Students

by Mike Wehner

While the United States continues to debate over government-funded healthcare, Americans with mounting medical bills sometimes have nowhere to turn. Many people without health insurance — and even some who are fortunate enough to have it — find themselves struggling to make payments or sometimes go without care for fear of debt later on. A new website called GiveForward is targeted at these very individuals and allows them to start personal fundraisers and rely on the generosity of others for financial assistance.

Those going through tough times can create a GiveForward page detailing their financial standing and current medical situation. As funds are raised, most organizers provide updates as to the status of themselves or their loved one currently undergoing or awaiting treatment. You can even start a donation drive for pet medical expenses, and as anyone who has had a sick dog or cat can attest, vet bills are no small feat to overcome.

By promoting a fundraiser though social networks like Twitter and Facebook, organizers can raise awareness of their pressing medical crisis, and provide potential donors a safe and secure way to help out. Donors can keep their information private, or choose to share it with the beneficiary of the fundraiser. After each fundraiser is completed, GiveForward sends a check for the donation total (less a 7% cut to keep the site up and running) to the beneficiary.

In total, GiveForward has already helped raise over $5.4 million for medical expenses and related causes. Fundraisers of $10,000 are commonplace, and some have even been able to raise as much as $88,000 for life-saving procedures. The site relies on the same kind of generosity that fuels donation sites like Kickstarter — which helps raise funds for various business startups and projects — only in this case, instead of donating cash to a new website or invisible art museum, you could help save a human life.

Simon Mainwaring

Source: http://simonmainwaring.com/facebook/how-non-profits-use-facebook-to-build-awareness-community-and-fundraising/

Summer is on its way. The season of vacations and road trips is fast approaching. If you are looking for a summer fundraiser, we have a great idea. Our restaurant.com gift card fundraiser is a great fundraiser that can be used anywhere in the US and so are a great traveling companion to supporters when they go on that summer vacation this year!

How to sell this fundraiser:
1. Buy the fundraising cards from us for $10.00 each (minimum 10 card order)
2. Receive the cards in 2 – 4 business days.
3. Bring an internet enabled tablet, smartphone, or laptop with you and access fundraising.restaurant.com and click on “View Participating Restaurants.”
4. Type in the zip code of where your supporter is planning to travel to and show them the thousands of great restaurants they can choose from.
5. Sell the card for $20.00
6. Your group make $10.00 for each card sold and help supporters enjoy great savings during the summer!

Restaurant.com Expert Tips

1. Read the fine print. Look for restaurants with a low minimum purchase, without day-of-week restrictions, and without exclusions on what you can order (alcohol, etc).
2. Check Yelp to see if the place is any good. Getting a good deal on bad food isn’t really that good a deal.

3. Each restaurant will have their own set of restrictions. Some of the most common restrictions include:

• Minimum purchase ($35 or $50)
• Not valid Friday or Saturday night
• Alcohol does not count toward minimum purchase
• Not valid toward tax or tip

More information: Summer Gift Card Fundraiser

CalPak Fundraiser Summer Idea

Trying to come up with a fundraiser this summer? Look no further, we have the perfect fundraiser for you! The CalPak Snack fundraiser is a delicious and healthy alternative to the traditional cookie dough or candy fundraisers that everyone does. Raise money and help people stay healthy this summer with our fantastic CalPak fundraiser!

How to sell this fundraiser:
1.       Get permission from the track, field, or stadium that your team plays at to sell delicious concession snacks
2.       Order the Calpak fundraiser from us.
3.       Receive your order in 3 – 9 business days.
4.       Set up a table(s) at the entrance on the big day and have two or more people to man each station.
5.       To sell even more, take the portable carrier packs to the stands during game time and sell them to those hungry people who can’t take their eyes off the game!
6.       Sell each snack item for $1.00 and make up to 45% profit on each case!

More information: Fundraising Snacks

Online fundraising offers nonprofits the opportunity to reach new audiences while building stronger relationships with existing constituents who are spending more time on the Internet. For organizations used to communicating via direct mail and telemarketing, embarking on a digital strategy presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Here, Pamela Barden, VP and group director, Russ Reid; Debbi Barber, president, Grizzard Communications Group; Vinay Bhagat, chief strategy officer, Convio; and Angie C. Moore, SVP and GM, fundraising services group at Merkle offer their Dos and Don’ts when it comes to online fundraising.

