Profile Mistakes To Avoid

First impressions are vital to successful fundraising. You’ve only got a few seconds to catch a Donor’s attention. Make sure you avoid these common mistakes:

>Avoid sloppy, long, desperate sounding requests

Keep the request section of your profile short, clear and concise. It’s important to remember that you only have a few seconds to catch a donor’s attention. When editing your profile keep in mind donors want to know what happened and what you need, cut out all the fluff and keep it simple

>Avoid using an impersonal profile name

From experience we’ve found that real names are more effective than impersonal nicknames. Real names encourage Donors by making them feel as though they are donating to a real person

>Avoid a common or desperate sounding headline

Your headline is a hook that captures attention and draws people into your profile, so make it catchy. Avoid desperate pleas and begging for help!

>Avoid generic profile pictures

Photos should be of yourself and/or family. Avoid using pictures of inanimate objects, animals or logos etc. Remember the more pictures the better! Don’t forget, Donors prefer to feel as though they are connecting with a real human being

>Avoid a long and rambling Biography

Your biography is a description or account of your life which include aspects of your life experiences, personality, work, education and family. Don’t go overboard on your biography. Provide enough information so that readers have a general idea of who you are. Make sure you check for spelling and grammatical errors! Sloppy biographies are annoying and often dismissed by readers!

>Avoid spelling and grammatical errors

Carefully proof read your biography, story and request section. Errors are distracting and Donors are far less likely to read poorly written profiles. Moreover, sloppy profiles turn Donors away.

We’d love your feedback!

• What are some ways that you can improve your profile and stand out to Donors?

BambiRoo’s Story

Help Bambi!

Once upon a time there was a sweet little Italian greyhound by which they called BambiRoo. From the early beginnings, little BambiRoo had a troublesome puppihood. You see, Bambi had a small accident one day at the puppy pet shop. Too much frolic and play with the other puppies led to the injury of poor little Bambi’s foot! The injury could have quite naturally been remedied with a band aid and a kiss or two. However the evil pet shop owners chose to ignore Bambi’s injury as the price of band aids and kisses is too expensive these days.

One afternoon a kind and loving family came into the evil pet shop and fell in love with BambiRoo at first site. Unbeknown of Bambi’s injury, arrangements were made and little BambiRoo was warmly introduced to her brand new home.

Bambi loved her new home! In fact, she was elated to run free, chase cats, and eat socks! Back at the evil pet shop she was unable to do these wonderful things from the confinements of her cage.

However, it wasn’t long before Bambi’s injury worsened. Flabbergasted, her loving caretakers took little Bambi to the veterinarian. Here the awful truth finally came to light! Bambi’s injury occurred weeks prior to her purchase from the pet store!

Upset by this news (and rightly so), Bambi’s owners approached the pet store and asked them kindly to compensate for the pricey veterinarian treatment. To much dismay however the pet shop owners would have no part – leaving Bambi’s owners in a terrible financial hick up.

So goes the story of poor little BambiRoo! But the story doesn’t end, with your loving kindness you can help Bambi continue to get the treatment she deserved a long time ago!

How To Promote Yourself

The internet is the most powerful and cost efficient way to promote yourself and reach a global audience. Self-promotion is imperative to fundraising success, because if you don’t tell the world that you exist – how will people know about your cause?  Here are a few ways you can promote yourself online:

Share your profile link

Your profile link is an important tool which can tremendously help you promote yourself and increase your profile’s visibility over the web. Your profile link is like your personal address on the internet where others can locate and find you. Make sure you include your MicroGiving profile link on every social networking site you frequent like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn. It’s also a good idea to include your profile link in your email signature and any communication you have with others online. Remember, every time you share your profile link over the web you increase your exposure and essentially promote yourself that much more.

Be blatant, be bold

Get out there and tell people exactly who you are and what you’re fundraising for. Don’t be shy, be shamelessly apparent about your fundraising cause. I’ve never heard of anyone being successful at promoting themself and fundraising who didn’t proactively take the initiative to make themself known to the world.

