Pet-Abuse.Com - Fundraising for Your Organization

Fundraising for Your Organization

Fundraising for a rescue shelter or other donation-run organization is not easy, especially if you haven't got a lot of experience with writing press releases, direct mail fundraising, etc. We plan to have more info up here to help you with ideas and advice on how to make this easier, but in the meantime, be sure to check out the Activist Toolbox from the Rainforest Action Network. (The advice and tools are not rainforest or conservation specific.)

Great Online Partners

If your website is up and running, there are tons of organizations that you can join that offer ways for you to raise money for your organization. ALL of these will take varying degrees of your own time, but hey, nothing in life is 100% free, right? Some of them require time to set up and choose/create products, and others will simply require the time to market them properly so that people actually use them. We've personally used all of the services offered below, and have tried to give a realistic review of their pros and cons, to help you decide which options will be best for you.

We will typically advise against banner advertising situations, simply because they generally don't pay off. Website users have become SO accustomed to tuning out banner ads that you're unlikely to get many clickthroughs on any banner ads you host. A better way to raise money through affiliate situations is to use programs that will allow you to customize your content, and allow you to offer specific things to your website users that are aligned with the purpose of your website. A personal recommendation often goes much further than even the flashiest banner ads.

Company/Service	Pros	Cons
iGive.Com (shopping/donation system) A massive online mall of over 300+ big-name merchants. When users shop through your iGive link, the merchants will donate a percentage of your purchase to the charity of their choice! Your job is then to make sure that YOU are the charity they choose!	Quick and easy set-up time Big-name merchants	Impossible to link directly to certain stores from your partner link Low commission percentage for most merchants.
Amazon.Com (affiliate program) This well known Internet giant has an affiliate program that lets you link up products and earn a commission. A good way to position this is by providing your users a list of Humane Reading books or pet guides and owners manuals.	Easy to sell - they provide product thumbnails for you to use in your webpage to make it more marketable	Very time consuming to select products and code in the links
PayPal (online payment processing system) This will allow you to accept donations via credit card or users' PayPal accounts. PayPal is widely used for online auctions, including E-Bay, so many web users have PayPal accounts. Once the account is set up, PayPal makes it very easy to collect donations from your website.	VERY popular among web users	Setting up an account can take a little while if you choose to link it to a bank account
CafePress (custom clothing/accessories) This online company allows you to create and sell your own t-shirts, mugs, mousepads and more.	Its free, and you can create as many items as you wish. You pick the price to sell each item at, above the base cost. The products offered are high quality	Can be very time consuming to come up with good artwork, and you should really have them designed by someone with artistic skill. Their base cost is high, so your commission will be low if you keep the resell prices reasonable
E-Bay (online auction system) This online auction system allows you to host charity auctions to raise money. Interested participants can donate goods to be auctioned. Many times, when a financial donation fails, a donation of "garage sale" type items will come through.	Widely used - easy to use from an admin standpoint	You have to spend time gathering items to sell
Art.Com (art and posters) This online company allows you to select featured items from their very large database that you would like to sell on your site as an affiliate.	Its free, and you can choose as many items as you wish. They also feature a vitrual store manager that automatically generates the code you need to put the store into your lookand feel.	Can be very time consuming to select artwork.