Pamela Barden, VP and group director, Russ Reid

Do: Think about the entire online experience

Begin with the subject line. It won’t “close the deal,” but it could stop further action if done incorrectly. On mobile devices, recipients see about 20 characters of your subject, so make every one count. Test your links. If you say “click here,” make sure “here” goes someplace that moves the reader closer to giving. Immediately send a short, warm acknowledgment for every donation, telling how the gift is being used.

Don’t: Don’t forget the small details

Don’t make the online donation form too complicated; it’s about getting the donation, not collecting every bit of information you’ll ever want. Don’t forget to include your mission statement on your Web site. Also, don’t assume a potential donor will stumble across your Web site and decide to give; be proactive online and offline in driving potential donors there.

Debbi Barber, president, Grizzard Communications Group

Do: Create seamless integration across channels

Direct mail pieces should have a unique URL landing page that supports the campaign and tracks direct mail visitors to the Web site. E-mail blasts to overlapping direct mail and online constituents should be coordinated and timed for maximum impact. Highlight critical campaigns featured in direct mail and e-mail within the online donation form. Integrate special campaign offers within paid search creative. Don’t just create a campaign and then add on a digital component.

Don’t: If raising funds is your goal, do not have all of your efforts pushed to the main Web site.

There is typically too much happening on the homepage for a fundraising message to stand out and be clear. Instead, create landing pages that focus on the reasons to give and drive potential donors to these pages.

Vinay Bhagat, chief strategy officer, Convio

Do: Empower constituents to act for you

Online tools provide great vehicles to harness supporters’ passion for fundraising, recruitment and evangelism. This can be accomplished by writing messages that inspire donors and reflect their interests. Also be sure to make giving opportunities tangible and explain how gift levels impact your cause.

Don’t: Stop building your prospect and e-mail files

Instead, use online and creativity to reach new people and provide donors who are giving less with meaningful ways to engage. Don’t rely on the structure, skills and approaches of the past. Try to evaluate and reallocate resources from declining, slower growing areas to those that are more efficient and effective at reaching people.

Angie C. Moore, SVP and GM, Merkle’s fundraising services group

Do: Recognize that retention is a metric, not a strategy

Take the time to understand what matters to your constituents and then create online messages around those interests. Being relevant is king when it comes to having mass market conversations with your donors. Relevance drives satisfaction, and satisfaction affects retention. Loyalty equals more support for your mission.

Don’t: Never underestimate the value of non-donor behavior

Every action — dialing a 1-800 number, changing an address, volunteering, requesting information, and more — is an indication of interest and a critical ingredient in the relationship value recipe. Don’t be afraid to model these interactions and understand the true value of the full relationship, not just the donations part.

Source: http://www.dmnews.com/dos-and-donts-of-online-fundraising/article/146504/

A candle fundraiser is a great way for school clubs, cheer squads, or scout groups to raise funds because the unit price is high and most sales are for multiple units. Here’s how you can maximize your candle fundraising profits.

Provide samples
Believe it or not, using sample candles doubles the sales volume. Why? Because people can see, touch, and most importantly, smell the candles.

The fragrance is what sells the product and that doesn’t come through on the brochures. Not until they start providing scratch & sniff versions anyway!

Order at least two sample candles for each seller. Get a variety of all the popular fragrances in the main styles. Your fundraising company can easily tell you which ones those are and you can use the samples to fill orders, so you’re not wasting any money.

Use a sales script
I’m a big believer in kids actually getting out there and doing their own selling, so you need to teach them how to sell. Surprisingly, it’s not that hard to do.

As the kids say, here’s the thing. You must do these three things:

Smile and introduce yourself while making eye contact, then state why you are raising funds.
Ask for their help and use the word “because” to justify it.
Recommend a favorite and place the sample in their hands.
“Hi, I’m Jimmie Jones and we’re raising funds because we need new computers at school. Can you help us out by buying a candle? This French Vanilla one smells great!”

And that’s when you hand over a sample candle and an order brochure. After that, you keep quiet until they ask a question or agree to place an order.

Sell a second product
Another great way to maximize profits is by offering something completely different. If the customer doesn’t like the candles, you can quickly pitch your alternative.

Or, if they buy, you can upsell them with the same offer. Same number of sales calls, double the profits.