Target people who care

Don’t waste your breath preaching to the dead, target the people who are likely to listen to you and your fundraising cause. First contact the people in your inner circle such as friends, family and neighbors. These prime prospects are perfect because they know you. Also consider charity blogs, forums and websites. Go where the charitable people go and network baby, network!!!

Have an elevator pitch

Having an elevator pitch is imperative, especially on the web! People are not going to read through a 5 paragraph essay all about you! Keep your speech short, sweet and simple; you are far more likely to catch someone’s interest without flooding them with an epilogue. Create a few key sentences that tell people 1) Who you are 2) Why you’re fundraising 3) How their support will help.

Start a blog

Here you can tell people more about your fundraising mission. A blog is a great way to promote yourself and tell the world about your fundraising cause. A blog is like your online journal that allows you to express yourself and share anything and everything about your life.  The internet can be very impersonal, therefore blogs are a great way to show the world your personal side. There are a number of sites on the internet that allow you to create a personal profile and setup your own blog. The most popular blog sites as of now are WordPress and Blogger.

Successful people are proactive. Don’t think that having a mere fundraising profile will award you with overnight donations. Your profile is a fundraising tool that gives others the resource to donate to your cause, but in order to be successful you need to take initiative and spread awareness!

Hope you find these tips helpful! Thanks for reading…

Cheers,
April

We would love to hear from you…

• What are some ways that you promote yourself?
• What tips and advice would you share with people who are new to online fundraising?

MicroGiving’s July News

Hello MicroGivers,

Welcome to the July edition of MicroGiving’s monthly newsletter delivered fresh right here on our super wonderful blog. Here’s a quick update to keep you posted on some exciting highlights:

MicroGiving’s Fishing Tournament – A Huge Success!

MicroGiving’s 1st Annual Fishing Tournament in memory of our dearest deceased loved ones John Alsop and Jason Strauss was a huge success! They must have been looking out for us as the weather was beautiful despite a formidable forecast. We received a tremendous turnout with over 1,000 attendees, $14,000 in donations, and 30 sponsors including Red Stripe, Jamba Juice, Mercedez-Benz, and the Florida Marlins (to name a few)! Not too shabby turnout considering it was our first tournament! Check out the event pictures here.

Exciting Site Changes

Our developers are constantly working to keep the MicroGiving site in tip top shape. We’re constantly making changes to make MicroGiving the best darn online giving platform in the whole wide world! Recently, you may have noticed our improved, shiny new fundraising meters. Aren’t they glorious?! It’s time to pump up the juice, get out there, and fundraise! Here are a few fundraising tips to get you started.

What Others Say About Microphilanthropy

We’d like to introduce our new friends over at Charity Champs! Their site is under the initial stages of development, however we encourage you to bookmark these guys because they’re great people doing great stuff! They were kind enough to give us their thoughts on microphilanthropy, here’s what they had to say:

>How do you encourage micro-philanthropy? And why is it important?

We decided to encourage microphilanthropy because it dissolves some of the barriers to giving and participating. Usually people don’t have time or money to give, and with microphilanthropy you don’t need a lot of either to do good.  Microphilanthropy lowers the bar for participation, and therefore reaches more people.

>Do you feel that more people are turning to the web as there “charitable-giving” portal, or does traditional philanthropic giving still hold the majority of donations given to charity today?

Right now it seems to me that the majority of donated dollars are still being given offline (multi-million dollar cheques being written to foundations and hospitals for example), but the number of donations being given online is increasing so rapidly that I’m sure the landscape will be totally changed within a few years. Especially with great organizations like Microgiving paving the way. =)

Cheers,
Sylvia Ng
Director, Charity CHAMPS

Visit Charity Champs on Facebook, and be sure to check out their microphilanthropy blog!

