Showing posts with label raise money online.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raise money online.. Show all posts

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Girls and Women in the Media: Breaking Down Stereotypes

It doesn’t take a Netflix account or an expired Blockbuster card to know that gender inequality in the media is alive and well. This is exactly the issue that Academy Award winner and UN Ambassador Geena Davis addressed at the Mashable Social Good Summit in New York yesterday.

In an interview with Brian Gott, Publisher of Variety, Davis shared some interesting facts and observations pertaining to perception of women and girls and the global impact that the media has on gender equality. I had no idea that 80% of the media worldwide is created here in the United States. That both amazes and terrifies me as I flip the channels on my television. What messages are we giving to the nations around the world about who we really are? It is that thought that has motivated Davis to further her pursuit to increase the use of strong, complex female characters to do the unconventional and unexpected.

In a 20 year study of women in the media, the majority of female roles are not surprisingly stereotypical and highly sexualized. Davis commented that, “The more hours of television a girl watches, the fewer options she thinks she has.” Furthering this thought, Davis mentions that 81% of characters in G rated movies who have an occupations are male while the women who did hold jobs did not pursue careers in the science, law,
medical, political or business fields.

As an ambassador for the UN, Davis believes that “raising up women around the world will impact hunger, the environment and all of the other issues that we’re dealing with.” Through creating a strong female image, women will be able to do things beyond the confines of gender roles and girls can begin to dream big.

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, continues to conduct the largest study on gender issues in film and media. As a respected actor, she works closely with producers and executives to bring awareness to this disparity and hopes to see real change by 2015. With the slogan of “If they can see it, they can be it,” Davis encourages Hollywood decision makers to cast more leading roles to women to show their complexity and potential to young girls around the globe.

Join Geena Davis and her mission to break down the stereotypes and help them raise money online using Fundly to benefit women in media.

Friday, May 25, 2012

6 Tips for Raising More Money Using Social Media

There is a crazy cycle when it comes to finances: the more money you have, the more money you seem to need. When you started your non-profit you probably created a slim budget to include rent, a couple of employees, some direct mail campaigns, a couple of computers with printers and a few reams of printer paper. As your organization grew, so did the donations and the projects that would further your mission.
Regardless of the size of your budget, everyone seems to need more charity fundraising ideas. Here are a few from Mazarine Treyz, author of The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, and Steve Havelka, a Web-design consultant who is on the board of the Austin Civic Orchestra in an interview with Tony Martignetti on Philanthropy.com.

1)      “Know who your competition is. Create a message to your donors saying why your need is urgent and relevant,” explains Treyz. Make people fall in love with your organization: marketing is everything. One way to do this is with a monthly or bi-monthly e-newsletter. Not every time you communicate with a donor needs to involve an ask; just let them know what your organization is up to and that you are using their funds appropriately.

2)      “Your website is your face” states Havelka. Your donors and future donors are going to go to your website. If it’s not polished, they may not give. Most importantly, your donate button needs to be easy to find and put on every page. Secondly, put your story and human faces on your site and make it relatable.

3)      “Partner with people in your area to advance your cause,” suggests Havelka. Look for non-profit associations in your community that are contributing in a similar cause to your to find those with a like-mindedness.

4)      Create something for everyone to do. Treyz comments that 90% of volunteers are also donors. When you get your volunteers involved in an activity that they enjoy, they become more committed to your organization.

5)      Give your board members specific instructions on how they can support the organization. Make it easy for them to know how to be involved, be it through mailers or phone calls explains Havelka.

6)      Say “thank you.” Treyz mentions that when you show gratitude, your donors are twice as likely to give again.

All of these tips can be applied effectively through using social media. With this online communication tool you can easily share your non-profit’s personality, goals and projects. It’s a great way to connect with those who have similar interests and to recruit future donors and volunteers while staying in contact with your current supporters.

