Web Presence: Fundraising

Fundraising is an aspect of missions that can't be avoided... a ministry is dependent on the faithful giving of others to live by.  The internet just makes it easier for the money to move... it does not take away the work that you, as a ministry, has to do... though it may make it easier.  There are two topics that needs to be addressed.  The first is the mode of which to perform the fundraising and raising awareness.  The second is the means of transferring the money remotely through the internet.  So let's talk about each one for their worth.

Fundraising and raising awareness

This topic will have its own post one day... but I'll address this briefly in this post as they are so vitally linked.  Fundraising through the internet can be done in many ways.  This is not to eliminate the need for traditional forms of communication like support letters and such through the postal mail... but to add to it to reach those who may not want to get things over postal or are not already connected, not to mention the cost saving on material.

Email fundraising

So far the most common form of internet fundraising is through email.  There are two types of email fundraising and they are active and passive.  

The active fundraising emails are emails that are directly aimed at raising funds for a very specific need... for instance if an orphanage had a van breakdown and there is an urgent need for funds to replace or fix the van.  

The passive fundraising emails are the ones that have a message about giving tagged at the end of every update, newsletter or any communication aimed at a larger crowd.  The whole importance of the passive email message is to always keep the need real for your supporters because it is so easy to "forget", for whatever reason.  Some may feel that this degrades the emails somehow... but I argue against that notion in that it is only through their giving that you can do this work!  There's no apologies to be had for honesty and reality... it may not be pretty but we can't just bury our heads in the sand and pretend that we're vulnerable.

Online fundraising events

Another way of fundraising online is through online events.  This is harder to pull off for smaller ministries as this takes a lot of organization.  The way that these usually works is they set a goal with a specific target and try to reach it while showing the progress from minute to minute (or hour to hour depending on technology).  

These are great ways of getting instant funds from givers who may be giving towards a very specific goal just once.  The thing that makes these efforts so effective is the focus... it is very focused on just one objective.  This is very important for most people as the need is usually so great that you need to narrow the problem down to help the average person understand and comprehend a need so that they can own it.

Another important aspect of online fundraising events is the progress bar.  This is where strong organization comes in.  The ministry must be able to tally up the givings in real-time on the website.  The way that this helps is that it gives the urgency of the need a real face.  It gives the donors a real sense of the progress and gives them an idea of what the needs are.  It, again, makes the problem real to them.

Online partnerships

The final point I want to make for this post is the importance of online partnerships between ministries.  This is what technology is really about, connecting people and what better way of doing it than to connecting up with your fellow Kingdom workers?  This essentially gives each ministry free advertisement across the communication channels of a friend's sponsorship network.

The best way this can work is to briefly introduce your friend in your communication emails or just a little blurb about them on your blog/newsfeed.  Another way is to have a link on your website for friends of the ministry and give the ministries a little introduction.  What do you do for a friend if they need introduction? Do it on your website as an organization!

The most important part about this is.. Faith!  Have Faith that God, in His providence, have Blessed you with all these partners in ministry that you have already and that there's enough resource among all these people for you to introduce more needs.  This may seem scary at first especially if your ministry is very similar to your friends as you are afraid your donors will divert some of your funding towards them... or all of yours!  But as a ministry we must remember that God is provident over all things and that He is gracious to provide more than we need.

Online Giving Tools and how they operate

By now you should have your 501(c)(3) designation or others that legally identify you as a nonprofit organization.  This gives you a lot leverage in finding good rates for internet transactions.  There are many sites out there that offers such services.  The top choices are:

• Paypal
• Clover Donations 
• JustGive.org
• easyTithe

There are many more to compare on this chart: http://www.affinityresources.com/pgs/awz55Online2.shtml.  That page doesn't have everything but there are a few things you must consider.  

First thing you must consider is the initial fee and the second is the maintenance fee.  Many services will charge a setup fee to reduce the maintenance fees... but the maintenance fee is where they get you. The maintenance fee is usually a monthly fee and/or a per transaction fee.  Most of the more popular ones (listed ones) will charge one or the other, not both, for nonprofit organizations.  You must understand your source of money.  If you are expecting a ton of small recurring givings then you should try to draw a line in the sand marking when you should consider a monthly fee service vs. a per transaction service.  Most ministries tend to go for the per transaction service as you never know what you'll get... but I don't have personal experiences in handling such things so you will have to experiment and play and see what works for you.

The final thing you must consider is safety.  There are sites that seems more secure than others... but usually the more popular sites will have more incidents.  This is normal as hackers tend to gravitate toward the most crowded areas, like a true terrorist.  Like our response to terrorists, we shouldn't let them decide for us our every move... we should do the thing that is right for us.  I'm not encouraging joining an unsafe service by any means but you must understand that no website is ever really safe as long as hackers are developing new techniques.