Tips To Improve Your MicroGiving Experience

The key to successful fundraising is spreading the word about your cause. Many people join MicroGiving with the misconception that donations will magically poof into their fundraising account, but fundraising takes time and a lot of elbow grease! MicroGiving is a tool to help you raise donations, but you need to do the leg work in order to be successful. So how do you spread the word about your cause? Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Start within your circle – Contact family, friends and your local community and tell them about your mission. People within your circle are prime prospects as they know you on a more personal level, and usually more inclined to help
2. Get involved in the MicroGiving community – Introduce yourself to others. Visit member profiles and drop a word of encouragement in the comment section. Don’t be shy, let the community know that you exist!
3. Utilize social media – One of the most powerful and growing resources on the web is social media. A report published by Silicon Alley Insider indicated that 24% of Facebook users share web content with their friends and family. Share your profile link with others on Facebook, Myspace, and Digg. You may have noticed a quick and useful shortcut on your profile that helps you share profiles with others on the web. Click on the “Share Profile” link found under your avatar picture and choose from a variety of social media sites on the web. The more you submit your cause to these fantastic social portals, the more you gain exposure

Talk To Us!

Question? Suggestion? Success story? Area of interest you’d like to know more about? Ask us! We LOVE to hear from you!

Yours truly,
MicroGiving

Why Do Donors Give Online?

Network for Good recently published a fantastic report that explored online giving to over 23,000 charities and causes. Network for Good’s study highlighted the reasons why donors choose to give online versus conventional charitable giving. In a recent publication, Network for Good found that more and more donors are turning to the web for a variety of reasons:

Online giving is convenient

When surveyed, the number one reason donors said they turn to the web for their portal of giving was mere convenience. Online giving is simply easier and more convenient than writing a check. Conclusively more donors are using this new and promising new medium for charitable giving online.

Online giving is fast and easy

Second to convenience, online giving is a quick way for donors to respond promptly during times of crisis. In our previous post Where do donors give online, we noted that disaster relief receives the highest response rate over any other category – boasting of $24.5 million donated in response to disasters like Katrina, the Pakistan earthquake, and the tsunami that hit Thailand back in 2004.

Online giving facilitates global connections

Another reason donors choose the internet as their portal for giving online, is the novelty of instantly connecting with Recipients worldwide. For the first time, the internet has allowed donors to connect with recipients around the world and in a way that conventional charities have not been able to facilitate. In other words, the internet has allowed donors and recipient to develop organic, life changing relationships that are reshaping the way we give online.

Online giving allows donors to keep track of their giving history

The internet has also become increasingly more popular among donors as it is the best option to manage and track records of charitable giving online. Donors can easily create an account, deposit funds, make donations and manage all past and future donations from one place making the internet the number one preferred medium for charitable giving.

Albeit more people are turning to the web to give out of convenience, but how much weight can accuratly be placed on mere convenience?  Recent studies indicate that the 21st century has given birth to a generation of “web-dependants”. It seems as though every aspect of our lives are becoming “virtualized” and although we may seek convenience, there might be more to it. Yahoo and OMD published data taken from an Internet Deprivation Study conducted in 2004:

“Regardless of age, household income or ethnic background, all participants in an ethnographic Internet deprivation research study experienced withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness when cut off from the online world. Users described their time offline as ‘feeling left out of the loop,’ having to ‘resist temptation’ and missing their ‘private escape time’ during the day. The study shows that the Internet affords people the ability to overcome time and distance and to manage communications with a larger social circle, thereby creating an effortless community. Participants in the study found they missed the ability to exercise control over the pace and content of communication with different layers of friends and families. As a result, during the deprivation period, participants’ outer circle of relationships suffered.”

Regardless of the many amenities and conveniences the internet may offer, the web binds us together in a way where we can connect, thrive, and grow in a virtual eco-system supported by a unique inter-connected world.

Where Do Donors Give Online?