One product that works especially well is a fundraising card offering two-for-one discounts on pizza or similar products from fast food chains. These retail for $10 and cost $2, so there’s plenty of extra profit built in.

Plus, they appeal to families because they provide real value for the price. They get their money back the first time they use the card, so it’s a great deal for them.

Offer sales incentives
Motivation is a wonderful tool because people always act in their own best interest. By offering sellers prizes for every sales level they exceed, you motivate even the worst ones to reach the first bonus level.

Plus, your top sellers will keep cranking out the sales to achieve the really good prizes for selling hundreds of dollars worth of candles. Your supplier will provide certain prize packages, but I recommend supplementing those with extras like a free discount card or items donated by local businesses.

You can even spend some of the profits on really great prizes like a videogame console, the newest games, or an iTunes gift card. Just make sure you inform your sellers about all the great prizes available.

When you start, have them state their sales goals by prize level in front of their peer group. Why? Because fear of failure and peer pressure are truly powerful motivators!

Reach a bigger audience
Another way to increase sales is to expand your sales targets beyond family, friends, and neighbors. Set up sales tables at local events or even at high-traffic shopping center locations.

Use big signs to spell out why you’re raising funds. That helps pre-sell people as they approach. For many of these sales, you might need to fill them immediately from your sample inventory. Still, it’s an excellent way to make hundreds more sales!

Candle Fundraiser Summary

Boost your candle fundraiser profits by providing samples, teaching your sellers a simple sales script, selling an alternate product, and offering sales incentives. In addition, you can sell even more candles by expanding your marketing efforts beyond just family friends, and neighbors.

Take some time to develop the right candle fundraising program, select a good supplier, and watch your profits soar to new heights!

These days we all use digital cameras and reproduce our cherished memories via a printer. While the fascinating art of operating manual cameras appears to be in decline, people only become more interested in displaying their favorite photographs at home and in the office.

Because everybody wants to protect valuable photographs while proudly putting them on view, magnetic fridge frames are a unique and increasingly popular fundraiser that will help our organization make great profits. The frames can be fixed on refrigerators, filing cabinets, office walls and other flat surfaces. They come in different colors and sizes, holding between 3 and 13 photographs in creative and energetic styles. There are even special designs for lovers of cats and dogs!

From your organization’s point of view, magnetic fridge frames are the perfect fundraiser because it makes your job hassle-free. All the necessary sales and promotional materials are provided, and all your organization needs to do is to take the orders and distribute the products. Specifically, the full-color brochures and order forms can be either mailed to your organization or quickly downloaded from the Internet. Then the magnetic fridge frames will be sent to you in 5 to 7 business days.

Research shows that an average supporter of your organization will spend about 70 dollars on this fundraiser, or 4.5 frames. Obviously, the more magnetic fridge frames you are able to sell, the more money can be raised for your organization. In general, there is a 40-percent profit from the sale of 20 or less magnetic fridge frames, each of which costs between 7 and 20 dollars. For sales of more than 150 frames, your organization will be able to make 55 percent of profit. Best of all, this fundraiser is new and easy to manage, and can be started right away!

We all love dining out, whether it is for special occasions such as Mother’s Day (which is coming soon!) and birthdays, or just for some fun and relaxation. Even the most talented and devoted family cook would like to get some rest and enjoy having delicious meals brought to his or her table.

This is why restaurant gift cards are an ideal fundraiser for businesses that are keen to become involved in their local communities. Not only can fundraising supporters save up to 60 percent on their restaurant meals, but participating restaurants also receive free advertising opportunities and create good sales.

More importantly, this is a fundraiser that is easy to organize. All you need to do is to order at least ten $50 gift cards at the price of only $10 each, specify your contact details, and then the cards will be delivered to your door in two to four business days. There is no deadline before which the gift cards have to be sold, and all cards unsold (which are rare) may be returned. Better still, by selling each gift card at the price of $20, your business is making $10 profit.

Finally, be sure to inform your supporters that they can redeem their gift cards at Restaurant.com (http://www.fundraising.restaurant.com/). Whether their favorite meal is vegetarian, seafood, Italian, Mexican or Chinese, there are thousands of participating restaurants proudly displaying their contact details in this website. All one need to do is to enter his or her gift card code numbers online. Then they will be able to search for restaurants using either their zip codes and preferred search radius (such as within one mile from their residences) or regions of their states (such as New York, Long Island & Vicinity, Queens, Jamaica, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport).