During this short excerpt from an audio interview I talk about my favorite online auction service, cMarket. This easy auction service was designed just for non profit organizations and has many benefits.

Dinners, auctions, and golf tournaments are just a few of the fundraising events that groups use to raise funds to provide patient services, research and advocacy for cancer issues.
It’s Relay for Life season… thousands of people across the US and across the world gather to walk, stay overnight and celebrate the lives of those touched [...]

Langley’s Critter Care Wildlife Refuge of Langley, British Columbia takes in abandoned wildlife. They hold an open house only once a year, when the public is a allowed to visit. Visitors take a guided tour to see wild animals — such as baby coyotes, beavers, fawns, raccoons and bobcats.
The open house fund-raiser helps the organization [...]

In February this year, the Wichita Falls Texas Youth Symphony Orchestra (YSO) held its annual Play-a-Thon. In years past the event took place at a shopping mall where patrons could listen to the youth ensembles and soloists perform. Funds raised were from sponsorships obtained in advance.
This year the event was transformed into a [...]

This video is a great example of powerful storytelling through online video. It takes just four minutes and tells of one child who is overcoming many obstacles because of Juvelile Diabetes. Thanks to Paula Werne of Holiday World who posted a link to the video on the Charity Mile blog. [...]

Students at a Durham, North Carolina high school raised over $6,000 for the American Red Cross to help tsunami victims.
Instead of writing term papers or giving oral presentations, the students in teacher Brian McDonald’s civics class organized a teacher-student volleyball game, waited tables at Golden Corral restaurant and worked the concession stands during plays.
One of [...]

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day. Those of you who are parents, were you able to do something special for your child’s teacher? If not, don’t fear, until Friday you have time to participate in Teacher Appreciation Week.
We celebrated the week by sponsoring a blog writing contest on the theme of “My Favorite Teacher.” [...]

This week I thought it would be nice to focus the resource roundup on the environment in honor of Earth Day (which was Monday) and Arbor Day which is today. Some of these are news items, others are resources and there’s a couple of actual enviro-friendly fundraising ideas. Enjoy!
The Earth Day 2008 [...]

Turn on any news show and you’ll hear analysts and pundits forecasting economic doom and gloom. Their reports are filled with words and phrases like “economic downturn,” “soft economy,” and the dreaded “recession.” While the jury is still out about whether or not we’re really in a recession, now is a great time to recession-proof [...]

Do you thank your volunteers, donors and members in the same way — year after year? Would you like to come up with some fresh ideas that have worked successfully for other organizations?
121 Recognition Ideas for Donors, Volunteers and Memberspublished by Stevenson, Inc. offers you 121 valuable ideas that you can put into action [...]

There are so many aspects to planning a fundraising event. Determining the ticket price and what portion of the ticket is tax deductible for attendees is one of those many details.
Your article about determining the tax deductible portion of fundraising event tickets was very helpful. However, I’m wondering if any of the information you [...]

Jeremy Gregg does a great job of describing the personalities of people who give to charity in The Seven Faces of Philanthropy. I like the photos that he’s chosen to represent the various giving styles. (At the risk of being trite, you know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand [...]

TechSoup recently highlighted a Study of Nonprofits and Outdated Technology that showed that many non profits do not keep computer systems up to date.
This discrepancy can be caused by funding issues or lack of technical support. Often for small non profits, it’s the computer support that’s an issue since they don’t have a full [...]

One of the most common non-profit fundraisers is the golf outing. The main reason why this method has become so popular is that it combines the benefits of having fun, getting exercise, and raising lots of money for the organization.
There are many “moving parts” that you have to consider when you plan your own [...]

Would you like organize a 5K, walk-a-thon, bowling tournament or other athletic fundraiser?
We are currently in the process of updating this page on how to organize a 5K.  In the meantime, please review the articles listed below for some great [...]

The goal for an auction is to raise money, plain and simple. However, at many auctions, the catalog of items for bid may number far less than the number of attendees at the event. Hosting a Raise the Paddle Special Appeal will encourage every attendee to give a little extra at the event.
A Special Appeal [...]

Silent auctions are a popular way to raise funds at a charity benefit event. You’ll find that most attendees are already familiar with how they work. But in short, at a silent auction items are placed for display and bidders sign a sheet with a name or bidder number and bidding amount. [...]