With the advent of internet technology and personal computers – online giving has increased tremendously in recent years.

“Online giving is growing exponentially each year, from $250 million in 2000 to more than $4.5 billion in 2005.” (ePhilanthropy Foundation, 2006)

New technologies have had much to do with the recent increase in charitable online giving. Aside from being a quick and convenient way for donors to connect with recipients worldwide, internet technology has provided us with a transparent look into donor behavior and online giving trends. Internet technology has has become the “Intel” inside of online giving trends and allowed us to understand donor behavior in a new way that has never been accessible before.

Previously we discussed:

• How the internet has changed the way we give
• Who is giving online
• When & how often Donors give online

Today we look at where online givers spend their charitable dollars. Data released by Network for Good and Guidestar released the following data in a study that explored “Why Donors Give Online“:

Online giving to Disaster Relief ranks #1

Data collected by web analytics reveals that disaster relief receives the highest response rate over any other category. Over $24.5 million was donated in response to Hurrican Katrina, the Pakistan earthquake, and the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.  Additionally, donors typically give to larger non-profits like the Salvation Army and American Red Cross during times of natural disaster. Disaster relief also ranks among the top searches on the web, followed by international cause, animal-related, human services, and education. Interestingly, organizations not categorized as “relief”, but who have previously provided relief during disaster, like many animal and health organizations during Hurricane Katrina, experienced a significant increase in donations. Network for Good reports:

“As for the high amount of disaster giving online, this is a reflection of the fact that for a growing number of donors, the internet is becoming the charitable avenue of choice at times of crisis”.

The following is a list of causes that receive the most donations online by order of rank and popularity:

1. Disaster Relief
2. International Causes
3. Animal Related Causes
4. Human Services
5. Education
6. Health
7. Public Society (technical assistance organizations & research institutions)
8. Religion
9. Environment

Online Givers’ Top Queried Search Terms

Analytics have revealed the top search terms on the web. The following terms received the highest volume of queries on search engines like Google and Yahoo:

1. Children
2. Katrina
3. Clothing
4. Tsunami
5. Red Cross
6. Salvation Army
7. Cancer
8. Volunteer
9. Homeless
10. Clothes

Based on these findings, a few points of interest are worth highlighting. Six out of the ten top search terms were a direct response to disaster relief. For example – “Katrina”, “Tsunami”, “Red Cross”, “Salvation Army”, “Volunteer”, “Clothes”, and “Clothing” reflect  that many donors seek disaster relief information on the web and is the leading category of interest.

Organizations that receive the highest donations online

Additional reports reveal that larger organizations attract more donations. The following list ranks the top organizations that received the highest dollar amount in total online gifts:

1. American National Red Cross
2. Oprah’s Angel Network
3. Salvation Army National Corp.
4. United States Fund for UNICEF
5. AmeriCares
6. Save the Children
7. Doctors Without Borders USA
8. CARE
9. Catholic Relief Services
10. The Fistula Foundation

Your feedback is valuable to us. We’d love to hear your thoughts on our post:

• What causes are you most likely to donate to?
• Do you feel the categories listed above are ranked accordingly? What categorie(s) do you feel deserve more public attention?
• Why do you think online givers are more likely to donate to larger organizations? Don’t they receive enough donations?

When Do Donors Give Online?

Online giving flourishes during disaster

Online giving is at its peak during weekdays, rather than weekends

Online Giving Per Day Of Week

Giving online fluctuates in annual cycles

Explore: MicroGiving’s Featured Charity

Last week MicroGiving proudly spotlighted our top featured Recipient and Donor for the month of June. We would like to thank all of you who have shared kind words of support and encouragement! Today, we’re  proud to announce our spotlight Charity for the month!

