John Kerry, US presidential candidate, this year raised $12 million online in a single month. So, there are donations to be found online! Now, how can you benefit?

This week’s workshop is a one-off chance to see what donors really think about your web site and online marketing. Be prepared for some healthy comments!

This is our chance to share experience and learn together. Join the action right now by posting a short message in one of the simple formats below.

The best sites and comments will also appear in a special update of my new e-book “How to get online donations”.

How to Participate

There are two ways to participate:

1. As an Online Donation Site to be reviewed 2. As a Donor Reviewer (imagine you are being asked to give money to one of the sites suggested below)

As an Online Donation Site

If you’d like to get others to review your site / newsletter, start by adding your details as example below:

Organisation Name: i.e. Griya Asih sanctuary for street children Main Project Goal: i.e. To provide enterprise training to Jakarta street children. Donation Site: i.e. http://www.griya-asih.microaid.net Successes so far: i.e. Raised over £12,000 in 2004 from an international donor Problems you’re having: i.e. Finding a way to receive credit card donations from US donors Ideas for the future: i.e. Providing a valuable and enjoyable newsletter to donors What feedback you want: i.e. Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to donate to us – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide?

As a Donor Reviewer

If you’d like to post comments as a reviewer, here’s a suggested format for you:

Donation Site you are reviewing: i.e. http://www.griya-asih.microaid.net What I liked about the site was: i.e. The micro-projects made it very clear where my money was going What I felt needed clarifying was: i.e. I didn’t feel confident about subscribing to their newsletter My suggestions for improvement are: i.e. I found I wanted to know more about the children, who they are and where they are from Donor Rating out of 10: (where 1 is ‘would never donate’, 5 is ‘might donate’ and 10 ‘loved it so much I made a donation’) i.e. 9 – am going to make a donation as soon as I can!

Toby Beresford MicroAid.net Workshop Facilitator

Toby Beresford - Oct 12, 2004 9:22 am (#1 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Here's to an exciting workshop.

It's easy to contribute to this event, just cut and paste one of the formats above and edit the text to suit you.

This is your chance to get publicity and feedback on your site from others on social edge.

Together we can change the world!

Toby

ps. you can find out more about me and who I am by clicking on my name to read my online profile.

VictoriaQ - Oct 12, 2004 5:05 pm (#2 Total: 76)
World Dreams Peace Bridge


http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/aiddonations.htm

It is others who co-ordinate the finances but I spread the word when I can.
Aid for Traumatized Children
Introduction

May Tung of San Francisco, formerly from China, is a wise and compassionate woman, a psychotherapist.

When the bombs were falling on Baghdad last March and April, when members of the World Dreams Peace Bridge despaired that hundreds of thousands of protesters had not stopped the war on a country whose population is more than 70 percent under the age of eighteen, May's was a voice of reason. "We are not a large group," she counseled, "but we can do something small and personal. We can provide toys and art supplies for the traumatized children of Iraq." Thus the Aid for Traumatized Children Project was begun. (See May's open letter, "Bewildered Little Faces," below.)





FINDING OUR WAY TO IRAQ

We began looking for funding, and we began looking for a way to deliver items to the children in Iraq, who filled our dreams. The way became the journey.

For nine months we read, searched the Internet, contacted people, following one lead after another. All routes to Iraq were closed, initially, except to the military. In our search, we met many people: in Turkey, in Jordan, in the US and Iraq, all willing to help in whatever way they could, until finally, just before the end of 2003, we were introduced to Kathy Kelly and Voices in the Wilderness.

You can read more about this group at http://www.serve.com/vitw/ but it may be enough to know that Kathy has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She and her group, after spending years protesting the US embargo on Iraq, stayed in Iraq rather than fleeing to safety during the war, and they travel there regularly now, despite the dangers.

Before meeting Kathy via e-mail, we carried on a long correspondence with Dr. Karzan Jalil Ali, in Erbil in Northern Iraq. Dr. Karzan, who was introduced to us by UNICEF, runs a family clinic in Erbil. For months we tried to figure out a way to get therapeutic supplies to him, but all routes were closed and still are. In the process we became friends. Karzan sent photos to us of his recent wedding.













BOYS AND KNOTS

In the meantime, while our search continued, we continued to collect donations (and still do. If you would like to make a donation, click here) for toys and supplies. Many people were touched by our struggle and the plight of Iraqi children. We were able to collect over $1,000 in just a few months.

One day, a donation came via our PayPal account. Mysteriously, rather than the notice of this $300 containing a name, it contained reference to a note. Here's what the note said:

This donation is made by Joe Chiang, Kuen-Kuen Sim and John Chiang, all from Foster City, California. Joe and Kuen-Kuen are eleven years old and John is ten years old. They generated the donation money by selling self-made dragonfly shaped Chinese knots. They also got sponsored money from adults. This is a meaningful and worthwhile donation for them.

Amazed at the generosity of these boys, we corresponded with them and their families, learning that the idea for the knots came from the boys, not from their parents. The families sent us photos of the boys learning to make the beautiful knots. We invite you to look at them.

The boys have made another generous offer to the Aid for Traumatized Children Project.

SEASON ARTS SCHOOL

Finally, after months of trying, we were able to reach our goal. Through our contact with Kathy Kelly, we were introduced to Imad Hadi Abbas, who operates the Season Arts School in Baghdad. At this school, which works with over two hundred children in morning and afternoon programs, children are encouraged to deal with the trauma of war through drawing, writing, music and the other arts. Imad, who is himself a graduate student and lecturer at Baghdad University, is also manager of the Childhood's Voices Organization.

