Schools, charities, clubs, not-for-profit organizations, individuals.
What do they all have in common?
As the title of this article suggests they are all looking to raise money through fundraising and have turned to the internet for help.
There is a lot of fundraising ‘stuff’ out there for someone’s favourite project, it’s just a matter of sifting through it.
Some of the fundraising websites are simply lists of ideas to raise money and can be very useful. They do not however appeal to everyone, especially those looking for a ready made answer.
This is where fundraising websites such as Just Giving and Simple Fundraising come into their own.
Just Giving is one of the larger websites aimed primarily at charities and their supporters. For an ongoing monthly fee and a small commission on each donation Just Giving offer an attractive proposition for busy fundraisers who rely on donations to support their cause.
Simple Fundraising on the other hand is aimed at anyone who uses the internet for online purchases, although they focus on organizations run by volunteers, and who wants to support their favourite cause.
Internet entrepreneur and Simple Fundraising founder, Dan Golding, explains:
‘The internet is a fantastic environment and despite the few obvious issues which the media feed on is also ideal for doing good as well. Retailers are moving more and more online, away from costly bricks and mortar outlets. The advantage is the savings they can make which can then be passed on to their customers. The problem they have is making their customers aware of their websites and the special offers. In-store it’s fairly obvious thanks to point-of-purchase displays when the customer walks in off of the street. It’s harder to get customers to ‘walk-in’ off the internet, especially the smaller retailers.
One of the ways that retailers have addressed this is by joining an affiliate marketing scheme where they pay a percentage of the item’s cost to the person that directs them to their website. As a result there are now a number of affiliate marketing companies looking for this business as ‘middlemen’ and then a host of sites listing the savings available to the general ‘net-surfing’ customer’.
And where does all this fit in with fundraising for schools, for example, on the internet?
Golding continues, ‘A lot of these websites are confusing to the average person, as is the whole concept of affiliate marketing. I decided that it was possible to not only make this process simpler for people but also give something back to the community. That’s why Simple Fundraising was started. We create a free fundraising webpage for anyone that wants to join, be they a big charity or an individual. Listed on the webpage are hundreds of shops that are offering discounts to anyone who cares to use this route. Whenever someone wants to buy something off the internet, be it car insurance, a holiday or a bouquet of flowers, they go through their webpage. The commission paid by the retailer is indicated and the cumulative amount they earn is paid to them at month end, via Simple Fundraising. Basically you were going to spend the money anyway and the commission was going to be paid if you used the affiliate marketing scheme. We just join up the dots!’
Therefore as you can see there are a number of ways to use the internet to help with your fundraising. From the simple list to the Simple Fundraising webpage. Time to get surfing.
Following a highly successful career in London where I owned my own marketing and design company catering for both multinational corporations and small local businesses I decided to “leave the rat race” and along with my brother, establish a free fundraising infrastructure for schools, charities, social groups and families.
The result is [http://www.simplefundraising.co.uk]