces and earrings at work.

By: Steve@boostyourfundraising.com

Steve@boostyourfundraising.com — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:34:36 +0000

Excellent article.

Another idea for simple to manage fundraising, also consider Fundraising Discount Cards.

In a nutshell, you buy plastic credit card type cards, which could have your chosen fundraiser logo on the front & approx 12 to 20 local merchants offering discounts on the back, you sell these at a profit (obviously), but also the person buying the card actually has more than the value of the card in discounts – win/win.

By: BethP

BethP — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:13:51 +0000

Hi Danny,

In order to start raising money on Firstgiving.com, your organization must be a registered US 501(c)3 non-profit organization and listed in the Guidestar database. This ensures that money raised online goes only to legitimate non-profit organizations.

So, as soon as you are registered, you can get going with a Firstgiving.com page or account. All best wishes for success as you raise money online!

By: Danny Odato

Danny Odato — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:32:21 +0000

we have filed for our non profit corporation and for our tax exempt certificate but we don’t have it yet so the question is can we start to do some on line fundraising ? we so desperately need it or we shall wait for the document to come in ??

By: Stephan

Stephan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:30:36 +0000

Its Really Great to listen about your organisation. Thank You
http://www.freeworldofwarcraftguide.com/

By: ahuli

ahuli — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:53:43 +0000

Thank you! Fine tips!

By: Conner

Conner — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:00:57 +0000

I am off to a great start with my personal giving via friends and family but I would love to get other’s advice on attracting corporate sponsorships. If in the past you have been successful in this area please leave your response here so I can try to plug into a proven method. Thanks for your support in this.

Conner

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:25:07 +0000

I am looking forward to using some of the wonderful ideas on this site to raise money for Special Olympics as I begin my journey to participating in my VERY FIRST Polar Bear Plunge in January 09. THANK YOU!!!

By: Dee

Dee — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:44:37 +0000

Hi
I thank you for the wonderfull organisation that you formed.Other someone may not value your surport but with me,it is very wonderful and so helpfull,lookig forward to your help world wide espacially to me first.

By: samedic.org

samedic.org — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:06:15 +0000

Dear Beth,

Many thanks for your kind reply!

I will look into identifying such a partner. In the interim, if there is any partner that you feel may be a good for http://www.samedic.org , it will be much appreciated!

Dr. Terrence O. Kommal

By: BethP

BethP — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:52:19 +0000

Hi Terrence,

Thanks for your comment. NPO fundraising on Firstgiving.com (US-based) and Justgiving.com (UK-based) are restricted to NPOs registered in these countries because we can only verify the authenticity of NPOs in these home markets. Firstgiving fundraisers can raise money for any NPO registered with Guidestar, a database of registered US 501c3 NPOs.

Many US and UK-based NPOs do important and effective overseas work, and many also partner with local NPOs overseas in order to help fund projects, operating expenses, etc. Fortunately, this can make it very possible to get the funding you are talking about!

For example, fundraisers have used Firstgiving to raise over $175,000 for Doctors Without Borders (http://www.firstgiving.com/npo/1185), an NPO registered in the US and investing in medical care in local communities worldwide.

Another example is World Vision’s partnership with Firstgiving fundraisers and local NPOs for such projects as clean water solutions, AIDS education, medical care, etc. See http://www.firstgiving.com/npo/5527.

If there is a specific project or initiative you are interested in fundraising for, consider partnering with a US-registered NPO that would be willing to earmark funds raised on Firstgiving for your project.

By: samedic.org

samedic.org — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:41:52 +0000

I think that firstgiving should also be open to internatinal NP organisations, as there is much needed support in countries like South Africa, and others.

Yes I appreciate that the donors should help US based NPO’s, but it would be great also if the fuding could also be made available to organisations outside the US that desperately need the funding.

Dr. Terrence O. Kommal
http://www.samedic.org