Fundraising websites 101
August 20, 2013 4:03 PM Subscribe
Help me find a website that meets the needs of the small, nonprofit fundraising event I'm organizing.
I'm putting together a small fundraising event for a program that is very important to me. It will involve a small group of people (less than 10) who will each be raising pledges before the actual event.
We would like to set up a site where people can record their pledges, but there are complications. We don't want to accept or process the donations, only allow people to make a pledge and refer them to an existing donation page on the organization's website, where they will enter their payment information. (We have no control over that page, as it is part of a much larger organization's website. That organization will process the donations and follow up with tax information, etc.) We would also like it if, prior to exiting the site to make their donation, donors could sign up to receive emails from the event. I'd also like the site to display a running total of funds pledged so far. It doesn't necessarily have to track which individual raised how much.
I'm willing to pay a small amount for this functionality, but a couple of the sites I looked at charge a percentage of the funds raised. I worry that this could get expensive, even though I expect that the total amount we raise will be somewhere around $10,000. Also, if the site doesn't actually process the donations, they will likely think we didn't actually reach our goal, and some sites (indiegogo) penalize you for falling short.
Can you suggest some crowdfunding sites that would work well with what we're trying to achieve?
I'm putting together a small fundraising event for a program that is very important to me. It will involve a small group of people (less than 10) who will each be raising pledges before the actual event.
We would like to set up a site where people can record their pledges, but there are complications. We don't want to accept or process the donations, only allow people to make a pledge and refer them to an existing donation page on the organization's website, where they will enter their payment information. (We have no control over that page, as it is part of a much larger organization's website. That organization will process the donations and follow up with tax information, etc.) We would also like it if, prior to exiting the site to make their donation, donors could sign up to receive emails from the event. I'd also like the site to display a running total of funds pledged so far. It doesn't necessarily have to track which individual raised how much.
I'm willing to pay a small amount for this functionality, but a couple of the sites I looked at charge a percentage of the funds raised. I worry that this could get expensive, even though I expect that the total amount we raise will be somewhere around $10,000. Also, if the site doesn't actually process the donations, they will likely think we didn't actually reach our goal, and some sites (indiegogo) penalize you for falling short.
Can you suggest some crowdfunding sites that would work well with what we're trying to achieve?
They don't want a company to handle their credit card info; that's the job of the charity itself. All they need is a form for users to input their e-mail address and "I will donate $X to EventCharity", then be forwarded the pre-existing donation page. Meanwhile, the form data would be used to sign the user up for an e-mail list, and $X would be added to an ongoing public tally of pledges.
posted by teremala at 4:31 PM on August 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by teremala at 4:31 PM on August 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
We would like to set up a site where people can record their pledges, but there are complications. We don't want to accept or process the donations, only allow people to make a pledge and refer them to an existing donation page on the organization's website, where they will enter their payment information. (We have no control over that page, as it is part of a much larger organization's website. That organization will process the donations and follow up with tax information, etc.) We would also like it if, prior to exiting the site to make their donation, donors could sign up to receive emails from the event. I'd also like the site to display a running total of funds pledged so far. It doesn't necessarily have to track which individual raised how much.
It doesn't necessarily sound like you actually want what you think you want. Why not simply have a landing page that directs people to the existing donation page, get their emails from there, and then post the info yourself (and maybe you should also ask if they'd prefer to make an anonymous donation)? After all, if you're asking people to self-report pledges separately from actually paying, they may lie.
If that's not possible: you'd want a web page that worked like "I would like to donate $xxx to charity y! Take me to the donate page!" and then a link to the donate page underneath. Make the link unclickable unless the field is filled out with a number. Underneath that, an optional "I'd like to receive emails from you guys" field.
This seems like something that a web designer could build bespoke pretty quickly.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:37 PM on August 20, 2013
It doesn't necessarily sound like you actually want what you think you want. Why not simply have a landing page that directs people to the existing donation page, get their emails from there, and then post the info yourself (and maybe you should also ask if they'd prefer to make an anonymous donation)? After all, if you're asking people to self-report pledges separately from actually paying, they may lie.
If that's not possible: you'd want a web page that worked like "I would like to donate $xxx to charity y! Take me to the donate page!" and then a link to the donate page underneath. Make the link unclickable unless the field is filled out with a number. Underneath that, an optional "I'd like to receive emails from you guys" field.
This seems like something that a web designer could build bespoke pretty quickly.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:37 PM on August 20, 2013
I think you'll find the functionality you need on event websites like eventbrite, eventful, zvents artful.ly, etc. You can enter your event and even have people order tickets, but supply a link to the donation page to make a payment. This way you'll get to track how many people sign up and specify what information you need to get from them (e.g. their email address so you can add them to your mailing list).
If there are fixed donation levels you could even create different kinds of tickets (on some of the sites, at least eventbrite and artful.ly) so that you keep track of who's giving what amount. (since you are using your own site to take payment).
Best of all these sites are free and easy to use. I have seen many small fundraising events use them successfully. Feel free to PM me if you get bamboozled using them!
posted by blu_stocking at 4:41 PM on August 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
If there are fixed donation levels you could even create different kinds of tickets (on some of the sites, at least eventbrite and artful.ly) so that you keep track of who's giving what amount. (since you are using your own site to take payment).
Best of all these sites are free and easy to use. I have seen many small fundraising events use them successfully. Feel free to PM me if you get bamboozled using them!
posted by blu_stocking at 4:41 PM on August 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
You have so few people involved, hand process this instead of spending time trying to figure out a web solution. Set up a wordpress site or something super simple and just update it manually with pledges and emails to everyone involved can be handled through mailchimp (free for small lists). A facebook group with a link to the organisation's causes donation app is a good option if you want to go through social media.
Seriously, put the time into talking to your group and donors and keep everything in an excel spreadsheet. You'll raise more money with this kind of personal attention for a small group of donors and pledges than trying to get a slick technical fix.
posted by viggorlijah at 8:58 PM on August 20, 2013
Seriously, put the time into talking to your group and donors and keep everything in an excel spreadsheet. You'll raise more money with this kind of personal attention for a small group of donors and pledges than trying to get a slick technical fix.
posted by viggorlijah at 8:58 PM on August 20, 2013
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There are many sites that exist already for charity fundraising-type things. Are there things you like or dislike about what you've seen so far other than the percentage of total thing, which will be true everywhere?
posted by brainmouse at 4:09 PM on August 20, 2013