Equally important was that through Voices in the Wilderness, we were able to find a way to deliver packages, which could be picked up in Jordan by VTW workers, and driven by car many miles to Baghdad. Through VTW, we hope one day to be involved in work in Basra, the poorest of Iraq's cities. Clearly there is much to be done, and we hope you will join us.

For photos of World Dreams' Ilkin Sungu, shopping for toys in Istanbul to be shipped to Jordan, go here. Ilkin manifested a small miracle herself, when her friend Tatiana (who only called to see if Ilkin would like to go to a movie) ended up shopping with her at ToysRUs, and making a sizable donation in the process. (See Ilkin's "A Call to Aid for Traumatized Children" below.)

**

jlclarke - Oct 12, 2004 6:22 pm (#3 Total: 76)
Urban Leadership Foundation


Organisation Name: Urban Leadership Foundation
Main Project Goal: To raise principal centered leaders
Donation Site: i.e. http://www.onemillionacts.com
Successes so far: 756,000 registrations
Problems you’re having: visitors, and getting beyond septisim of upromise
Ideas for the future: creating a cause related website

What feedback you want: i.e. Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to work with us? – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide?
--

anastaj - Oct 12, 2004 10:45 pm (#4 Total: 76)
BuildingBlocks International


Organisation Name: BuildingBlocks International
Main Project Goal: To connect business professionals with promising community organizations around the world through a Corporate "Peace Corps."
Donation Site: http://www.bblocks.org
Successes so far: We haven't begun utilizing our online donation capacity.
Problems you’re having: Not sure if the online donation capability is easily accessible to donors.
Ideas for the future: Have a series of events that support and connect business people with potential international volunteer experiences.
What feedback you want: Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to donate to us – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide? (This is exactly our set of questions!)

Toby Beresford - Oct 13, 2004 1:31 am (#5 Total: 76)
MicroAid


GREAT! thank you jl clarke, spot on. Here's my 10 cents below, I hope others can add theirs.

Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.onemillionacts.com

What I liked about the site was: I understood the concept right from the home page - I had to propose an act of kindness - the site looks professional and trustworthy. I felt pleased to have been invited there.

What I felt needed clarifying was: I didn't know what Upromise was and there was no way to find out. The result of my registration would enrol me in "Upromise" but I was at onemillionacts. I had some trust of the onemillionacts site but I wasn't sure about Upromise

My suggestions for improvement are: Under the "What will you do?" question there were no examples. Perhaps because I came to the site fairly cold but I really needed at least two or three examples so I knew what sort of thing to put in the text box. What level of act is it? Help an old lady across the street, drive a truck of aid to Africa...

Donor Rating out of 10: (where 1 is ‘would never donate’, 5 is ‘might donate’ and 10 ‘loved it so much I made a donation’) 2 (sorry!) but this is because I didn't see anything that I felt deserved my cash

I hope this is helpful, lets see what others thought. Everyone has a different view on these things, and all perceptions are valid. The "user" is always right!
Perhaps someone else could now have a go at reviewing anastaj's BuildingBlocks site?


Thanks!

Toby

Mylaram N.Swamy - Oct 13, 2004 7:23 am (#6 Total: 76)
Ananta Abhyudaya Seva Samithi


I am serving Rural Children to educate them in proper way.I have started a center for School dropouts in Gorantla, Near PUTTAPARTHY in India.Can U support our NGO to open more schools for Children.pls guide us.Awaiting for Ur mail. ......Mylaram N.Swamy + 91 + 984 94 13499

kelleen - Oct 13, 2004 7:43 am (#7 Total: 76)


Organisation Name: The New Party

Main Project Goal: New UK political party working to give the voters of the UK a choice and change the face of politics UK through voter engagement and participation

Donation Site: http://www.newparty.co.uk

Successes so far: Online? Not many. We have receive most of our funding from a single donor and average 1/2 to 1 million £ (pounds/GBP) a year



Problems you’re having: Finding ways to engage and motivate donors and online activists



Ideas for the future: We would like to make an engaging site and send out interesting and smart looking email newsletters. We would also like to do email marketing and outreach campaigns and see membership continue to increase as well as increase the participation of members online, on the ground, in recruitment, and in our fundraising efforts. Reaching out to youth is a huge priority as well as other segments of the population, including women, pensioners, minorities, etc.



What feedback you want: Advice, help, guidance!!! Ideas about good programs for email/newsletter campaigns, how to make the site more attractive to donors, ideas of things that have worked in the past, etc! Every and all ideas are appreciated!! I am sure there is feedback out there that we don't even know we want yet!!!

Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to donate to us – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide?

KaritaHummer - Oct 13, 2004 7:46 am (#8 Total: 76)
Bosnian & Herzegovinian USA Cultural Association


Hello,

I think this is a great topic. I am involved in two non-profit startups on behalf of refugees, and I would like to get help on developing a small donor base for both organizations. (One, Bosnian & Herzegovinian USA Cultural Association (BHUCA, a San Francisco Bay Area mutual assistance agency, which focuses on Culture Therapy (Film Festivals and the like) already has its 501(c)3 status and for the other, Footprints Guild, (a Micro-enterprise/Macro-mental Health Project, situated in Silicon Valley, for San Francisco Bay Area refugee artisans and refugee vendors of artisan products, we are just organizing to get the 501(c)3 status.)

I believe that small donations are the key for start-up non-profits, rather than big funders, and that on-line donations could be one of the best sources for such donations.

As are just in our infancy as organizations, it would be great to get ideas about how to go about setting up this resource properly on our web-sites. Therefore, I would appreciate input from others about the potential of our sites for doing this kind of fundraising.

