Fundly raises $5 million (and non-profits raise $220 million with Fundly social media platform)

 

 Mark Goines

This morning Fundly announced that we have achieved two more significant milestones for the company:
First off, Fundly landed another $5 million in Series A investment   which we will use to build even more cool features for Fundly’s users!  We have already hired a team of new awesome developers to make it all happen (you know who you are).

However, I could not think of a better way to celebrate this success in our company’s life than the simultaneous passing of another big milestone: the 1,000+ cause based organizations that use Fundly in the US have now raised a collective $220 million!

Our new investor is Morgenthaler Ventures. Mark Goines has joined Fundly’s board of directors. We are very excited to have him. He was an early investor in consumer finance products such as Mint.com and WePay.  The Fundly investor group already included luminaries who invested in social media companies like LinkedIn, Zynga and Twitter. We are now adding Mark’s wealth of financial application experience to the team.

Large non-profits like Teach For America as well as smaller ones like TERI have already discovered the power of social media. You should never allow a donor to drop off a check and then just drive away. When they come to your website to donate to your cause, they already have their hearts and wallets open— this is the peak of engagement and it’s crucial to seize the moment.  Adding Fundly to your donation page(s) or setting up a campaign page with Fundly will automatically ask all your donors to spread the word with their friends.  As the old saying goes, “You don’t ask; you don’t get.”

So, take a couple of minutes and setup a Fundly campaign page   for your any of your own non-profit fundraisers  !

Why Nonprofits Should Harness the Facebook Obsession

Last night my husband was watching television after dinner and the program captured my attention. While I was earnestly trying to work on my laptop, I kept hearing the words “Facebook,” “Mark Zuckerberg” and staggering numbers and statistics. I finally gave up what I was doing and plopped down on the couch next to him; as a member of the social media fundraising world, The Facebook Obsession on CNBC was like History of the World 101.

Everyone knows the product that is Facebook. Everyone knows that the Facebook god is Mark Zuckerberg. What astounded me was the snowball effect that Facebook has had growing from a small group of Harvard guys armed with laptops at a kitchen table to the mega machine that it is today. I was also blown away by the value of the company and Zuckerburg’s commitment to stay at the helm. Now with the company going public, many others have a chance to profit from this technological marvel.

What is it about this website that has millions addicted? (Even as I am writing this I decided to look up some facts on Facebook and was sidetracked for 15 minutes reading friends’ posts!) Is it that life is so busy that this is the only way to keep up with friends? Are we all so nosy that we want to know when people go to Starbucks or are up all night sick? Are my friends and contacts the only ones who write crazy or pointless posts? (I won’t even bring up how one dad posted a picture of his kid at the hospital with a big gash in his head….)

Anyway… all this got me thinking about how nonprofits can harness this power for good. If so many people have this crazy addiction, just think of the masses that can be reached using this online tool. At Fundly we’ve heard tons of stories about people using social media to raise money to help friends recover from an apartment fire, strangers donating funds to make a cancer patient’s final wishes come true and people uniting to bring attention to a plethora of passions and causes.

It seems like Facebook isn’t going anywhere and nonprofit organizations would be remiss not to jump on board. It is certainly worth the time and effort to post weekly updates and the needs of your charity. Just think what could happen!! Start up ourFacebook fundraising campaign today and raise money online quick and easy for your non-profit fundraisers.

Event Ideas for Non-Profit Fundraising

A non-profit organization is born with the intention of extending help to the needy without indulging in profitable activities. Non-profit fundraising is therefore extremely important for them since without funds they will be unable to serve the purpose they are dedicated to. Almost all good non-profit organizations have some source of donation and bequest to help them sustain and carry out their mission, but still an occasional non-profit fundraising endeavor can further fortify their funds and make them more equipped to help an increasing number of deprived people.

