Firstgiving Blog

You Know You've Made it When...

There are few things that make the Firstgiving office happier than getting great feedback from a happy and satisfied user.  You know what's even better than people telling us how much they like us?  People telling other people!  Account holder, Cherubs, The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, has started a forum on their website specifically about Firstgiving and how easy it is to raise money online for their cause.   The best part?  Supporters, like Stephanie, can make an online fundraising page for their upcoming ride, while others, like Amy, can make an online fundraising page simply to spread the word and give back to the organization that supported her family during a difficult time.

Check out their online fundraising forum!

Fundraising Tip: link giving to getting

Most of the time here on the online fundraising blog, we feature fundraisers who are very successful and well on the way to their goals.  Today, I want to show off somebody who's just set up a page, but is doing some really interesting fundraising already.

Check out how Jonathan's Bikes Not Bombs page...

• has a simple and personal appeal
• is offering to match donations
• ups his goal from last year
• bases his appeal on the coming economic stimulus payments
• offers membership in the organization for donors

...no wonder he's almost 10% of the way there in just two days of fundraising! If you like Jonathan's page, be sure to give it a Digg, too.

Helping Cyclone Victims Abroad

According to a recent article on cnn.com, the death toll estimate from last week's cyclone in Mynamar has increased to between 63,000-100,000.  Their ambassador finally stated, "We are ready to speed up and strengthen our relief effort. We will accept aid from any corner."  Firstgiving account holder, Heart Touch Project, is using their Thai partner organization, The Sangha Metta Project, to send supplies and aid directly to Burma.  Check out how they're raising money for charity.

The American Joint Jewish Distribution Committee sent staff directly to Mynamar to provide immediate relief.  Help their cause.

There are many ways you can help these victims, and one way is through an online fundraising page.  Thousands of nonprofit organizations are lending a hand to relief efforts overseas.  Raise money online with Team World Vision!

Fundraising ideas: Moustache May, Lupus Awareness and Tony LaRussa's ARF

A quick run-down of recent and upcoming interesting fundraising ideas that have crossed our desks...

First up, as you may know, we're slightly obsessed with Fund-a-Stache's Moustache May.  The 'stachers have raised over $5,000 so far for a range of charitable causes.  Check out one of Firstgiving's year-round 'staches.  Can you identify it?  Hint: it's not Susannah.

Next up, May is Lupus Awareness Month.  All sorts of people are coming up with all sorts of creative fundraising ideas to help fight Lupus.  Here is a sample of Firstgiving fundraising pages for Lupus.  Naturally my favorite is that of FG's own Beth S.  That's her on the right.

Thirdly, we always like to see a famous person using his or her fame to advance a charitable cause, especially when they invoke the power of peer to peer fundraising to do it.  Have a look at two-time world series winner Tony LaRussa's Animal Rescue Foundation page.  Animal Rescue Foundation = ARF, get it?

We're always looking for more fundraising ideas to share, the more creative, the better. So share! If we like an idea, we might feature it here, maybe even make a donation.

Virtual Mother's Day

Scrambling around for a last-minute Mother's Day gift?  Looking for a way to celebrate the life of your mom?  The answer, as it so often is on the Firstgiving blog, is to raise money online with a fundraising page.  Check out what Scott is doing to honor the memory of his mother: http://www.firstgiving.com/teamgwen

We're hiring!

One of the things we like about working here at Firstgiving is that we have great customers.  So it seemed like a no-brainer that we should remind those customers that we're hiring, and maybe one or two of you could become the next one or two of us. 

Please check out our jobs page.  There are three opportunities right now, and we expect to add more soon.  Tell your friends.  Especially if they're committed professionals who want to work someplace with great people, great customers, and a great culture.

• Director of Consumer Experience
• Telesales Representative
• Web Designer/ Web Developer

Make sure you note in your cover letter that you read about the job on this blog, and ask to join the fun committee.  Yes, we have a fun committee. 

Webinar Recording: How to use Teams, Competition and Prizes to Raise More Money

Missed last week's webinar on how to use competition, teams and prizes to raise more money for your cause?  Don't worry, we've got you covered!  Special thanks to Andrea Farwell from Junior Achievement of Eastern Massachusetts. 

Feel free to pass the video on to friends and colleagues.

Download 20080430_14.31 Best Practice in Online Fundraising_ How to Use Teams_ Competition and Prizes to Raise More Money.wmv

Firstgiving Volunteer Day: The Welcome Project

At Firstgiving, it's important that we practice what we preach.  Each employee has made on online fundraising page to raise money for his or her favorite cause, and we all have volunteer time available apart from vacation days.  After we were introduced to and wrote about Somerville's The Welcome Project, it seemed logical that we take the next step and lend a physical hand.  Executive Director, Warren Goldstein-Gelb, was happy to host us and the gardeners benefiting from the help were all smiles.

We were graced with a beautiful day and had a great time transporting materials from their temporary garden (aka a nearby parking lot) to their newly constructed plots.  Also interesting was to hear that Warren decided to use Firstgiving for this project because it was an unexpected cost, one that wasn't in the original annual budget.  Hesitant to send charity fundraising letters to their usual supporters, Warren set up an online fundraising page and started to spread the word.  Keep spreadin', Welcome Project!

A special thanks to my colleagues, Chief Operating Officer, Frank, Senior Developer, Mark, and Account Manager, Hannah.

Webinar Slides Available: How to use Teams, Competition and Prizes to Raise More Money

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for Wednesday's webinar on Best Practice: How to Use Teams, Competition and Prizes to Raise More Money.  I'd also like to thank Andrea Farwell from Junior Achievement of Eastern Massachusetts for being our guest speaker and doing an excellent job.

If you were unable to attend or would like to pass along the slides to a friend or another member of your nonprofit, you may view them here.  Please stay tuned for the video recording, which will be posted early next week.

Download webinar_presentation_4.30.ppt

Guest Blogger: Protecting with Pedals

Please welcome guest blogger, Pepy Ride President, Daniela Papi

   

Successfully Giving

When we first started raising money for PEPY www.pepyride.org and our educational programs in Cambodia, we were looking for an online way to raise funds.  One of our heroes, Alastair Humphreys, told us about Justgiving (Firstgiving's UK based partner) www.justgiving.com/alsmarathons where he had been raising funds to support 'Hope and Homes for Children' during his five year bike ride around the world.  Talk about inspirational!  We trusted Al's advice and that was how we found Firstgiving.

PEPY has successfully raised nearly $100,000 on Firstgiving alone in the last three years.  One of the keys to our success has been getting our partners and supporters to create their own Firstgiving pages in support of PEPY.  Those who join our cycling and volunteer tours of Cambodia www.pepytours.com are encouraged to start their own page to reach their fundraising minimums for the trip.

When it comes to fundraising, the lesson we have learned is to not be intimidated!  Fundraising is not that hard, especially with tools like Firstgiving to help.  The key, though, is researching the organization you are fundraising for so that you really know that they are sustainable and trustworthy.  With this knowledge, you can then easily articulate the organization's merits while you are fundraising.  Once people know more about the great projects you are supporting, they will be enticed to learn more and to give.  We have found at PEPY, that by keeping people informed about our work through our monthly newsletters and updates, many donors continue to support our projects year after year.

Thanks to Firstgiving, we have found an easy way for our supporters and tour participants to fundraise for our projects, and this funding has been able to really make a difference in the success of educational programs in Cambodia.