Organisation Names: Footprints Guild
Main Project Goal: To provide enterprise training to refugee artisans and refugee vendors of artisan products from their homelands and to be a wholesale and retail trade association on behalf of such refugees.
Donation Site: http://www.footprintsguild.org (Donation section, still to be constructed.)
Successes so far: Have had five faires/sales and a fashion show, representing approximately 30 refugees) through which the Footrpints Guild obtained a small percentage of sales (10%) and for which we have begun to get a following. We have had in-kind donations of equipment and sapce, as well.
Problems you’re having: Though we have had an outpouring of assistance from volunteers, finding sufficient start-up financial resources for basic staff for administrative assistance, equipment and space for a trade showroom has been difficult.
Ideas for the future: Using the Web-site as a portfolio opportunity for our refugee artisans and vendors, catalogue of artisan products, and direct order taking and sales from the Web-site.
What feedback you want: e.g. Please review our web site. We know that we have to add a whole lot to the web-site, but this is a great time, as we begin to develop it further, to get the kind of input that will help us do it right and set the stage for getting donations in the future. Ideas are welcome.

Organisation Name: Bosnian & Herzegovinian USA Cultural Association (BHUCA)
Main Project Goal: To provide Culture Therapy to the Bosnian refugee community in the San Francisco Bay area through such medium as film festivals and the arts and to expand the awareness of the broader community regarding Bosnian culture and history.
Donation Site: http://www.bhuca.org (Donation section to be constructed)
Successes so far: Raised over $25,000 for two film festivals, from individual donors and ticket revenues.
Problems you’re having: Getting venture funds for administrative staff and rent
Ideas for the future: Connecting the Bosnian community worldwide for purposes of culture therapy, healing and advancement.
What feedback you want: i.e. Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to donate to us – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide? How should we go about constructing a donation page? How difficult is it to sell tickets on-line for our film festivals? What administrative help and financial resources would we need to have in place to handle such orders?

Thank you.

Karita Hummer, LCSW
Project Director, Footprints Guild
Culture Therapy Coordinator, BHUCA

Kym Park - Oct 13, 2004 8:13 am (#9 Total: 76)


Organisation Name: RESULTS
Main Project Goal: i.e. To generate the public & political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty.

Donation Site: i.e. http://www.results.org

Successes so far: i.e. we recieved one donation of $5,000 on our site, but it was a personal ask - not someone who found us.

Problems you’re having: getting new donors via the web - I think our donation site is confusing, long and makes you work hard to donate.

Ideas for the future: we have national fundraising events, and we need a way to have people donate on our site to a particular fundraiser.

What feedback you want: Please review our web site. Tell me how it would be, even if you knew who we were, donating for the first time -technically, how difficult is it to donate?

Lois - Oct 13, 2004 11:41 am (#10 Total: 76)


Thank you so much for this forum. I'm making my first post to Social Edge today ...

Organisation Name: Atlantic Provinces Council on the Sciences

Main Project Goal: to support and enhance science education in Atlantic Canada ... main website www.apics.dal.ca

Donation Site: note - this is an internal email sent to our membership, not a publicly posted page: www.apics.dal.ca/beaker3.html

Campaign begun: April 1 2004 (this is the third appeal letter)

Goal: $4,000

Target audience: 225 Deans of Science and science professors who are involved in our charity, from 18 post secondary and research institutes in Atlantic Canada

Successes so far: convinced all of our new fund raising committee members to donate and all but one of our Executive members to donate (fund raising was just made a project of the charity this year)

Problems you’re having: very few other members of the organization are donating (3 out of about 200 members)

Ideas for the future: Challenges from head of a member institution to other member institutions to increase participation; challenge from chair of one of our committees to other committees (the first two appeal letters came from the chair of the council and the chair of the fund raising committee)

What feedback you want: This is the first fund raising initiative of our 40+ year old charity, which until now has relied solely on institutional membership fees (post secondary institutions pay annual fees to belong) and project specific grants, mainly from government. How do you overcome the members' apathy about donating? One committee chair at our annual general meeting said that that professors don't earn enough to donate their money as well as their time, but noone else has said anything like that ...

I have read and believe that the donation process should start internally. Even the vice chair of the Council, involved for over a dozen years, hasn't made a contribution, even after the chair of the fund raising committee contacted him.

I've even had emails from members saying that they liked my letter, the tone, the intent, and wishing me luck ... but they didn't make a donation! We've been at this for 4 months and have raised only $1000 (about $1500 when you count the donations from me, my family and personal friends).

Help!!!

Thanks so much!!! Lois

jlclarke - Oct 13, 2004 2:07 pm (#11 Total: 76)
Urban Leadership Foundation


I would love to understand how you want me to help.

scord - Oct 13, 2004 5:20 pm (#12 Total: 76)
SCORD


We are one of the NGOs of INDIA woking mainly for MENTAL ILLNESS peoples tratment and rehabilitation .Kindly help for the continuation of the project. U.ANBARASU SCORD INDIA

Attachments:

Greetings from SCORD.doc (23 KB)

Toby Beresford - Oct 14, 2004 12:53 am (#13 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Dear Mylaram

Thank you for posting your details.

I suggest a first step is to establish an email list of people you know are interested in your project. These may be local, national or international friends and supporters.

With this email list you then need to send them a monthly or quarterly update letting them know progress of your project. What has happened recently, what you are planning.

From here you can establish a team of online supporters who, when asked, can help you find the resources you need whether from themselves or from their own contacts.