Non-profit fundraisers can think about a lot of innovative fundraising ideas to help support their non-profit fundraising effort. The sky is the limit when the imagination is let loose and the newer the idea, the more chances it has at being successful. In fact, the old ones have become so common that they never seem to offer the fun and excitement that is found in new and fresh ideas. Make your imagination your best friend when thinking about non-profit fundraising ideas and you are sure to come out with the best. This article lists a few new fundraising ideas that you can use:

Sports Events

Walks and marathons are quite common sports fundraising ideas. Get down to sports this time. Convince a sports company to sponsor your event and hold a sports tournament with an entry fee. You can include any sport that you like – ranging from football to badminton with exciting new prizes for winners.

Green Fundraising

This kind of fundraising is excellent for non-profit fundraising organizations. By recycling items like used printer cartridges, electronic trash or old mobile phones and selling them, environment friendly non-profit fundraisers can accumulate a good amount of funds. The plus point is that by doing this, you can also help cut down on landfills and save the environment as well.

Fashion Show

Get interested participants together and put up a fashion show. If you can rope in a budding designer or a local boutique to help you do this, then nothing like it! Sell tickets and gather good fundraising money from this hugely popular affair. People usually turn up in large groups with friends and families for events like this especially if it is tied in to a non-profit fundraiser.

Craft Fair

Organize a craft fair in a venue where handmade craft items are put up for sale. People with a creative bent of mind can help you out on this. Request for support from a local school and you can gain access to some brilliant craft creations, fresh and innovative ideas made by children. Selling them out at attractive prices can help you to gather good funds for your organization.

When hosting non-profit fundraising events, you need to think and act smart as an organizer. Choose the best among these non-profit fundraising ideas and make the most of them. One more thing – you are going to need a lot of volunteers to help make your event successful. Make use of local billboards to advertise on it or include in flyers inside fundraiser making it a successful event!

Traditional Non-Profit Fundraising Campaigns Lose Their Edge

Relationships Help Non-Profit Fundraisers Succeed Now and For Years to Come…

A classic, timely example of a non-profit fundraising campaign is the T.V. infomercial filmed in a poverty-stricken neighborhood, thousands of miles away from the intended audience.  Children mill around gazing from the camera to the dirt floor of their thatched huts.  Distended bellies cry out for food.

Anyone with a pulse is going to react to a scene like that.  That is the intention of the video – emotional response.  And they are driving is to get the potential donor on the phone and pledge a donation.

T.V. infomercials have been effective campaigns for decades for non-profit fundraisers.  They employ a marketing technique known as direct-response marketing.  But, the realities the 21^st century are changing the way successful non-profits do business.

2008 brought a collapse of the world economy.  Because of the collapse many people who had donated in the past were simply unable to afford the discretionary spending required to support their favorite cause.  Non-profit fundraising efforts lost out big time.  Just like everyone else suffering through harsh economic times.

Non-profit fundraising infomercials continued pulling on the heartstrings of donors, but those donors were preoccupied with more pressing matters; feeding their own families.

The success of non-profit fundraisers is not measured solely by the amount of money you raise.  Bringing people in to donate their time volunteering or connecting with people and building relationships to promote advocacy are great ways to advance your cause without convincing someone to open up their checkbook.
When people donate their time in support non-profit fundraising efforts they are helping drive the cost of doing business down.  Volunteers can perform a myriad of tasks that might otherwise be staffed with paid employees.

The reality is unemployment rates are high and the economy is recovering at a snails pace.  For individuals who are unemployed – many highly skilled – volunteering keeps them active and participating in the world around them.  It is also a good chance to network.

In this ever-evolving ‘connected’ world decisions are driven more and more by who you know.   The more people you meet the greater the chance of meeting a decision maker and possibly landing a job.

When donors become involved in supporting their favorite causes through volunteerism they participate in a much more intimate way than strictly donating. This intimate involvement helps build trust, credibility and personal connection. Now the experience is a two-way street.  Both parties benefit from the relationship. Advocacy on behalf of your cause develops as a natural progression of these deepening relationships.

The amount of money raised is not the sole metric when judging the effectiveness of a non-profit fundraiser.  Developing relationships with your donors beyond a simple money transaction builds trust, credibility and personal connection: fundamental elements that will serve your non-profit efforts for years to come.

