Firstgiving Blog

Turning tragedy into hope and awareness

When someone you are close to passes away, it is difficult to deal with the pain and grief. But instead of giving into despair and feeling sad about losing that person, why not use your energy to do something in their honor and memory.

My uncle Rich passed away July 10th from a sudden heart attack. He was the assistant director at the ARC of St. Clair County (Port Huron, Michigan), and worked there for 31 years. He was a dedicated employee but also a friend, mentor, and advocate for all those who belong to the ARC community.

So to honor the 31 years he spent in service to the people at the ARC, I have set up a Firstgiving page to raise money for the place that meant so much to him.

www.firstgiving.com/richschock

My uncle took the mission of the ARC seriously as he tried to improve the lives of others that he served. He was an incredible man with a huge heart and a place for every person he touched through his work, and still had enough space for all his beloved family.

If you have lost a loved one due to disease, or illness, or there was a cause they truly cared about, set up a fundraising page in their memory and personalize it with touches of them. For me it was a Beatles song, as they were uncle Rich's favorite band, and he loved to play guitar too.

This is a great way to remember the ones you have lost and also to honor and celebrate their lives and raise money for great causes that can help others.

Here are some other pages raising funds in memory of someone that is loved and missed:

http://www.firstgiving.com/kayskrew123

http://www.firstgiving.com/scgsr_devon

http://www.firstgiving.com/richardolenchek

Olympic Fundraising

We moved!  For Tori's full article on Olympic Fundraising, please visit http://www.onlinefundraisingblog.com/.

With the Beijing Olympic games only a month away from tomorrow, athletes across the globe are training restlessly for the monumental opening day. While some may be focusing on their flexibility, others are looking to expand their endurance. Such is the case with one dedicated competitor, by the name of Gabe Kagan.

Twelve-year-old Gabe will be competing in his second Tansplant Games to celebrate the eleventh year of surviving his liver transplant. “I want to train to get to the Olympics to show people that I have survived a liver transplant, and all these other people there have too,” Gabe says.

Not only does Gabe compete to celebrate the transplant success of himself and others, he does it to honor his donor… his mother.  Together they have set up a Firstgiving page to raise money for the National Kidney Association, who are putting on the Transplant Games. The page is only a little over a thousand dollars away from accomplishing it’s goal of $5,000!

While Gabe hopes to reach his fundraising goal, he is also aiming to raise awareness about the importance of organ donors. Just one person can save up to sixty lives. Gabe proudly sports a t-shirt that reads, “don’t take your organs to heaven because heaven knows we need them here.”

While a month away in Beijing, athletes from all different origins will be racing, playing, and performing for the glory of their homeland, Gabe is competing to show his gratitude for his eleven years of survival, his mother, and for all donors and transplant patients. Besides, a gold metal must taste so much better when it’s won for a good cause!

Good luck, Gabe!

The Firstgiving Monthly Newsletter

This post has moved: http://www.onlinefundraisingblog.com/2008/07/the-firstgiving-monthly-newsletter/

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After a brief absense, the Firstgiving online fundraising newsletter has been officially reinstated!  At the end of each month, we'll send out a newsletter with the latest updates from fundraisers, nonprofits, and fundraising technology. If you would like to be spotlighted in the newsletter, or you have any suggestions for content, feel free to send them our way.

Want to get on our mailing list?  Sign up here!

Sign up for our newsletter here

Pardon our dust - the Online Fundraising Blog is moving

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Here at Firstgiving towers, we’re never satisfied.  We’re always working to improve the service we deliver, whether that means long meetings and whiteboard sessions, setting up an online support community, hiring the smartest people we can find, sawing 20 inches off the end of Mark’s desk, migrating our website to a new hosting platform, or redoing our blog.  We’re going to do what it takes.

We hope you like the latest incarnation of Firstgiving’s blog, now called the Online Fundraising Blog at www.onlinefundraisingblog.com - make sure you update your bookmarks and feeds.  We’ve got a fresh new look, new categories and tags, more authors and more topics to come.  As always, your comments are that takes the blog from good to great, so don’t be shy, tell us what’s on your mind

Fundraising Without Borders

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It was in my 7th grade French class that I first learned about Doctors Without Borders, or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) as they phrased it. My second interaction with the name came from the popular television show Will & Grace, in which Grace’s hubby Leo spends months in Africa working with the famous organization. But this third time I am meeting MSF face-to-face… because they have heard about us!
            That’s right, Firstgiving has been recommended by Doctors Without Borders as a great way to fundraise for their cause. The TUT’s Adventurer’s Club has recently created a project entitled “Gifts from the Universe” in which they chose a specific non-profit, set a goal, and then fundraise like crazy. For their May NPO of choice, OneSmile, the Adventurers managed to raise $25, 069, giving new smiles to one-hundred children. As a response to the terrible natural catastrophes in China and Myanmar, the “Gifts from the Universe Project” took on Global Giving for June and has raised around $15,000 thus far.
            Now as the humid month of July wafts its way closer and closer, TUT’s Adventurers’ Club’s Crystal Floyd has been preparing for another whole month of generous giving. She contacted Charlie Kunzer of MSF and asked him for his advice on the best way to raise money for the organization.
“Go to www.firstgiving.com and make a fundraising page,” he told her…and that is exactly what she did. 
            We are thrilled that this four-star charity recognizes the advantages that a fundraising page will bring to their efforts. Not only will the page reach those that TUT targets, but it can also reach anyone if the fundraising community, looking for a great cause. Now that’s fundraising without borders!