There are two sections in my e-book which covers this online marketing technique in more detail. In 'How to Get Online Donations' I think you will find the following relevant: Email addresses (pg 36) and Newsletters (pg 45). You can download the ebook for free (when you sign up to MicroAid's own monthly newsletter !) from http://www.microaid.net/ebook/

Good luck!

Kind Regards

Toby

Toby Beresford - Oct 14, 2004 1:11 am (#14 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hi Jennifer

Thanks for posting bblocks. Here's my feedback below, I hope it helps you get online donations!

Kind Regards

Toby

Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.bblocks.org

What I liked about the site was: The PDF download in the top right corner was a useful feature - personally I quite like being able to download the paper brochure of an organisation and then print it out to read at leisure.

What I felt needed clarifying was: Why you needed donations - it looks like your organisation should already be well funded by the companies you work for.

My suggestions for improvement are: Make it really clear you want donations from this web site. I suggest Cut and paste the Network For Good "Donate Now" button and link and display it prominently at the top of every page. Under it have a link to "Why we need your donations" or similar.

The current how you can help is buried at the bottom right corner of the page, I had to really look to find it, and scroll down the page - for most practical donor purposes this is the same as invisible.

Donor Rating out of 10: (where 1 is ‘would never donate’, 5 is ‘might donate’ and 10 ‘loved it so much I made a donation’) a 2 I'm afraid for the reasons stated above. In the future I might however be prepared to donate to the individual projects that you are sending volunteers to support.

d_alfaras - Oct 14, 2004 3:46 am (#15 Total: 76)


Organisation Name: Portege Youth Development Initiative, Inc. Main Project Goal: Developing Youth in SouthEastAsia thru trainings & research.Create high impact programs with global solutions thru local actions. Donation Site: www.pydi.org Successes so far: Partnerships with local & international organizations throughout Asia. Problems you’re having: Finding long-term partners & donors. Ideas for the future: Providing a valuable research & create high impact projects directing the partners/donors objectives. What feedback you want:Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to donate to us – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide?

peelcee - Oct 14, 2004 7:38 am (#16 Total: 76)
People's Life Center

Greetings from People's Life center, tamilnadu, India. We are working in the field of dalit empowerment, please guide us and support us for the same.

Toby Beresford - Oct 14, 2004 11:41 pm (#17 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.newparty.co.uk/

What I liked about the site was: It's very clear what this is - a new political party. I felt I was in the right place from the word go.

What I felt needed clarifying was: There was no message about donation on the front page

My suggestions for improvement are: Change the menu title "Join us" to "Support Us". Then as a donor I would know.

Donor Rating out of 10: 5 - a difficult one to call as it is a clear easy to follow site, my donation preference though is probably highly influenced by my own political persuasion...!

*********************

A very useful resource for you though would be the Politcial Consultants Fundraising Primer which can be downloaded freely at this address:
http://www.ipdi.org/UploadedFiles/of.pdf

*********************

They include chapters on e-mail campaigns (Chapter 1) and web sites (Chapter 2).

Kind Regards and good luck

Toby

Toby Beresford - Oct 14, 2004 11:54 pm (#18 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hi Karita

Thanks for your post. Here come my comments, I do hope anyone else reading this can have a go at adding their contribution too, no matter how small all feedback helps.

I'm going to break my own format here and just come back with a priority idea that I think will help you.

Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.footprintsguild.org

Idea
I think the first thing you should add to your web site is a "subscribe to our mailing list" box.

At this stage your key objective is probably not to improve your web site but to build up your mailing list. Getting online supporters and sending them regular (monthly ideally) emails letting them know progress is much more effective than investing your valuable time in an essentially passive tool such as a website. As your organisation and your site functions develops you can then invite them to participate.

Without this mailing list you run the risk of learning by experience, as we certainly did with MicroAid version 1, that "if you build it they won't come", because at the end of the day "Donors don't surf!"

I hope this helps

Toby

emilydoran - Oct 15, 2004 12:14 am (#19 Total: 76)


Organisation name: Emmaus UK
Main Project Goal: to run existing communities and set up new ones in which homeless people are provided with a home, work and companionship. These communities ideally become financially self-supporting through their furniture recycling business but need considerable funds initially.
Donation site: http://www.emmaus.org.uk (Click on 'Help Emmaus')
Successes so far: 170 people have donated nearly £7,000 online in the last 2.5 years. Online donations are not the website's prime function however. It is primarily for information and to promote more general 'support' and awareness of Emmaus, as well as internal communications.
Problems you're having: Finding the time within the organisation to keep information updated regularly
Ideas for the future: Develop the password-protected area for internal communication
What feedback you want: Would our website encourage you to support Emmaus (be it through volunteering, employment, cash/in-kind gifts, online or postal/telephone donation)? How easy do you find it to locate your nearest Emmaus Community?

KaritaHummer - Oct 15, 2004 12:22 am (#20 Total: 76)
Bosnian & Herzegovinian USA Cultural Association


--Your Message Here--

Hello Toby,

I appreciate your response and will take your advice to heart!

But, if donors don't surf, what can I do attract Online donors to the site"

Toby Beresford - Oct 15, 2004 12:45 am (#21 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hi Karita

Yes, that's the right question!

I think the answer is somewhere in the following:

1. To attract donors to your site, first you have to ask them.

This means creating a mailing list of emails, start with close friends and existing supporters. Encourage them to invite others, everyone you meet or get in contact with should go on your mailing list (I guess including me ) Then mail them regularly with invitations, appeals and good information. If they're willing to be on your mailing list then they do want to help you just need to ask.

2. To make your site attractive to donors you need to make the online donation experience better than the offline one.

You need to make making online donations more enjoyable / rewarding to donors than making offline ones. What does this mean? It could mean many things either providing more information on where their money will be spent, providing progress reports, allowing them to be part of the story too (guest books etc).