Contact Fundly today to make the most of online fundraising. We would love to help you take full advantage of this effective tool.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Fundraising Online Is Easy For Fundraisers To Raise Money Fast

There is a fundamental change occurring in the way non-profit organizations, entrepreneurs and individuals are approaching the aspect of fundraising. Traditionally, when fundraisers are held in the physical world, their presence and visibility are limited to the location from which the fundraisers are being held and the number of individuals who help fundraise. Thanks to technology, the art offundraising has been exponentially enhanced through social media and platforms that allow individuals to collaborate, donate and collect for a common cause. People from all over the world are now able to publicize their causes and raise money online in order to better the situations of themselves and those around them.

The most popular method for online fundraisers is a technique called crowdfunding. Crowdsourced fundrasing allows individuals, business and causes to put forth an idea, determine a goal for the amount of funds to raise and set a deadline for raising the funds. Typically, crowdfunding social fundraising sites will display your project along with projects from a variety of categories. Individuals who are interested in funding or donating to projects can visit the site and select thefundraising project that is closest to their interests. By default, these sites can add a great boost to your effort to raise money online but when coupled with other approaches, can be even more effective.

One of these approaches is the concept of integrating your crowdfunding opportunity with direct social networking platforms. Most likely you already use a service such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or LinkedIn. These services can be used to vastly boost your earning potentials through crowdfunding sites such as Fundly, the largest online social fundraising platform in the world will allow you to share your fundraisers directly with all of your friends and also allowing donors to share your project to all of their friends. Such methods have been shown to increase fundraising potential by up to 50%.

Once these mechanisms are in place for your project, one will be able to fundraise quickly, cheaply and with little effort. Since your project is viewable online by millions of people, the amount one can fundraise in a given amount of time is much larger than compared to a traditional fundraiser. When you raise money online, you also avoid the conventional costs of a fundraiser; some sites may charge a fee for their services, but in the end it is worth it when compared to the extra money said cause generates. Once you have advertised your event and others are donating to the cause, you can typically sit back and watch the dollars roll in as individuals contribute and announce to their friends that they have contributed, which leads to more donations.

By following these tips, you too can begin to raise money online for your favorite cause, charity or start-up. There are individuals with deep pockets out there waiting to hear from you; all you have to do is make your case and promote your cause. By turning your fundraiser into an online fundraising event and integrating it with social fundraising platforms, your project will receive the time, attention and funds it truly deserves.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Storytelling tips from NPR’s Scott Simon

Scott Simon is a professional storyteller. He’s traveled the world as an award-winning correspondent for NPR and is host of NPR’s Weekend Edition. He’s also an acclaimed novelist and memoirist.

Stories are universally appealing, and we’ve written a lot about how important it is for non-profits to tell share their own stories with the world. But, unfortunately, not all stories are well told.

In a video on YouTube Reporters’ Center, Simon shares the universal truths of the well-told story:

(1)   A good story has a pointNot necessarily a lesson or a moral, but something that the listener can take away from it.

(2)   A good story has vivid detail. Sometimes, just one phrase will do. Listeners need something that they can remember and repeat.

(3)   A good story has a strong start. Without this, you’ll lose a listener immediately. Even if you have great analysis and wonderful prose later, it won’t matter because nobody will hear it. Simon sites a 1940 Winston Churchill speech as having the ultimate strong start: “The news from France is very bad.” Direct, engaging, and dramatic.

(4)   A good story is broken up into short, “breathable” sections. Writing a story is like going on a swim. With proper breaks for breath, storytellers will develop a natural rhythm.

(5)   A good story avoids dependent clauses. This applies to audio/video stories. Keep things conversational and easy for your listener to digest.

Simon also encourages people to use social networking sites like Twitter to tell their stories, find stories, and raise money online.

“Use them! Have fun!”

And don’t forget to share them with @Fundly!

SplashMedia Highlights Fundly’s Impact on Holiday Giving

Scott Simon is a professional storyteller. He’s traveled the world as an award-winning correspondent for NPR and is host of NPR’s Weekend Edition. He’s also an acclaimed novelist and memoirist.