Donate to July's "Gift from the Universe" Here!

Firstgiving is upgrading its infrastructure... we are moving to Qube

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Hello All,

Due to the growing level of traffic on our site we have undergone an upgrade of not only hardware, but collocation facilities, too. We have invested a significant amount on new hardware, software and human power to provide our users with a better platform to raise money online.

So what does this mean to you:

• faster page loads
• less errors
• a more reliable interaction with our site.

The move to Qube will also help us more rapidly release bug fixes, upgrades and new features. This being said please contact support@firstgiving.com with reports of bugs or features you would like to see on the site. We love hearing from folks and are always looking for input.

Thanks & Happy fundraising...

Firstgiving
Tech Team

tel          617 591 2121       

web www.firstgiving.com

48 Grove Street #106, Somerville, MA 02144

Fundraising for More Than the Cause Itself

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Not all online fundraising is created equally. The vast majority of people fundraising at Firstgiving are regular people, like you and me, passionate about a specific cause and hoping to raise enough money to make a difference. So far, raising funds for an organization and dedicating the money to a specific person or event has been successful. The only problem is what that money is being used for is often unknown to the individual and donors. It is all going towards accomplishing the Non-Profit Organization’s mission but we may not know which part. What you may not realize is that it's easy to raise money for a certain program or object.

Online fundraising can be more than just a donation to a specific cause or to a non-profit’s annual fund. If people involved in Non-Profit Organizations who have power to utilize the donations set specific goals they can take advantage of Firstgiving’s resources and (hopefully) watch the money multiply. Take the Round Lake Library located in Round Lake, IL as an example. Library Director, Denise Coblish, walked in the Freihofer's Community Walk on May 31st to help raise money to buy a new book cart for the library assistant. They have raised $145, just $55 shy from reaching their goal, in less than a month! This can revolutionize the way people fundraise. Why?

People who are hesitant and reluctant to donate online are more inclined to donate if they can link their money to a tangible thing, such as baseball bats for a community group for Autistic Children. “People like knowing what their gift is going towards as opposed to simply supporting an organizations mission or annual fund—it’s a powerful call to action” (Mark Sutton, CEO).

Pre-event success checklist for Non-Profits

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So it is 4-6 weeks before your “BIG EVENT” and you may not have raised as much money as you hoped…..well it is not too late to reach your goals!! During this “homestretch” period as we like to call it, there are a few things you and your fundraisers can do.

Help your fundraisers personalize their pages: cool tips and ideas

A personalized fundraising page assures donors they’ve come to the right place. Pages also provide the opportunity to learn about what the fundraiser is doing and why this cause is important, so make sure your fundraisers add their own picture and personal message along with these page enhancements:

Adding pictures from Flickr: 

Flickr is an online photo uploading site where you can share photos with friends and family. Firstgiving has enabled Flickr images to be added to personal Fundraising Pages.

To add a photos from Flickr, log into your account. Under “Design your page,” select “Add images from Flickr.” Enter your Flickr Id, and any tags, and hit “save.”

Adding a YouTube video:

YouTube is a video hosting site so you can share your own videos online. Firstgiving fundraising pages can be enhanced by adding a YouTube video. This video will display in a small box on the left side of a fundraising page.

To add a YouTube video, log into your account and click “Add a video from YouTube”. Enter the web address of the YouTube video (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rstRsmRzvBQ) and hit “add video.”

Adding a Fundraising Widget:

Widgets are like a mini version of a fundraising page you can use to spread the word about your fundraising efforts. We give you a few lines of code which you can add to blogs, web pages, and most social networking sites.

To add a widget, log into your account and click “Get a Widget” The code to display your widget online will be in a box for you to copy. Simply copy the text in the box and paste it into the web page or blog where you want your widget to appear. You will be able to see a preview of what your widget will look like.

Adding a Fundraising Badge/Button:

Put a button or badge on your organization’s website linking to your Firstgiving Start Page. A badge works just like a regular link, but has a nice image. (To get a badge, click here: http://www.firstgiving.com/Design/1/badges_start.asp)

Social networking:

Social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace, are great ways to reach out to even more people who may donate to your efforts. 

Add our Facebook application here: http://apps.facebook.com/firstgiving.   Ask your friends to add the application too!

If you’re on MySpace, grab a badge by selecting “share this page” on your fundraising page.