It may be through use of clever e-fundraising tools that give them benefits over other approaches - look at http://www.justgiving.com as an example - no more wandering round the office with a sponsorship form in hand - all you have to do nowadays is send round a link and the software will collect the donations for you.

{By the way "Donors don't surf" and "Make the online experience better than the offline one" are in the chapter on Six Principles in my e-book at http://www.microaid.net/ebook/}

I hope you don't take my advice too much to heart - I tend to take the entrepreneurs view that with advice it's best to get as much as you can and then ignore 7/10th's of it!

Kind Regards

Toby

Josia - Oct 17, 2004 1:48 pm (#22 Total: 76)
Marketing Consultant & Copywriter


Organization Name: Bnei Baruch World Center For Kabbalah Studies

Main Project Goal: To spread the wisdom throughout the world and keep it free

Donation Site: http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/donations/

Successes so far: Millions of dollars that were raised in Russia over the last five years mainly went towards supporting efforts in that region.

Problems you’re having: Not falling into any standard category and not having the funding to promote http://www.kabbalah.info more aggressively

Ideas for the future:
1)Being more direct about how vital what this group is doing is to the well-being of all humanity
2) Emphasizing that the head of this group, Michael Laitman, is the "chosen one" of this generation
3) Making more noise about the live daily broadcasts from Israel that thousands are already enjoying

What feedback you want: The main site is currently being transformed into a community site. I would like feedback about what type of people/organizations would be the best to approach.

Additional input: It is difficult to describe the rewards for people who will help set the foundation for the rest of the world - maybe this feedback from our latest event will give you an idea ... http://www.kabbalahgroup.info/eng/after_congress.php

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide to help further this extremely worthy cause.

Josia

Toby Beresford - Oct 18, 2004 1:16 am (#23 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hi Lois

Thanks for your post, my comments below!

Toby

Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.apics.dal.ca/beaker3.html

What I liked about the site was: It was an email appeal letter! This is much more likely to raise donations than a website. It seemed a professional pitch so I never felt I needed to check the rest of the web site - this is a good thing as it keeps your donors focused on the appeal in hand.

What I felt needed clarifying was: It wasn't all that clear why a charitable donation was really needed from me.

There is also this statement which caused me to think "no way am I donating to this" - "In fact, for the last two years, each committee has accepted a reduction to help the charity balance its budget." It sounds to me as if your committee has said "lets go and ask people for donations instead of paying for this work ourselves when we want to spend the money on something else!" I am sure this is just in the phrasing but this is the real value of testing your letters on "friends and family" first.

Donors want to give to work that is: important, would not happen otherwise, will cause a tangible difference in people's lives.

My suggestions for improvement are: I would simplify your appeal request. Establish what the $4,000 is paying for, why it is needed and what you need from each person. I suggest you simplify the amount you are asking for (I didn't really get the point of $95 for a cappucino each week - it just made me think of what else I could be spending the money on instead!) How about your "$78 per donor" which is specific and meaningful:i.e. $78 pays for an hour for a person like Kyle to have a great learning opportunity that without your support he would never have.

Also, this is a personal appeal so it needs to be personal in approach - Dear Toby, I'm asking you to give me $78 so that undergraduates like Kyle can learn the skills they need to become the next generation of scientists to benefit our country. Your support can make all the difference...

Donor Rating out of 10: 7 - a direct personal appeal is much more likely to make me give money. A little tweaking and who knows...

Good luck with the fourth appeal letter!

Toby

Toby Beresford - Oct 18, 2004 2:11 am (#24 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Dear Anbarasu

Thank you for uploading the document "Greetings from SCORD" to the forum. I have comments as follows which I hope will assist you in finding funds for the project:

Kind Regards

Toby

Donation Site you are reviewing: Uploaded document

What I liked about the document was: There was information about your project work including the villages you were serving. You also had a clear budget - I felt it was clear what my money would be used for.

What I felt needed clarifying was: The cost seemed to be rather expensive - half a million US dollars to help 60 patients works out at nearly $9000 each. Is this correct?

A major proportion of the budget is being spent on the drugs themselves, it would be helpful to specify which drugs and where they are coming from. (Are these generics or patents?)

A point to mention here is that many drug companies do have programmes to provide their patent drugs at costs appropriate to local circumstances - if the drug in question is risperidone then perhaps Janssen-Cilag (J and J) in India might be able to help. It would be worth phoning them to find out what programmes they have (91 +22 386.14.31 or *9202 - www.jnjindia.com)

My suggestions for improvement are: A key issue with your letter is that you have different information about your project, organisation and the specific appeal all merged into one document which is confusing. I think you need to to separate out the information into more manageable blocks.

I suggest you need to split it into three sections:

1. The project - what you want to do and what funds are required

2. Your organisation - who you are, what you've done in the past, why you do what you do, who runs the organisation, who audits the organisation

3. The pitch / appeal / grant request - why should this person or organisation provide you with these funds at this moment in time

By splitting it up (3 separate word documents would do) you then can then ensure that each is professional and makes sense.

I can also see that using a system such as MicroAid would help you as the ICT ensures this essential separation between current projects, organisation and donor communications. A web system would also provide a way for donors to take action directly on reading your appeal whether to fund directly or to register their interest with you.

Donor Rating out of 10: 8 - I give this 8 because it is an appeal letter and what my funds would be for is clear.

scord - Oct 19, 2004 6:34 am (#25 Total: 76)
SCORD


--Your Message Here--

Toby Beresford - Oct 20, 2004 4:20 am (#26 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hi Kym

Please find my thoughts below related to results.org.