Non-Profit Fundraising – Using the Web for Non-Profit Fundraisers

Non-profit fundraising is a necessity for keeping a non-profit organization in business. Without any profits flowing in, a company has no capital to invest in its efforts. It needs the help of donors to get anything done. If you have a non-profit organization you need to raise money for, you may think about taking your efforts to the web. The internet provides an array of opportunities for your non-profit fundraisers, and it is not hard to work with. Take a moment to read on so you can see just what the internet may be able to do for you.

If you conduct your non-profit fundraisers online, you can actually see how much money you are earning at a given time. The web gives you a real time look at who has made donations to your group and what the amount of those donations are. You can keep track of where you are with your non-profit fundraising goals and then make adjustments as needed to possibly earn more money. When you reach your fundraising goal, you can stop the fundraiser or leave it to keep building more money for you to use with your group. That is up to you.

Non-profit fundraising online is easy to do because you basically let the web do the work for you. You can market your non-profit fundraisers through the web, and you can allow someone to make a donation for you at any time. Most live fundraisers are limited in their abilities because people are not around to collect money at all times in the night. Online, the website you work through will be able to collect payments for you any time someone wants to donate. This makes the process much more profitable in the end.

If you have not explored your options with non-profit fundraising online, you may want to hop on the web right away. The sooner you begin your non-profit fundraisers online, the sooner you can bring in money from the thousands of potential donors on the web. Everything is easy to manage and easy to change, and you can have all of your money stored in an online account until you are ready to take it out. You will be able to bypass hefty overhead costs associated with common fundraisers so you have more money in your pocket. Your non-profit will be booming in no time.

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

Non-Profit Fundraising Online Proves Effective for NPOs

Non-profit fundraising will always have a major place in the fundraising sector and with that said an entire industry has popped up in the last few years in the non-profit space. The non-profit sector being a business that does not create profits for themselves as a normal business would tend to operate. These businesses make money to stay afloat financially, like paying their operating costs and things of that nature but their primary goal is to go out and help people and other causes. Or they work to benefit either a specific charity or a few different charities. Usually the charities will have some sort of similar or common interest between them. Non-profit fundraising has developed out of a need to create something from nothing. The majority of non-profit organizations really do not have massive amounts of funds or assets; everything they have is given to them. So therefore to raise money, most non-profit companies hold non-profit fundraisers to generate money for both themselves and for their causes. The causes that these organizations work for can be as diverse as the cultures that inhabit the United States. However, some of the best non-profit fundraisers have been the work that has been accomplished online. To raise money online, non-profits really need to be cognizant of the audience that they wish to reach out to and raise money from. Now, this audience may not just be limited to the people in your company, city or town. Yet, it may be a cause that affects people across the entire world and therefore it would be a good idea to broaden the search for donors to the entire world rather than just your own city or town. To do this, you will want to try to use a larger medium to raise money online. These mediums will most likely include using email, websites, blogs, the press, Facebook, YouTube, and twitter. You may be familiar with one or even all of these channels; however they can be used to great effect in raising money. With these someone around the world from you can hear your message and understand that charity that you are trying to raise money online for. These mediums help you to reach across the world and broaden your exposure to people and places that you would not be able to on a regular basis. Non-profit fundraising typically uses some or all of these programs in their quest to raise money over via the web. Non-profit fundraisers may be happening right now in your own town. Go and check your local paper, news site, and you would be able to find an issue that some sort of non-profit was not trying to raise money for some sort of charity or group. Non-profit fundraising has a wonderful history of kindness and humility that should be considered the next time you try to either raise money for a non-profit organization or when you may think about giving back to a non-profit fundraiser. These non-profit fundraisers seek to help people do things that they could not do before hand, which will better the overall citizen population and society as a whole, especially if the non-profit is very efficient and effective with their projects.

Non-Profit Fundraising – Using the Web for Non-Profit Fundraisers

Non-profit fundraising is a necessity for keeping a non-profit organization in business. Without any profits flowing in, a company has no capital to invest in its efforts. It needs the help of donors to get anything done. If you have a non-profit organization you need to raise money for, you may think about taking your efforts to the web. The internet provides an array of opportunities for your non-profit fundraisers, and it is not hard to work with. Take a moment to read on so you can see just what the internet may be able to do for you.

