Nonprofit organizations need diverse sources of funding to support ongoing operations and programs. Today, there are many ways to engage your organization’s supporters. These programs are all free and require only a minimal amount of initial work to sign up to participate. The success of these programs will then depend on your ability to get the word out to your donors and supporters. We encourage you to check out these programs to see if they are a good fit for your organization.
Goodsearch.com is an internet search engine that benefits nonprofit organizations all over the country. Sign up to let your organization be one of these nonprofit beneficiaries! Once this is established, your staff and supporters establish accounts with Goodsearch and choose your nonprofit (it’s possible to choose more than one) as a beneficiary. Then, each time that person uses Goodsearch for Internet searches, a penny gets donated to your organization. Those pennies add up!
Their “GoodShop” program is also a fantastic way to support your organization through shopping at one of more than 2,800 participating stores and companies! The list of participating stores is extensive (from Amazon to Zazzle), and includes everything from travel (i.e. Hotwire, car rental companies), office supplies, photos, clothing, toys, to Groupon, Living Social and so much more. A percentage (average around 3%) gets donated back to your organization at no additional cost to the purchaser. This is easy, easy, easy and the money adds up quickly!
Your nonprofit can participate in the eBay Giving Works Program and raise funds through one of three ways:
1) Direct selling. If there are items your organization would like to sell, you can sell them directly on eBay and get 100% of the proceeds (with no listing fees taken out).
2) Community selling. Anyone can list an item on eBay and choose to donate between 10-100% of proceeds to your nonprofit. PayPal Giving Fund processes the donation, distributes tax receipts, and pays the donation to the nonprofit in a monthly donation payout.
3) Direct cash donations. Donors can make a direct cash donation to your organization at the time of eBay checkout. They can do this at any time and the purchase can be connected with any eBay purchase, not just sales benefiting your organization.
Click here to get started: http://givingworks.ebay.com/charity-information
There are thousands of retailers on the Internet and on-line shopping can support your organization. We-Care.com partners with thousands of retailers that designate a percentage of sales to designated charities. Establish your organization as a beneficiary so that your staff and supporters can use their purchasing power for trees! With more than 2,500 online merchants, supporters can use We-Care.com to link to a merchant’s site, shop on their site as they normally would, and a percentage is automatically donated to your cause. Participation costs nothing for organizations, and there’s no extra charge to on-line shoppers. To get started, go to www.we-care.com/About/Organizations.
AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers. To establish your organization as a recipient organization, go to https://org.amazon.com/ref=smi_ge_ul_cc_cc
Tix4Cause allows individuals to buy or donate tickets for sports, entertainment, theater and music events, with proceeds benefitting a charity of their choice. To enable your organization to be a recipient of these charitable proceeds, visit http://www.tix4cause.com/charities/.
1% for the Planet connects more than 1,200 businesses that have pledged to donate at least 1% of their sales to environmental organizations around the world. By becoming a nonprofit partner, you increase your likelihood that one of these companies will donate to you! To become a nonprofit partner, go to http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/become-a-nonprofit-partner/
There are companies that collect e-waste to benefit nonprofit organizations. One example is ewaste4good.com, a recycling fundraiser that picks up e-waste donations directly from the donor. All you need to do is utilize your newsletters, website, social media and word of mouth to let people know that your group is doing an on-going e-waste fundraiser. You direct them to ewaste4good.com and they schedule a time to pick up donated items up from a donor’s home or office free of charge. They then recycle the items here in California and send the proceeds to beneficiary organizations each month. To find out more, go to http://www.ewaste4good.com/ewaste_recycling_fundraiser.html
Many nonprofit organizations utilize vehicle donation programs as a fundraiser. Two such companies in California are DonateACar.com and DonateCarUSA.com. These vehicle donation programs are easy for organizations because the donor and company take care of all the logistics. Your organization just needs to register to participate and then advertise the program as a way to support your organization’s great work in your community.