Kind Regards
Toby

Donation Site: http://www.results.org

What I liked about the site was: The one line summary at the top of the page "Results: creating public and political will to end hunger and worst apects of poverty". It's refreshing when the mission is clear and easy to understand.

What I felt needed clarifying was: I found the donation center okay but the second page used the word "invest" which confused me. Although I understand what you are trying to do by using the word "invest" I think it is less confusing to donors if you stick to terms they understand "10 reasons to donate to Results" is probably enough. Or if you prefer, "10 reasons why your donation to RESULTS is an investment in the future". My mind was tuned in to the word donation so its best to keep me on that.

My suggestions for improvement are: I actually found the technical aspect of donating okay - I found donation center easily enough (although I started by wondering whether Ways to Participate was the right place to go). I found the click "donate now to Results or results educational fund" and then I found the usual credit card page that I was expecting.

Two areas you could improve might be to split the donation form into a two step process - name and address first then credit card. As an internet donor I always like to see a preview of what I'm giving to before I enter my actual credit card

The other area that might be worth addressing is when asking donors to make the choice between giving to RESULTS or giving to the RESULTS educational fund. As a new donor it wasn't overly clear what the difference was - this unexpected requirement to make a choice can make the donor feel unsure what they should be doing ("User self blame" - we call it) and stop them from completing the donation process. Some more handholding at the decision point (the radio button) would have been appreciated.

Donor Rating out of 10: 8 - overall I felt it all worked well

To help with your ideas for the future point, to let people donate to a particular fundraiser I suggest you can have the fundraiser create personal appeal pages like those on http://www.justgiving.com

Toby Beresford - Oct 20, 2004 4:50 am (#27 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hello Emily

My comments below:

Donation Site: http://www.emmaus.org.uk

What I liked about the site was: Professional design, donate button very easy to find and easy process.

Would our website encourage you to support Emmaus (be it through volunteering, employment, cash/in-kind gifts, online or postal/telephone donation)?

Yes I think it is encouraging. I think you could reduce the amount of text in the text blocks further - Jakob Nielsen advises that web page copy is 50% of paper media because on the web people scan rather than read. In particular I thought the Terry Waite quote on the front page was a bit long.

In the volunteer piece I think some volunteer stories might help too - find out how John Smith really enjoyed being a companian in Leeds for example.

How easy do you find it to locate your nearest Emmaus Community?

Not very easy, I'm afraid. I found the drop down box for locating the nearest community okay but it was arranged from the Emmaus point of view rather than the user point of view. The user point of view is "I know where I am (in my case London) so I'll tell the web site where I am and then it will find the Emmaus community near me." A good example of the 'right way round' is finding your nearest rover dealer - see http://www.rover.co.uk

A postcode finder version is probably a bit over the top for your purposes though.

I suggest you add a new page with a map of the UK and all the communities marked on it as links (using an HTML Imagemap). Then make the words "Find my nearest Emmaus" link to this page. You can keep the drop down box but change the title to "Find out more about a local Emmaus Community". This makes what it does clearer.

So now the user has two options: if they know the local community they're interested in they use the drop down box, if they want to find the one nearest them they use the link to the map.

With regard to your problem of keeping the information regularly updated how about giving the communities themselves the ability to update their own pages?

I hope this all helps!

Toby

Toby Beresford - Oct 20, 2004 5:18 am (#28 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hi Josia

My comments below!

Kind Regards

Toby

Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.kabbalah.info

What I liked about the site was: Lots of language options at the top - aha I thought - a real "World" wide web site.

What I felt needed clarifying was: How I was meant to donate if I wasn't in Israel, US or Canada!

I would like feedback about what type of people/organizations would be the best to approach.
There are several organisations that provide online community facilities - Yahoo Groups is a very popular and free software to do this: http:/groups.yahoo.com

The Development Directory http://www.devdir.org is a really excellent international directory of organisations many of which will be involved in community development.

One final point I noticed you have a section of press releases but I could not find the section on press coverage. When persuading online users to engage with your organisation some good press coverage goes a long way.

venkat - Oct 20, 2004 9:00 pm (#29 Total: 76)


Organisation Name: GiveIndia
Main Project Goal: To allow people to reach out and support a large # of causes in India
Donation Site: http://www.GiveIndia.org
Successes so far: raising approx. US$150,000 online a year...
Problems you’re having: Conversion rates are poor (1.5% of visitors).
Ideas for the future: More dynamic content on the home page
What feedback you want: Please review our web site. What do you suggest we do to improve conversions?

mkevane - Oct 20, 2004 9:35 pm (#30 Total: 76)
Friends of African Village Libraries


Organisation Name: Friends of African Village Libraries
Main Project Goal: Establish and operate small village libraries in rural Africa (West Africa for now)
Donation Site: i.e. http://www.favl.org
Successes so far: i.e. Raised $20,000 per year in each of our first two years, operate 5 village libraries in Ghana and Burkina Faso
Problems you’re having: After installing a Paypal button more than a year ago, we have received exactly one donation online
Ideas for the future: We mostly concentrate on our current donor list, but would love to slowly expand as our capacity allows
What feedback you want: Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to donate to us – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide?

Dale_Wen - Oct 20, 2004 11:12 pm (#31 Total: 76)


Organization Name--I am not raising money for any particular nonprofit, but for several NGOs sharing a common cause: to improve rural education in China.

Main Project Goal:
 1. To help these NGOs to raise money.
 2. To raise awareness, stimulate discussion and explore new solutions for the problem.

