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Managing a GoFundMe nonprofit organization requires a thoughtful approach to donor management and fundraising.
To begin, it's essential to understand that GoFundMe charges a 2.9% payment processing fee, plus a $0.30 transaction fee, for donations made to campaigns. This fee is deducted from the total amount raised, so it's crucial to factor it into your fundraising strategy.
As a nonprofit organization, you can also consider applying for a GoFundMe Fundraising Fee Waiver, which can help offset the costs of fundraising. To be eligible, you'll need to meet certain requirements, such as having a registered 501(c)(3) status.
RallyUp
RallyUp is a crowdfunding platform that allows nonprofits to ask donors to give in more ways than one. Within your RallyUp form, they can give flat and recurring donations, and choose from preset donation amounts.
RallyUp offers the ability to add donation perks – prizes that you give away at different donation levels – and also allows you to place limited availability quantities on these perks to encourage a sense of urgency.
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RallyUp is free to use, but their advance pricing applies a 7.5% platform fee per donation, plus standard payment processing fees. You can, however, ask or even require donors to cover all or a portion of this amount.
Nonprofits can use RallyUp to offer prizes as incentives for donating as well as raffles for events, making it a great option for those looking to add an extra layer of engagement to their fundraising efforts.
On a similar theme: Can You Use Gofundme for Anything
Nonprofit Fundraising
Starting a GoFundMe for your nonprofit is a great way to quickly crowdfund for a specific need. You can select "Charity" when prompted to select who you are fundraising for in your GoFundMe setup.
More than $50M is raised a week on GoFundMe to support people like you. Donations to nonprofits are usually tax deductible, and you can deduct up to 50% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) if the donation is made in cash. However, if you donate to a specific 501(c)(3) organization, you can deduct up to 100% of your AGI for 2020 and 2021.
To claim any possible deduction, itemize deductions on your tax return using Schedule A (Form 1040). Typically, charitable donations could be eligible for deductions if they are given to religious organizations, federal, state and local governments, certain war veterans’ groups, nonprofit schools and hospitals.
7 Alternatives for Nonprofit Success
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If you're looking for alternatives to traditional crowdfunding, you have plenty of options to consider. Qgiv's peer-to-peer fundraising platform offers a range of tools to empower your supporters to raise money for your campaigns.
Personal fundraising pages are a key feature of Qgiv's platform, allowing each participant in your peer-to-peer campaign to collect donations from their family and friends. This can be a powerful way to tap into your supporters' networks and raise more money for your cause.
Qgiv also offers team fundraising and team pages, which can add a fun and competitive element to your campaign. Fundraisers can join teams and compete against each other to see who can raise the most money.
For nonprofits in need of a simple crowdfunding solution, Donate Kindly offers a customizable donation form that can be embedded on your crowdfunding campaign page. This can be a great option for organizations that want to keep things straightforward and easy to use.
With Qgiv's platform, you'll have access to email and social media integrations, making it easy for your supporters to share your fundraiser and reach out to their networks for support.
Additional reading: Eoc Team Members
Raising Goals in Response to Increased Financial Needs
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You can raise your fundraising goal at any time if the financial needs increase. This flexibility allows you to adjust your target amount as needed.
You can raise or lower your fundraising goal whenever you want, giving you the ability to respond quickly to changing circumstances.
Double the Donation
Double the Donation is a powerful tool that can help maximize your nonprofit fundraising efforts. With their comprehensive matching gifts database, you can easily find out whether a donor's employer offers a matching gifts program.
You can also embed a Double the Donation widget into your online donation form, making it easy for donors to find out if their gift is eligible to be matched as they're in the process of donating. This can significantly increase the impact of your fundraising efforts.
Double the Donation's 360MatchPro tool automates the matching gifts process, sending the appropriate materials to eligible donors so they can easily submit a matching gifts request to their employer. This can save you and your donors a lot of time and effort.