Things to do on your end:

-Encourage your fundraisers to check this very blog daily! There are always good ideas and fundraising information and updates

-Send regular updates to your fundraisers with event information, fundraising tips, and reminders! Keep your event and fundraising fresh in their mind!

-Use your Donor Report to contact these folks directly. Send a special thank you email to them encouraging them to send the link out to their own personal networks.

-Attempt to get media coverage for your event by sending a press release to local media outlets: newspaper, radio, community websites, local news stations, etc.

-Send an newsletter/special email update to all of your constituents (not just event registrants and fundraisers) and ask them to support one of the event participants or make a general donation
They can go to your Start Page and search for a fundraiser, or click “View all Fundraisers”
They can go to your Start Page and click “Donate” which is under the General Donations box

-Consider implementing a special prize or award for the top 5 fundraisers. This can instill a friendly sense of competition and can be very inexpensive. Something as simple as a free t-shirt, $25 gift-certificate to a local eatery or exclusive behind- the-scenes tour of your organization or office can be very enticing and really help your fundraisers kick it into high gear!

-Make sure you take advantage of any potential matching gifts! When each donation is made, the donor is asked if the gift will be matched. Use your Donor Report to see which donors checked “yes”. (The column in the report is titled “Match Eligible?”) Email those donors individually and make sure their matching gift is being processed.

-Give clear instructions to your supporters about how to create a fundraising page and solicit donations (All they need to do is go to your Start Page and click “Get Started”)

-Create a sample fundraising email with facts about your organization and where the money goes and make this available to your supporters

-Remind fundraisers to send multiple donation request emails. The average donor needs to be reminded 6 times!

-Remember that personal fundraising pages are viral—donors can make an even bigger impact by spreading the page link to others

From our experience working with fundraisers and donors, fundraising pages that are personalized raise much more money.  It assures donors they’ve come to the right place and also provides the opportunity to learn about what the fundraiser is doing and why this cause is important. Make sure your fundraisers add their own picture and use the personal message area.

So there you have it : our "homestretch" ways to reach your Fundraising goals!

You can always contact the Firstgiving support team for more ideas! We are 4 strong: Beth, Ryan, team leader Margaret, and your account manager, Hannah.

Fundraisers of a feather Twitter together

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One of the most interesting things about working at Firstgiving is seeing all the amazingly inventive things people do to promote their online fundraising pages. Sometimes we even get to invent or discover new ways. So you can imagine how proud of ourselves we were when we decided that we were going to start using Twitter to help people promote their fundraising pages. Well, sure enough, several intrepid Firstgivers had already been there, done that. So this blog post is for the rest of you who are either wondering what Twitter is, or trying to figure out how you can use it to help promote a cause you care about.

What is it? Twitter is like instant messaging and also like blogging, but also not like either one. You just type in whatever you're doing or thinking, and your friends online can see what you're up to and share what they're up to. You sort of have to try it. Millions have, and many are completely addicted.

How do I get started? Go to www.twitter.com and sign up. It's free. Then find or invite your friends, or make new friends and "follow" them, meaning that you read their little updates. Make sure you add Firstgiving as a friend, too, or @firstgiving as we say in Twitterspeak, so you can read our updates, too.

How does this help raise money for my cause? Twitter is great for telling the world that you're raising money for a cause in a simple and non-intrusive way. It's also really easy for people who see your update to repeat or "retweet" it to all their friends. If you tweet to us about your fundraising page (start your update with @firstgiving to get our attention) we'll retweet your message. Sometimes we even make small donations to pages that are promoted on Twitter.

Try Twitter, it's easy and fun and you might like it. You can use Twitter to tell your friends about your fundraising page and your cause, and use it to update everybody about how close you're getting to your goal. Don't forget to add Firstgiving as a friend - we look forward to Twittering with you.

Promote Your Firstgiving Page on YouTube!

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Anyone who has used a computer in the past year is well aware of YouTube: the video phenomenon that took the internet by storm in 2005. Firstgiving has jumped on the bandwagon and created the YouTube application as well as our own YouTube channel. A channel is a centralized location (or profile) where others can see your favorites, bulletins, comments, and more. We have been rapidly adding videos made by Firstgiving users to the “favorites.” By clicking on the orange button entitled, “subscribe,” you will be able to make comments on our featured videos, get updates when we have added something new, and get ideas for making your own fundraising video for your Firstgiving page!

As we look through all of our “favorites,” we have come up with a few pointers to what makes an engaging video. We recommend you:

• Keep it short and sweet: A 1-2 minute video can easily give enough information without the viewer losing interest.
•    Use a catchy song: Music works great for setting the mood. Think about your favorite movies and the role the soundtrack plays in how you experience them.
• Advertise your Firstgiving website at least TWICE: Props to the people who showed the link to their page in their video. While the viewer can easily pause and rewind to find the link, it’s better to show it a second time at the end of the video as a reminder of what your video is all about
• Lastly, make it enjoyable!  Whether your video is a cute cartoon, tells a tragic story, charts one's training progress for a marathon, or shows you shaving your head…do something unique to grasp the attention of your viewers!