Donation Site: http://www.geocities.com/dale_wen2000
I promote 3 NGOs on this site, one is based in China, and the other two are based in US.

Successes so far:
In July, I successfully raised $4,000 at an Internet forum for one NGO, and people also showed lots of interest on similar NGOs I mentioned and would like to donate to them in the future. This stimulated me to put all the materials together on my website. It was only up since last week and I only sent the link to several close friends so far, so you will be among the earliest visitors.

Ideas for the future: Donating to a China-based NGO is troublesome: one has to wire money directly to their bank account and there is no tax benefit. I am in the process to register a new nonprofit with the name “China Grassroots Foundation”, one thing I would like to do with it (among many other things) is to act like a portal and financial agency for grassroots NGOs in China: collect donations here, give money to NGOs in China as donors direct or through some grant application process. Would like your comment on this idea.

Problems you’re having: i.e. I am not sure in general, how people would respond to the idea of fundraising for a cause, instead of a particular NGO. Eventually, I would like to do fundraising for China based NGOs through my future NGO
“China Grassroots Foundation”, while continue to provide links and encourage direct donations to US based NGOs sharing similar mission. Should I start to use this website to garner some support for my future NGO, like start to build an email/e-newsletter list etc.?

What feedback you want: Please review the web site. Would it encourage you to donate to the several NGOs I mentioned on the site – what information is missing – what else do I need to provide? If you want to donate, would you have the patience to navigate the NGO websites (links provided on my site)? Or do you want me to provide a simple one-page instruction about how to donate to them? All these NGO websites are bilingual (English and Chinese), and the English part is not always up-to-date or well organized, so it may pose certain challenges for non-Chinese speakers; on the other hand, I am concerned that instructions about how to donate may sounds too patronizing (I am just a volunteer for these NGOs, I don’t want to sound like their speak person).

locusa - Oct 21, 2004 6:53 am (#32 Total: 76)
Love Our Children USA


Organisation Name: Love Our Children USA
Main Project Goal: To stop the cycle that victimizes children
Donation Site: http://www.loveourchildrenusa.org
Successes so far: Raised a small amount of money through online donations
Problems you’re having: Wish to raise more through online donations
Ideas for the future: Providing a valuable and online newsletter to donors
What feedback you want: i.e. Please review our web site. Would it encourage you to donate to us – what information is missing – what else do we need to provide?

Toby Beresford - Oct 21, 2004 8:50 am (#33 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.GiveIndia.org

What I liked about the site was: I thought this site was really excellent! You're genuinely providing a better donation experience - ability to select individual micro-projects, detailed feedback, and donor stories. This shows in your success so far: $150,000 in a year is good - I'd be interested to get a feel for how much you've spent on marketing to achieve this.

What I felt needed clarifying was: I wasn't sure what a "Corpus fund" was, sorry its not a term I'm familiar with.

My suggestions for improvement are: You asked about conversions. The fact that you are measuring them, is a very good sign in itself. As you make changes you can see if the conversion rate changes and so improve the site incrementally.

I have two suggestions:

1/ Have a Quick Register box- To me donor conversion online is more of a journey than a one off decision. People go through stages towards a deeper relationship with you, I've found some people take 12-18 months to give after you first add them to the mailing list. It might be worth you promoting a simple "register first for our newsletter" on every page. This then gives you 12 more chances that year to ask them for money!

Your current full registration page is just too detailed for a time constrained internet user. Especially when there are unanswerable questions like what State in India you are from which are still set as mandatory fields. (I did manage to find the Others option but it was well buried) Once you have people's emails you can then market to them every month. This repeated drip effect can help you convert interested supporters into giving supporters.

2/ Have a "Search by amount required" facility - I did actually decide I'd like to try giving a small amount. I'd seen some small value donation possibilities earlier in my searching but I couldn't find them again. I felt I wanted a search by amount facility.

Many donors once happy with a cause do then think how much can I afford and what will it buy me. A "search by amount" helps you support this way of thinking.

Donor Rating out of 10: 9 - you nearly got me!

Toby Beresford - Oct 21, 2004 9:42 am (#34 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Hi Dale

Thanks for this. I really liked your story and the before and after photos in the school really showed the difference you made. I hope my comments below can help.

Toby



Donation Site http://www.geocities.com/dale_wen2000

What I liked about the site was: It was refreshingly personal. I felt like I'd been invited to your home and made to feel welcome. Your own story about renovating a school in rural China instead of an engagement ring was great.

What I felt needed clarifying was:
How I would donate. I would certainly need instructions on how to donate to a chinese NGO from overseas and wouldn't find it all patronising.

My suggestions for improvement are:
I think you need to start at identifying who is your target market for donations. Once you have sorted this out then many of the questions about what you do to reach them (type of web site or newsletter, what your future NGO does, general cause / specific project)

Some of the questions you need to decide are:
1. Are they chinese speaking or not
2. Are they friends of yours, friends of the NGOs you are trying to support
3. Are they in US, China or anywhere in the world

Then you need to think about what market you can reach with the resources you have. Raising online funds is not necessarily about a great web site or even a good cause. It is about reaching people and helping them become supporters. At the end of the day, (to quote from my e-book) "Donors don't surf! - you need to plan how you bring them in."

In answer to your more specific questions:
How people would respond to the idea of fundraising for a cause? Personally I prefer to donate to specific projects but fundraising for a cause is very standard - Oxfam, Save the Children, Cancer, WWF etc - more important, is what the people you are asking for money from will want.

Should I start to use this website to garner some support for my future NGO, like start to build an email/e-newsletter list etc.?
I agree using the web site to collect emails for your future NGO is absolutely right. Why not tell them the sorts of people you are looking for and get them to suggest friends who might be interested in joining the email list.

