Welcome to Fundraising - Difficult but Essential

Today I came across an interesting way for those in the LA area to make money for their group or organization. By just attending the live taping of a television show like America’s Got Talent, then your group or organization can have a nice little fundraiser. Here’s the details from the On Camera Audiences website:

About Group Fundraisers
On Camera Audiences provides studio audiences for various television shows around the Los Angeles area. We are constantly searching for quality people to participate in those studio audiences and in exchange for their participation, we donate money to their organization. We feel that this fundraising opportunity is the most fun for your group and it is definitely the most profitable for your organization! Our “per person donation” will exceed all other fundraising efforts that you have done so far. Groups have had great success working with us over the past 10 years. We work closely with each group in order to select the proper show for them. Our goal is to make sure that everyone’s fundraising effort is enjoyable and profitable!

Although the TV Show Fundraising concept is not new - it may be a refreshing change to the usual fundraising tools available. Our company is known for providing our groups with a quality experience and prompt payment. You can read more about this fundraising concept or register your group at their website or the contact information below:

Phone: 818-295-2700
Email: groups@ocatv.com

I got an email from Ashley Gatewood the Marketing Coordinator for a disaster relief non profit using Mission Fish. Here’s what was said in the email about this fundraising opportunity.

I work for a nonprofit that powers the eBay Giving Works program (which allows nonprofits to raise funds on eBay). One fantastic aspect of our program is that anyone can sell an item on eBay and donate 10% to 100% of the final sale price to one of the over 9,600 nonprofits registered with us (there is a $5 min. donation if the item sells).

To date we’ve helped nonprofits raise over $40 million dollars, and the post-holiday season can be a great time for nonprofits to fundraise with eBay Giving Works.

I think it’s the perfect idea for eBay to do something like Mission Fish. I know I’ve made pretty good money doing the eBay affiliate program. It’s really just an extension of an affiliate program.

I think this could be great for sports teams, church organizations, Boy Scouts and a number of other organizations needing to raise money.

My brother-in-law works as a PE teacher and coach at a high school that got rocked by a scandal involving some of the players. It had to do with some hazing being done that went way too far. It was all caught on camera so there wasn’t much to hide. Luckily my brother-in-law wasn’t involved in any way shape or form.

Well, he raised an interesting point. It is much harder for this high school to raise money for its sports program. Not many people want to put forth money to support a sports team that can’t control their athletes, be disciplined and athletes that would do something so vial (and no I don’t want to go into what the boys did).

It sure raises an interesting question. I don’t have all the answers to recovery. However, I do think that there is something really significant to say about the fund raising program I’m creating. It could just work for this school. Why? Because it employs internet technology which would allow this school to fund raise from people all around the world. That means grandma and sister and auntie who live across the country could all log in to the website and participate in the fund raiser for the team. Of course if they live across the country they won’t have heard about the scandal probably and therefore won’t have that barrier to giving to the sports team.

Anyone else have ideas on how a sports team can raise money after a scandal?

I know that this won’t be of interest to many of my fund raising readers, but it is of interest to me. I love Italy. I lived there two years and speak Italian pretty fluently. I could always do better and I’m a little out of practice, but I love Italian. In fact, I’m planning a trip there this summer.

Well, I got an email from someone who as an Italian sports fund raising blog. Or maybe I should say Sport e Fund Raising, which even English speakers can read. It was interesting to get a little more European perspective on fund raising. Great stuff.

I must also admit that I’m jealous that someone could buy fundraising.it That would just be impossible for us to get the .com version. Oh well, maybe one day I’ll start some fund raising in Italy. A man can always dream no?

I got an email recently about a Charitable gift registry called InviteforGood. I love the idea of linking the invitation to a charitable event to the actual donation. Plus, I love any electronic means of collecting money. It’s just more efficient and easier for people to donate. If it’s easier to donate then people are more likely to do it.

I had an idea that was similar to this that I called Online Group Gift Manager. Of course, my idea had more to do with giving a gift to someone you know. Although, I think the principles could rather easily be applied to charitable giving.

There’s a relatively new website out that lets you make a wish for anything you want. It’s absolutely free and actually has a pretty neat community being built around it. Now I know that this isn’t the traditional fund raiser, but it is an interesting way to get money for something.

For example, I made a wish for my wife, son and I to get a trip to Hawaii. Wishes are granted weekly. I think we may have asked for too much money though considering there is only $1000 given each week. I hope that the amount changes over time. I expect that the amount of money given is directly proportional to how many people donate money and how much money is made in advertising. So, if you want to support my wife and myself to go see our friends in Hawaii, then you can feel free to make a donation directly to my wish.

Why did I put this on a fund raising website?

Many people want a place to accept donations online. Now you can get a free web page like that from Robin Hood Fund. In fact, not only do you get a free web page that accepts donations, but they also are giving you a forum that may generate donations without you doing any work. I have a feeling that as this wish giving, donation generating website gets more popular it’s going to be a powerful place for people to raise funds for their organization.