Stories are universally appealing, and we’ve written a lot about how important it is for non-profits to tell share their own stories with the world. But, unfortunately, not all stories are well told.

In a video on YouTube Reporters’ Center, Simon shares the universal truths of the well-told story:

(1)   A good story has a pointNot necessarily a lesson or a moral, but something that the listener can take away from it.

(2)   A good story has vivid detail. Sometimes, just one phrase will do. Listeners need something that they can remember and repeat.

(3)   A good story has a strong start. Without this, you’ll lose a listener immediately. Even if you have great analysis and wonderful prose later, it won’t matter because nobody will hear it. Simon sites a 1940 Winston Churchill speech as having the ultimate strong start: “The news from France is very bad.” Direct, engaging, and dramatic.

(4)   A good story is broken up into short, “breathable” sections. Writing a story is like going on a swim. With proper breaks for breath, storytellers will develop a natural rhythm.

(5)   A good story avoids dependent clauses. This applies to audio/video stories. Keep things conversational and easy for your listener to digest.

Simon also encourages people to use social networking sites like Twitter to tell their stories, find stories, and raise money online.

“Use them! Have fun!”

And don’t forget to share them with @Fundly!

Why Using a Social Media Fundraising Platform Is So Effective

The economy is tough and raising money for school equipment, charities, political campaigns and other groups is much more difficult than it once was.  However raising money using social media like Facebook and Twitter is more effective and can raise more money than the traditional methods of fundraising.
Raising Money For Schools

Whether you need new equipment for sports, band or computer equipment for your local school traditional methods for raising money limit your fund raising to the community the school is in thereby limiting the amount of money that your school can raise.  However, when you have a fund raising campaign on Facebook or Twitter you can reach out to businesses that are looking for donation opportunities to help improve their public image as well as alumni that are scattered all around the country or all round the world, thus bringing in more money with less upfront cost.

In addition you can combine traditional fund raising efforts with social media fund raising to increase your profits as well.  Selling candy bars, popcorn, and wrapping paper has long been a way for schools and other groups to raise money they need and you can set up a website for selling these types of item and urge all your Facebook friends to visit and purchase some of these items.

Charity Fundraising

As was seen with the earthquake in Japan charities can raise millions of dollars for worthy causes quickly and effectively by going online and doing their fund raising. Whether your goal is to bring food to those children in countries where food is in short supply or whether you want to save the sea turtles or whales there are thousands of people online who share your vision and are willing to donate to a charitable cause.
Political Fundraising

Politicians can use the social media to raise campaign funds or simply to urge those who believe in their message to get out and vote.  In the past in order to raise funds most politicians had to spend their time at dinners that only the wealthy could afford to attend. Taking time from their actual campaigns in order to raise the funds they needed. Now through social media not only can politicians reach those who share their vision and have the big bucks to spend but, they can add to their campaign funds by allowing those with less money to donate what they can afford to their campaign as well. It is surprising how fast $2.00 and $5.00 contributions can add up to thousands of dollars to help fund a campaign.

No matter what your reason is need to raise money online, fundraising and social media can help you get the money faster and more effectively than you ever thought possible.

How Large Non-Profits are Implementing Social Media

Why recreate the wheel when others have invented some amazing designs? There are several large non-profits out there who are using social media to their advantage and have created strategies into their fundraising agenda to make the most of this technological format. If it works for them, why not give it a try?

John Hayden writes on Razoo.com some practices that larger non-profits implement on a regular basis. “The Red Cross has 30 subject matter experts who devote 30 minutes to 2 hours each day engaging on social media around their respective areas of expertise… Elise LaPrade of Conservation International formed a social media team who meets each week to brainstorm content ideas and discuss various issues. Since the ASPCA hired a full-time social media person, they’ve seen significant growth of the Facebook Page and Twitter followers. The American Cancer Society encourages all staff to engage on social media. That might explain why they have so many mentions on Twitter. One factor that successful orgs share in common is that they approach social media strategically. They don’t just wing it.”

