Like it or not your non-profit organization is where it is today because of how much money you have been able to collect for your mission. If your 501c3 is where you want it to be congratulations you can skip this article, if it isnt read these quick 5 points to help you on your way to greatness.
For years small non-profits (and big ones too) could make an argument that:
- There is not enough (fill in the blank) in our city.
- We have asked everyone we know for a donation!
- Our office doesnt get the foot traffic that Non-profit X gets!
- We cant pass out anymore flyers than we already have.
- No one wants to buy our bracelets anymore.
The list of excuses goes on and on. With the rise of the internet the excuses can now STOP! Whether your mission is to Save the Yellowwood Tree in South Africa or you want to Save Chicagos Ellis Park you NOW have an opportunity to inform someone on the other side of the world (or in your backyard) of your charitable mission and (more importantly) offer them a way to help support your mission financially 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Here are the top 5 reasons to accept contributions on your non-profit website:
1) Sell more Tickets!
Is it time for your annual Holiday Gala or Summers Evening Dance? If so, you better sell all those tickets you have sitting on your desk as fast as you can! You can allow people to purchase tickets to your events anytime of the day without ANY interaction from you or your staff.
2) Get more Donations!
If you have spent hours opening envelopes stuffed with checks, went to the bank (go fast, the bank is about to close!), then had to write Thank You notes by hand to each of the donors, thats when it hit you I spend a LOT of time doing this. Now you can concentrate on other activities while your website securely collects the name and credit card information of your donors, when YOU are ready - you can then process the donations at any time.
3) Find more Members!
If everyone you know is already one of your Members, its time to look a little further for new members. Offering people a way to become a member online saves the member money (stamps, checks, post office run) and removes any Ill fill out the forms and mail it in after I read todays paper barriers. People should be able to join your membership at any level online. You online system should be able to handle membership renewals also.
4) Mr. Jones cancelled his 14 tickets 1 day before the event!
You instantly do the math in your head, it goes something like this HHHHMMM tickets are $45 a piece, if I knew other people that wanted tickets I could sell Mr. Jones tickets to someone else and bring in another $630!. Good idea! Your non-profit order processing application should have a Waiting List that would collect names and contact information of people that want tickets to your events if they become available.
5) Comparison contributions
Its a fact the average contributor compares two or more non-profits before making a decision as to which one to donate to. If a person compares a non-profit that has a website with online donation capabilities to the non-profit with the black and white OfficeMax printed flyer which one is the person going to contribute to? I hope you become the charity with the website and online donation capabilities!
If you press your left ear to the bottom right hand corner of your monitor you can hear people all over the world donating, buying tickets to non-profit events and becoming members of other non-profits online right now! Its time your organization became one of them! Its time to find a provider who will give your non-profit 360 degrees of secure online forms processing - it will be the best charity helper you can find!
I was only kidding about the left ear to the monitor thing!
Ian Anderson is co-founder of Intersection360. Some of Intersection360 products include: CharityHelper360 - secure forms processing for non-profits, WebEdit360 - an online website editor and more. To learn more, go here:
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