1. What does your Charity fundraiser support?

We are a non-profit organization that works with victims of domestic violence. The latest research shows that one out of every three women will be involved in an abusive relationship at some time in her life. The effects of domestic violence touch every aspect of society. The emotional, mental, and spiritual scars–the ones that you don’t see–last much longer and take years to heal; if they ever do. Over 131 lives were taken last year in the state of North Carolina as a result of domestic violence. Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults. The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 BILLION per year, $4.1 billion of which is for direct medical and mental health services. When you take into consideration that many of these people are uninsured or under insured, think of the taxpayer burden this creates! We must break the cycle of abuse and violence and make generational change.

2. How did you hear about MicroGiving?

I heard about Microgiving through a Google search while looking for ways to raise money for the mission. We are a new organization, although we have been working in the community for over 2 years, we just received our 501(c)(3) status in October. As you know, it is very difficult for new non-profits to receive funds in the current economic climate.

3. What is so great about online fundraising?

Online fundraising has the ability to reach many people and gives donors a convenient and safe way to make their contributions. Although I haven’t raised any funds yet using Microgiving, I have met some wonderful people and have been able to share information about domestic violence that may impact someones life in a way that will allow them to make positive changes. That is my only goal, to make a positive impact on someone’s life.

Blessings,

Ramona, RN, FCN
Faith Community Nurse
The S.O.S. Mission

Would you like your profile to be featured on our blog? Get out there and be active on the MicroGiving site! Share your support to others in the forum, voice your feedback on MicroGiving’s blog, and drop by other member’s profiles and leave them a word of encouragement!

Explore: MicroGiving’s Featured Donor

Make A Difference. Give Online.

This week MicroGiving will be spotlighting three of our top members on our blog. Thanks to all of you who left encouraging feedback on our previous post where we shed the spotlight on last month’s featured recipient!

Today MicroGiving would like to acknowledge Rayhawk, our featured donor for the month of June! We felt Rayhawk deserved the spotlight for her exemplary charitable contribution last month!

For those of you who follow our blog regularly you may recall our previous post How To Use Micro Charity To Make A Macro Difference. Here we highlighted the importance of micro charity and the tremendous impact a small donation can make. Special thanks to Rayhawk for her compassion to help others, and for being an example in our community!

Why do you give online?

I gave as a child and never knew why. I would get myself into trouble giving away things my mother bought me to those who needed it more, but I felt the risk was worth it. When I was old enough to understand my own feelings I realized giving was simply natural. The entire earth is giving. The earth gives us vegetation, mothers give birth to children, animals bring prey back to share with their communities so all can eat. Even solitary animals leave the rest for scavengers, herds migrate and graze together so all can eat; giving, sharing, helping each other is simply natural. It just makes sense that all living beings should only take what they need and give all else to those who do not have enough. I’m simply doing my part – it’s natural, and if I didn’t do it I would not feel like a part of the earth.

How does it feel to give online and help someone in need?

It feels like I truly belong as a living being on earth. Helping another brings you together with that person and sometimes their family. You walk together for a little while and when they reach their goal you share in that relief, if they don’t reach it you share in that sorrow too. I give as much as I can so I can share in the relief of having met a goal because I know how horrible it feels to stumble and fall…even worse if you fall alone with nobody there to care.

What makes Microgiving unique and special to you?

Identification is a requirement on MicroGiving as well as verification of need. I like screening processes that discourage scamming. I prefer to get to know the recipients who have provided ID verification and will discuss their situation. I prefer to evaluate the evidence myself and MicroGiving has the blog, bookmark and email feature that allows me to learn about the recipient by asking questions. That personal communication allows me to make an informed decision.

I don’t donate to a profile or application, I donate to the person and the tools that MicroGiving provides allows you to know the person behind the profile.

Other sites require no ID verification at all, some have no blog or email feature to allow you to communicate with the recipient and ask questions. MicroGiving has it all and I feel that what I have to share is going to someone who truly does need it and it’s not being used irresponsibly.

Stay tuned this week as we reveal our featured Charity! And don’t forget, online giving is for everyone!