Now I know that not everyone can hire a full time social media manager or experts to devote two hours a day to social media, but it is still important to make your organization known using the web. You may want to consider writing one blog a week, posting on Facebook every other day or creating a monthly e-newsletter.

With the holidays coming up, this is the perfect time to advertise and inform your donors of upcoming activities and needs. Are you doing a toy drive? Do you want to suggest that parents adopt a dog for that picture perfect Christmas morning? Do you need volunteers to serve dinner at a senior’s center? Post last year’s pictures on your website or Facebook account to pull at some heart strings. Create an online fundraising website to get people involved while your organization is fresh in their mind. Fundly can help you make online donations easy with the click of a button. If donors hesitate to take action, they probably won’t do it.

It is so important to make a social media plan to use this effective tool to its full impact. While the initial costs are low, the results that could be had are immense. What you put in to it is what you’ll get out of it!

Need To Raise Money? Why You Might Consider The Ease And Efficiency Of Fundraising Online

Fundraising online is a very easy and effective process especially when compared to the traditional forms of fundraising.  This is actually a new trend that has actually grown by more than 30% each year.  Many people enjoy fundraising online since it is very easy and simple compared to other methods.  Find out a few reasons why.

First of all, with something that is online, it’s much easier to go to friends and family who are not part of your local area to raise funds.  While traditional fundraising tends to do well locally, it’s not good whenever you want to simply allow someone you might know who lives outside of town to easily donate to the task or project.  With online tools for fundraising this is no longer an issue.

Many people find websites easier to interact with.  Whenever they can read about the project and press a button to start giving funds, it’s simpler than filling out the paperwork that is associated with normal fundraising techniques.  There are also those who may be more prone to give funds whenever they fully understand more information about the project.

The data is saved more efficiently with online fundraisers.  You can have multiple individuals collecting funds from others and keep all the information of who gave and what amount in one area without having to type it into a computer or compile lists of data.

Online fundraising also has the huge advantage of being able to tap into social networking accounts like Facebook and Twitter.  This alone is a huge advantage since many people as well as their friends will see the fundraising project and have a chance to give more money to it.  Traditional fundraising does not have this advantage and won’t be as effective.

If you aren’t sure where to go for online fundrasing, you could try fundraising online at Fundly.com.  It offers a good system to help with online fundraising projects so that you can get started with the many advantages that have just been discussed.

Fundraising online is tried and true and you will effectively raise money online for your cause whether big or small. You do not need massive marketing budgets and millions of fans or followers to reach your fundraising goals. You just need the right tools that enable social fundraising online to accept donations via multiple social networks, websites, blogs, and allow organizations to engage, retain, and grow their donor base, while motivating and empowering each one of their donors to become active fundraisers on behalf of the organization.

So, when you need to start a successful fundraising campaign, you should think about using Fundly – the leader in online social fundraising for causes.

For organizations that need to raise money, fundraising online is the way to go. Using the right social fundraising tools is essential to your growth in donations and donors. That is why Fundly, is the go-to leader in online fundraising, because they make it easy and fun to raise money online for all causes big and small.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Online Fundraising – Using Social Fundraising to Raise Money the Easy Way

There are numerous avenues to make use of when raising cash for charities or other fundraising causes. On the internet fundraising has quickly turn into a leader in successful fundraising modalities, due to the fact it offers a quick and simple way to connect with others to raise money for a certain trigger. The social media platforms have grow to be a growing market that fundraisers are tapping into. Employing social fundraising as a means to reach fundraising goals is one of the easiest ways to raise money for a cause, because the reach with the social media networks go far beyond what any 1 person can effectively garner.