China Grassroots Foundation NGO - Would like your comment on this idea.
I have experience of this having been working on a similar project with MicroAid for Indonesian grassroots organisations involved in helping poor families develop micro-enterprises. Currently it is still going in its original format but very much for friends and family only: (see http://www.charity.microaid.net)

Our main learning that might help you is that we have moved away from trying to help by being the intermediary between them and donors. Now we want to empower our NGOs to find the funds themselves. Long term this takes the pressure off us to be the ones finding donors the whole time.

I would recommend considering a similar approach for you - have China Grassroots Foundation in the background to provide the accreditation of NGOs and financial conduit but let the NGOs market themselves.

For your interest, our approach now is to provide a software based service that helps the NGOs connect their communities to donors themselves via the internet. I am confident in the long run this will help us help more NGOs than if they are reliant on us to do their fundraising for them.

Donor Rating out of 10: 4 - I look forward to following your development! How do I sign up for your email list?

Toby Beresford - Oct 22, 2004 7:18 am (#35 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Michael

Thanks for submitting the info on FAVL's village libraries. My comments are below, I hope they help and good luck

Toby

Donation Site you are reviewing: http://www.favl.org

What I liked about the site was: I had no problems finding the donate button!

What I felt needed clarifying was: The impact and details on achievements so far. I felt a summary page was needed which showed a list of Libraries you've supported to date - possibly with a photo thumbnail and a link to the story on each.

My suggestions for improvement are: On the same page you could then have in the right hand column "Libraries that could exist with your help" or something similar. Then you can write about the communities who need a library and what you need from your donors to support this.

I think this would make the donation experience online more interesting as donors can picture in their mind what they are being asked to contribute to.

A good example of this sort of approach is Kristen Palana's Aura's house - http://www.aurashouse.org - here she is raising funds to house a girl in Guatemala.

Donor Rating out of 10: 6 - I also wondered whether it's possible to donate books to these libraries.

Attachments:

aurashouse.gif (69 KB)

Toby Beresford - Oct 22, 2004 8:54 am (#36 Total: 76)
MicroAid


Donation Site: http://www.loveourchildrenusa.org

What I liked about the site was: Interesting and original colour scheme. Nice and bright with good pictures. Good signposting of the key features: easy to see how to donate or sign up for your email newsletter.

What I felt needed clarifying was: I found it difficult to find out how my online donation would help and what it would do. There is plenty on the home page about the problem you are dealing with and the "Continued" button took me to a longer description but the practical side, - this is what we want to do and this is what we need your money for - was missing (or at least buried deep in the text - three quarters of the way down the about us page you specify what funds you receive are for - not where I expected it).

My suggestions for improvement are: Tighten the copy. Cut your word count by 50% - The basic principle to stick to is "keep it simple and professional"

Try using the classic AIDA marketing technique in your web copy - AIDA stands for Awareness Interest Desire Action

i.e. A=Awareness "Child Abuse is an increasingly serious problem in our country - every 8 hours a child is killed by those they trust most. Without action now this problem will just get worse."
- the reader is now aware of the issue.

i.e. I-Interest "Our organisation is combating this problem on a daily basis by educating everyone involved in caring for children: parents, schools and social services. Uniquely we focus on helping parents with the resources they need." - the reader is now interested

i.e. D-Desire "Our dream is of a world where all children are safe, nurtured, and loved. You too can play your part in making this dream happen by becoming a supporter. $35 pays for a family in danger to receive one of our brochures.. "
- a message to create Desire in the reader - in this case a Desire to become part of the dream, get a resource to someone who needs it

i.e. A-Action " Send your donation today by clicking on the Donate Now button. Together we can end the cycle of child abuse"
- a clear next step of Action.

Donor Rating out of 10: 7

richdorm - Oct 23, 2004 3:49 am (#37 Total: 76)


This is a review of http://www.griya-asih.microaid.net

What I liked about the site was: The clean look and layout; the plain language used; the "real" photograph as opposed a stock image; the links, which effectively and speedily took me on to a further level of information or other projects.

What I felt needed clarifying was: 1) Who is Microaid? I sensed they were somewhere in the background, but would have liked an easier link to their homepage than just the footer smallprint, (maybe I missed something here!); 2) I wasn't quite sure whether I could donate part of the cost. I guess not, but if that had been possible it would have been good to have known;

My suggestions for improvement are: A link to "Are our projects successful?" pop up box would have been good saying eg x% children see our schemes through; sadly we have some dropout (x%) y project is being set up to try and address this; x% of families helped by us are still benefitting from that help 6 months / 1 year / 2 years later.



Donor Rating out of 10: 9 – am considering a donation as a birthday gift
 

scord - Oct 25, 2004 4:41 am (#38 Total: 76)
SCORD


Greetings from SCORD, India!

Thank you very much for your email. With reference to the above email, we would like to furnish some clarification regarding your doubts.

The average cost of medicine for each person is USD 2.5 per month. The medicines we need for those persons are : Resperidone, SER, Cholopromine, Diazepam, Caibaramarine, Nitrozepam, Impramine, Alprozolam 0.5 mg, Fluoxetine, Lorvan, Sodium Valprate and Manopronodol. These medicines are in general need for treatment.

As you have suggested herewith we enclose a Concept Paper containing brief information and requirement in three Divisions. We hope it will be sufficient for your reference. If you would need more information, we would furnish at any time.

We are expecting your favourable response.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

U. ANBARASU Secretary

Attachments:

MI-Appeal-Project Concept.doc (40 KB)

Toby Beresford - Oct 25,