From: R Points <poster@richpoints.com>
To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
Sent: Tue, January 4, 2011 10:03:50 AM
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Donate Button on Websites
Bike People,
I too have been meaning to chime in on this thread. We've been
using PayPal for many years and it's been an easy but buggy
solution. I know for a fact we lost many a potential donor because
they got directed to paypal and didn't have an account or had
forgotten their password. The result was no donation.
Also this year PayPal wanted to check our non profit status and put
a limitation on our account. This meant that we couldn't transfer
money or update our account. It was a total pain in the ass to
resolve and I swear PayPal does everything possible to make it
difficult to fix.
A couple of years ago we started using
authorize.net which was a
great step for us. We can now accept credit card donations without
a password or any third party crap. We solicit donations for
events, programs and memberships. Last year 10% of our budget came
in through the website.
It's extremely important to have systems in place so when people
give you money they get thanked. We didn't have this in place for
our first couple of years and it was so embarrassing when someone
would say, I gave you guys money and I never heard anything from
you. I'd recommend that you have thank you letters, notes or
postcards ready to go before you start soliciting money online.
Ride On!
Rich
Community Cycles
Boulder
On 1/3/2011 12:01 PM, Kelly Martin wrote:
Happy New Year everyone!
I'd been meaning to reply to this, but was reminded when I
came in this morning and saw that on the last day of 2010 we
received two very friendly donations via paypal.
We set up the donate button when we did our first ever
fundraising campaign back in March and it really helped with
that. Since then we probably average $50-$100 per month, which
covers a utility or phone bill. Totally worth it!
We don't currently have a debit/atm or credit card scanner,
so a couple of times clients have used it to donate for the
services received.
When I sent out a newsletter in December with our holiday
closure I included a "if you're looking for a place to make end
of year donations for tax purposes, consider us...". It didn't
flood in, but it worked.
Lastly, it's really easy to set-up and PayPal doesn't take
that much.
Good Luck!
kelly
On Dec 21, 2010, at 7:56 AM, Jess Linz wrote:
Hey everyone,
I've been wondering about how effective "donate" buttons
(like Google Checkout for Non-profits) are on project
websites. Our cooperative has many active members, but also
many sympathetic supporters, who would potentially donate to
the cause without seeking membership (we have an annual
membership fee which supports our operating costs). Right
now the only way to donate is to come down to the shop or
mail us a check.
For those co-ops who use online donations, are they very
effective for A)renewing memberships and B)getting support
from non-members?
Thanks!
Jess
MoBo Bicycle Cooperative
Cincinnati, Ohio
www.mobobicyclecoop.org
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Kelly Martin, Operations
Facilitator
The Bicycle Kitchen/La Bicicocina
706 N. Heliotrope
Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90029
W 323.NOCARRO | M 213.210.5631
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