The Fraternal Order of Eagles hosted a motorcycle race to benefit charity. The 54-mile race “Poker Run” raised money for research for Alzheimer’s disease and also Muscular Dystrophy. The event held on June 24th raised $2,000 for the charities. It was the largest Poker Run since the event first began three years ago.
The group, 700 [...]

The Canary Foundation has held a popular event during the San José Grand Prix for the past three years. The CXO and Celebrity Go-Kart Challenge event features celebrities and CEOs racing against each other in go-karts.
Only CEOs and top level executives are invited to participate in this special event. It is quite popular and this [...]

Cell phone owners get new phones at least every two years, some more often. What happens to all of those old phones? By turning in a phone to a recycling project, cell phone owners can help non profit organizations raise funds.
A cell phone recycling drive can be a good additional fundraiser for your [...]

The annual garage sale fundraiser for BPW/CWJC a week ago Saturday went well, raising over $1,300. We were very lucky to have an indoor location this year. We had a couple of weeks to set up and organize everything.
Last year our committee purchased a sign that could be reused each year. [...]

This week’s roundup features a variety links related to garnering support for your cause from the business community.

6 Tips for Creating Successful Nonprofit/Business Partnerships from the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford University
Fundraising Secret #14: Don’t be hard on local businesses from Fundraising Coach Marc Pitman
The Single Best Way to Turn Local Businesses into School Supporters [...]

Everybody knows that you should send a thank you note to a donor. Along with the fundraising “ask” letter, these two kinds of letters are the bookends. However these not be the only times you make contact with your supporters.
The following is a list of ten reasons you should stay in contact with your [...]

A fundraising letter template can be a big help when you are beginning to write a fundraising letter. Use this template as a basis for your letter and then add the details and description specific to your cause and the purpose of the mailing.

When shoppers bring in their own bags to carry their items home in, it reduces the number of non-biodegradable plastic bags. Personally I have been wanting to get some reusable bags for some time now. I am tired of the plastic and paper bags cluttering up my garage and polluting our community (and our [...]

I recently got the chance to meet with Roger and Chris of FastTrack Fundraising in their Los Angeles office. (That’s me with Roger Lum in the photo at left.) After our 2+ hour discussion I was truly convinced that this company is the discount card experts!
While they offer a variety of other fundraisers, custom [...]

World’s Finest Chocolate company has been producing high quality candy for over 50 years. They make a variety of candy bars including milk chocolate with almonds and crispy bars. Unlike other candy bar fundraiser programs, World’s Finest Chocolate is [...]

Candle fundraisers are one of the more popular product sales. There are many candle companies that offer fundraisers for non profit organizations. [...]

An online magazine fundraiser raises funds when your supporters to purchase a magazine online. Your group gets a free custom website and promotion tools to help encourage people to support the fundraiser by purchasing one or more magazines.
Participants simply collect email addresses of potential supporters anywhere in the US. The online system sends out [...]

Frequently Asked Questions About Raffles - 1. What is a Raffle? A raffle is generally a contest in which participants purchase a ticket or “chance” at winning a prize. [...]

Though giving from U.S. foundations was up in 2007, the investment market isn’t looking pretty for anybody. We can expect that numbers for 2008 will be quite different. Foundations effected by declining investment markets are likely to give less and you may be on the other end of some letters declining funding this year.
So what [...]

In a time when many non-profit organizations are examining their budgets closely and looking anywhere to cut expenses, it is not uncommon that allocations for advertising and marketing are slashed. This may cause some to worry that existing customers will fall out of touch and potential new ones will never hear of you in [...]

While press release writing is important, press release distribution plays an equally important role in your return on investment (ROI) with this marketing / public relations tool. Because without targeted distribution, many prospects, clients and other interested parties may not even read your latest announcement or hear about it via other channels; TV, radio, print [...]

Today I’m focusing the roundup on how non-profits can connect with Gen X and Gen Y (aka Millenials). By definition these two groups combined encompass a wide range from age 10 to 43. Though some generalizations about even this range of ages can be made. For example, many people younger than the [...]

Today’s Appreciation Challenge is all about board members. I’ve been active on two different boards for several years now. Now in my role as president of one board, I’m especially interested in how to make the experience of serving on a board a positive one for all of the members.
Blue Avacado has a [...]