If you conduct your non-profit fundraisers online, you can actually see how much money you are earning at a given time. The web gives you a real time look at who has made donations to your group and what the amount of those donations are. You can keep track of where you are with your non-profit fundraising goals and then make adjustments as needed to possibly earn more money. When you reach your fundraising goal, you can stop the fundraiser or leave it to keep building more money for you to use with your group. That is up to you.

 Non-profit fundraising online is easy to do because you basically let the web do the work for you. You can market your non-profit fundraisers through the web, and you can allow someone to make a donation for you at any time. Most live fundraisers are limited in their abilities because people are not around to collect money at all times in the night. Online, the website you work through will be able to collect payments for you any time someone wants to donate. This makes the process much more profitable in the end.

If you have not explored your options with non-profit fundraising online, you may want to hop on the web right away. The sooner you begin your non-profit fundraisers online, the sooner you can bring in money from the thousands of potential donors on the web. Everything is easy to manage and easy to change, and you can have all of your money stored in an online account until you are ready to take it out. You will be able to bypass hefty overhead costs associated with common fundraisers so you have more money in your pocket. Your non-profit will be booming in no time.

Non-Profit Fundraising Ideas for Non-Profit Organizations Success

Non-profit organizations have a lot of projects that can benefit the society in one way or another.  Different non-profit organizations support various causes and they have made their mark in their niches and have helped millions in their areas. However, funding is always a big problem for many of them and non-profit fundraising ideas are sometimes scarce.  While there are old ways of raising funds, sometimes they do tend to get really old, and not be as effective as before.  Even as non-profit organizations deal with age-old problems of the world, they must learn to roll with the times and get into non-profit fundraising online.

Non-profit fundraising for organizations online can be highly advantageous to them and their projects as well as the proponents of the cause itself.  There are so many possibilities in online fundraising and there can be a wider reach for sponsors and donors.  All you need to do is learn more about and start as soon as you can.
Set up a free account online today.  When you are working on a project, time is of the essence because you want to get as much funds as you can for a limited period of time so that you can meet your target goals for your non-profit organization’s projects.  As soon as you can set up the online account for your non-profit fundraising campaign, the sooner you will be able to raise more funds.

Once you have the online account and site for your fundraising campaign, then you can go and share that link to other people.  Utilize the various developments in technology, particularly, the internet.  Use the various networking sites that you have so that you can share your links, articles, stories, videos and other relevant material that can surely add information for your possible donors.  The more that they are aware of your cause and the more that they can see that your campaign is still ongoing, then they will be enticed to support you and lend a hand and a few bucks for your cause.

You can use the free tools that are available so that you can enhance the look of your fundraising campaign website.  When the viewers see a professional looking page with messages that are striking and that can make an impact, then you surely will win their hearts and they will support your non-profit fundraising ideas. You can also use the analytics to further take a look at the figures and other information that surround you campaign.  Where do your donors come from? Which avenue is the best and most effective in letting people know about your cause?  These questions can be answered when you have proper information.

Let other people be your champions of your cause.  Let them repost your links and share them with others.  You will never know but someone from the other side of the world may hear you out and be touched with your stories of volunteerism and global awareness and they might just donate something for your non-profit organization.

Fundraising Online for Non-Profits

There was a time when non-profit fundraising efforts were limited to a choice between a bake sale and a car wash.  The options that exist today thanks to the Internet give non-profit organizations ways to reach far beyond their geographic and organizational limitations to reach donors around the world.  Non-profit fundraising isn’t as simple as just adding a “donate now” button to your website and hoping that willing donors will find you.

However, there are websites that specialize in helping non-profit organizations of every type bring in the online donations they need to continue their work by taking advantage of the strengths of the Internet.  The best sites include Fundly, which uses a winning combination of traditional Internet marketing strategies and social media marketing to raise money online for you while handling the details so you can continue the real work of running a non-profit organization.  If you are ready to begin online fundraising efforts, here are a few more things you should know.