I got an email recently from the USA Savings Club asking me about fundraising and how to market a fund raiser. I read it wrong and so I reviewed their site for them and then answered how I thought most fundraisers were sold. Here’s what I wrote. NOTE: It is written as an email to the person who emailed me. Take it as such.

I checked out your site. You have an interesting idea going there. I’m going to give you my take on your website. Take it for what it’s worth. It may sound harsh, but I’m really just trying to give you constructive feedback. I can tell that building that website probably took a ton of work in data entry alone. Please don’t get offended by my candor.

-How are you able to track the coupons when they have no tracking code on them? How do you know which organization deserves the money?
-It seems like this is very local to Miami. Why not make this big and get great deals from large national chains that can be done online? Marketing online to a local area is a pretty tough job. Not impossible, but much more difficult. Also, if you only have ties to local merchants then it will be much harder to scale your business and really make a decent income. I know a guy who does pretty much this in a small area, but he’s been doing it for 10 years and is finally up to 3 cities. He’s tried to get his deals online with online coupons and it has gone no where 5 years later.
-Your website is horrible. It looks like a high schooler designed it using dreamweaver. The content is decent, but I would invest in a great graphic designer that can present a professional website.
-Your merchant search is very poor. Users expect much better search options these days. Luckily it looks like it’s stored in a database so all of this can be designed. Well, if the database was designed properly.

I told you I was going to be candid. I’d say that right now your greatest asset is probably the relationships you’ve created with the local merchants. I don’t understand your business plan completely, but if I were you I would take a look at your costs and see how much it would cost you to leverage those relationships and how much revenue could be generated if you do.

So, I just read your email again. You asked how to get fundraisers and distributors in the US and UK and I answered a very different question. Oh well, call it free consulting. I really don’t know any good ways to get to fundraisers and distributors. “Knocking doors” is the best way I think and then when you have a demonstrated success story word of mouth will really sell it for you.

One final note is that I think this is a pretty cool concept to be able to give part of the coupon savings to someone. It’s the management of those coupons which is too hard at this point. I have a few thoughts on how it might work, but I don’t really want to tell all my secrets since I have an interest in this area too.

Back when I was in junior high I was in a computer club and as part of that club we used this button machine to make money. While we weren’t very creative at the time in what we put on buttons, the idea is a good one. People like to wear around buttons that say funny things.

An even better idea is for a school to hop on their student council elections and sell buttons to those people running for different student body offices. I’ve never been able to understand how they can spend so much money on those student body officers. However, if they are going to spend all that money then why not capitalize on their spending by being their supplier of buttons. It is the best way for those organizations to make money.

Now you must be asking yourself where you can get a Button Maker.

What are you going to put on your button?

“Have a cause? Wear a rubber wristband!“. This was the title of an article that best desribes the use of colorful wristbands to raise funds. It discusses how the idea was first started and made popular as it says:
Rubber wristbands were popularised by famous cycling champion Lance Armstrong who fought and survived multiple cancers. Armstrong wore a signature yellow rubber wristband during his record sixth straight victory at the Tour de France in July.

Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain when he was 25. He won the 1999 Tour de France and has won it six years in a row. The ‘Livestrong’ rubber wristbands from the Lance Armstrong Foundation are a means to show support for those battling cancer. The sales of these wristbands shot up when Oprah Winfrey encouraged her viewers to order a bracelet when she had Armstrong as a guest on her show.

The Live Strong rubber wristbands sell for $1 a piece. And they are still selling at the rate of 200,000 per day. The funds raised through selling them will support the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s efforts to help young people with cancer and their family members to live strong.

Today there are rubber wristbands of all colors available — blue, pink, yellow, striped… The blue rubber wristband was launched by BBC Radio One, and has the words ‘Beat Bullying‘ stamped on it. This wristband is highly popular among footballers. One of the most popular rubber wristbands around is the ‘Support our troops‘ wristband worn by family members of American servicemen. They come in many colors. The pink ones are about breast cancer awareness.

Those wristbands are not just an accessory to wear. They are about the human need to show solidarity to those fighting against mighty odds, as the article explains.

http://www.abetteridea.com/Bracelets/braceletbiz.jpg

To keep up with the World Cup hype, here’s a blog about FIFA’s fundraising initiatives.

Under a project called 6 Villages for 2006, FIFA aims to give 800 orphans and abandoned children a new home by collecting donations from football fans. One way to do so is online through their official website. According to the website:

Every donation made to 6 villages for 2006 will be used for the construction and five-year maintenance of six new children’s villages and ancillary projects. These are currently built in:

- Brazil - Mexico
- Nigeria - South Africa
- Ukraine - Vietnam

According to FIFA, this is the most ambitious fundraising project in the history of football’s biggest tournament. I think a project of this size will definitely have a major impact on the lives of thousands of children and families around the world.