Online fundraising can offer you an extended reach as well as the capability to raise funds without having physically taking the time to get in touch with each and every and each and every individual. Social fundraising actually encourages folks to refer other people to donate to certain causes. An crucial aspect of this type of fundraising is constructing a big social network. The larger that an individual or company’s social network is, the further their possible reach is. This kind of fundraising works in a very equivalent approach to word of mouth advertising. Referrals are produced when folks on a social network see others producing donations. This really is the important format for the achievement of this kind of fundraising on social networking sites.

When compared to standard fundraising efforts, online fundraising delivers so much more return for the time spent on the fundraising activity. Numerous individuals prefer social fundraising more than classic fundraising, simply because with the good results rate that this type of fundraising delivers. It can be a lot easier for a casual referral to take place with no a lot effort on a social networking internet site instead of in individual whilst having a conversation. When others see contributions or donation being created to a particular charity, they usually follow in suit.

Many non-profit organizations are able to gain most of their donations through on-line fundraising methods. This can free the time and resources for the non-profit organizations to devote time and funds on the actual charity work. Social fundraising can do the majority of the function for the non-profit organization when it comes to fundraising.

The advertising efforts take less time than with classic marketing, and the ability to donate online at any time of day or night is really a huge benefit towards the non-profits raising money for their trigger. Numerous organizations commence out with conventional fundraising and compliment this with fundraising on-line. The fundraising on the web can speedily surpass the quantity of donation that the traditional fundraising yields.
If your cause needs to raise money, you can create and manage multiple online fundraising campaigns by using the simple and easy to use social fundraising tools provided by Fundly. Cause fundraisers that use Fundly’s online fundraising platform to raise money can drastically increase the amount of donations, and in less time than traditional fundraising campaigns.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Free Fundraising Tools for Causes to Raise Money Online Fast

You might have heard the buzz about it and you might be interested in reaping the benefits of it. We are talking online fundraising. And nothing will help you better in achieving a fundraising goal than a fundraising tool that is preceded by the word “free”. Yes, there are in existence the so-called free fundraising tools.
What are fundraising tools by the way?

First, these are usually sites or software that help a fundraiser, whether a team or an individual, set up an online fundraising gimmick. These fundraising tools are sometimes referred to as online giving. Some sites require membership fees, while some of the available software require the fundraiser to purchase such before the benefits are reaped. With free fundraising tools, you get the same benefit but with almost no cost, except for minimal fees that the tools incur in helping you out.

Have you checked out Fundly yet?

There are a myriad of fundraising tools out there and not to mention the wallop of free fundraising tools that abound the world too. But at Fundly, they offer the best tool that is virtually free. They offer you the same comfort and security that other tools offer. But what they can offer you that the others simply cannot do is the ability not to require humongous service or purchase fees that make the purpose or attempts to raise funds futile.
Fundly considers itself one of the free fundraising tools that are available to the noblest and most honest of fundraisers. They make ask for fees, but these are only minimal and only used to cover expenses for processing all the donations that pour into your cause from your benefactors. Compare that to what the other so-called tools are asking or requiring and you would be surprised at how minimal these fees are.
As one of the best free fundraising tools out in the market, you get quality fundraising accounts wherein the credibility and visual presentation is not sacrificed. You get more benefits than you can think of and demand from a fundraising tool, even from a paid one.

The price of convenience and safety

Your safety is as priceless as your own life itself, with online fundraising, your physical safety is indeed protected and assured. But how about the safety of your identity and your benefactors as well? Fundly  assures that every page in its site is as secured as any federal banks’ website. No need for you to worry about identity theft. This is what sets Fundly apart from the other free fundraising tools available.
Need it be mentioned that the site offers utmost convenience? Most free fundraising tools will only allow a user to set up a single account for a single cause. Not Fundly. They allow multiple accounts per user and multiple causes per account. You do not need a separate and fancy website, you can actually use your social networking profiles or accounts to set up an online fundraising. If zero fees for setting up an account, zero monthly or annual fees and zero commitment does not spell out the word “free” clearly enough for you, then nothing will.

If your cause needs to raise money online today, check out these social fundaisingtools