There is no doubt that social media is the most significant change to our online habits since the unveiling of email.  An ever increasing number of adults report that they not only have a social media presence, such as a Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace page, but that they check it several times a day.  For your non-profit fundraising effort to be successful, you must have a presence on major social media outlets.  Again, this isn’t as simple as just creating a page for your organization- today’s wired users expect donating to be easy, and won’t spend hours – or even minutes – trying to locate your site so that they can give money.  The most successful fundraising sites are those that have already developed so-called widgets that can easily be added to existing pages and shared among users to make it fast and easy for interested altruists to donate to your cause.

As with any other Internet enterprise, it is very important to choose the right online non-profit fundraising site.  There are a number of start-up companies that do not have the experience to handle significant levels of donating, and who don’t have the relationships with online resources that are necessary to make your fundraising campaign all that it should be.  There are also a few companies that charge large fees, drastically reducing the amount of money that your organization benefits from.  Finally, there are some sites that are designed to steal your personal or organizational information.

When you do choose an online non-profit fundraising platform, your organization will quickly reap the benefits of having a professional fundraising site’s support.  You can raise money through traditional email campaigns, Facebook and Twitter, and directly from your website without the hassle of trying to manage these tools yourself.  Sites like Fundly work for only a small transaction fee, far less than the cost of hiring someone to run an online fundraising campaign.  In much the same way that ecommerce has cornered a large portion of the retail world, online fundraising is the future for non-profit fundraising for any and all non-profit organizations in the United States and worldwide.

Non-profit Fundraising Ideas to Raise Money for Non-Profits

The term non-profit fundraising refers to the entire field of cause-related fundraising. There are a large number of non-profit fundraising ideas and options. Generally speaking, non-profit fundraisers are all about generating multiple income streams in order to raise more money for the organization.

A good way to achieve that objective is to incorporate as many methods of raising money in your yearly plan as possible. Now many of you might wonder that all this is easy to say than done. That is certainly not true. In order to achieve your non-profit fundraising objectives, all you need is to be “intelligent” and come up with a carefully planned strategy that doesn’t put too much pressure on your organization, volunteers or supporters. Below are some useful guidelines to effective non-profit fundraisers:

Intelligent thinking: You should take time to evaluate past results and thinking about ways to improve this time. If you fail to come up with creative, new ideas, chances are that you won’t be able to do any better than last time. Think about your best available income streams and determine what enhancements or changes can be made to add extra volume to these streams. Remember that non-profit fundraising is about accessing more potential contributors with a convincing message that persuades them to lend a hand to your organization immediately.

Intelligent planning: You should take effective measures to incorporate your non-profit fundraising ideas into the annual business planning. Your business plan should clearly spell out goals and roles along with well-defined guidelines on how you will carry out non-profit fundraiser campaigns. You should break down every non-profit fundraising activity into essential action steps to produce the best possible outcomes and everybody should understand exactly what is expected from them.

Intelligent working: This step involves putting your plan into action while making sure you get the best possible results from each part of your organization. In order for that to happen, you should make sure not to overburden your leadership, volunteers or your supporters. Obviously, you would like to keep everybody motivated and fresh. Therefore, it is important that you have a well thought out strategy that maximizes returns from everybody’s contributions, time and energy.

As you can see, effective non-profit fundraising requires you to think, plan and work intelligently.  When it comes to non-profit fundraiser activities, it makes perfect sense to make sure that everything you do is well organized and planned. To begin with, get yourself a small handbook and start noting down all the ideas and ways you believe can help generate multiple income streams for your organization.

Non-Profit Fundraising Online
The fundraisers mentioned above about non-profit fundraising activities can be quite expensive. Yet, fundraising online for a non-profit fundraiser is simple, less time consuming, and ultimately much more productive in raising more money for your cause. By creating an online fundraising campaign, you can raise money via your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and more while allowing your supporters to raise money on behalf of your non-profit fundraising campaign today.