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Here are some key features of Double the Donation's 360MatchPro tool:
- Automated matching gifts processing
- Eligible donor identification and notification
- Matching gifts request submission
By using Double the Donation's tools and services, you can increase the impact of your fundraising efforts and make a bigger difference in the lives of those you serve.
Fundraiser Management
You can start a GoFundMe for your nonprofit to quickly crowdfund for a specific need.
Ease of use is crucial when managing a fundraiser, and some platforms offer simple dashboards that walk you through creating your campaign in minutes.
Donor experience is also important, and platforms like Donorbox offer easy-to-use donation forms that are added to your crowdfunding campaigns, making it simple for donors to click a button and complete their donation.
Campaign updates can be easily shared on the campaign page, via email, and social media, keeping your donors engaged and informed about the campaign's progress.
A goal tracker can be added to your campaign to show real-time donation updates, creating a sense of urgency among donors to inspire more donations.
Broaden your view: Can You Use Gofundme for Charity
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Easily keeping donors updated about the campaign's progress and thanking them for their support is crucial, and simple gestures like personalized thank you notes can be powerful.
You can also use platforms to raise money for specific campaigns as well as sell tickets or collect registrations for events, making it easier to manage your fundraiser.
Fundraising for a charity on GoFundMe can have an even bigger impact than a donation alone, as your fundraiser can raise more than what you alone can give.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising is a fantastic way for nonprofit organizations to raise money. You can use platforms like Qgiv to host a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, which allows your supporters to fundraise on behalf of your organization.
Each participant in your peer-to-peer campaign can build out a personal fundraising page where they can collect donations from their family and friends. This is a great way to empower your supporters to take an active role in fundraising.
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Peer-to-peer fundraising is a perfect fundraising method to tie to an engaging event like a walk or bowl-a-thon. You can also use it as part of a general fundraising campaign.
With Qgiv's peer-to-peer software, you'll have access to personal fundraising pages, team fundraising, and fundraising tools for you and your supporters. You'll also have a fundraising dashboard where your fundraisers can access email and social media post templates, branding guides, and other fundraising resources.
Here are some key features of Qgiv's peer-to-peer software:
By using peer-to-peer fundraising, you can raise any amount of money and tie it to an engaging event. It's a versatile tool for nonprofits big and small.
Donor Management
Donor management is a crucial aspect of any nonprofit organization. Effective donor management can make or break your fundraising efforts. Simple gestures like personalized thank you notes with an ask for additional help in sharing your cause with their networks is easy but powerful.
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Easily keeping donors updated about the campaign's progress is also vital. DonorPerfect is a popular nonprofit CRM solution that can help you create customizable online donation forms, process recurring and one-time gifts, and raise money both online and off.
With DonorPerfect, you can also automatically organize and update your donor database every time someone makes a gift with their integrated payment processing tool.
Top Donor Management Software
Donor management software is a must-have for nonprofits, and the good news is that there are many great options available.
Donorbox is a simple-to-use and low-cost fundraising platform that can have your campaign up and running in just 15 minutes.
Double the Donation's comprehensive matching gifts database can help you find out if a donor's employer offers a matching gifts program, and their 360MatchPro tool automates the matching gifts process.
With Donorbox, you can create a branded page to share your story with words, images, and videos, and post campaign updates to keep your supporters informed.
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DonorPerfect is a nonprofit CRM solution that can help you create customizable online donation forms, process recurring and one-time gifts, and raise money both online and off.
Double the Donation's widget can be embedded into your online donation form so donors can find out if their gift is eligible to be matched as they're in the process of donating.
Donorbox's crowdfunding tools allow you to send personalized emails to subscribers and supporters, and your page will be mobile-optimized for easy giving on-the-go.
DonorPerfect's integrated payment processing tool automatically organizes and updates your donor database every time someone makes a gift.
Update Donors
Easily keep donors updated about your campaign's progress and thank them for their support. Simple gestures like personalized thank you notes with an ask for additional help in sharing your cause with their networks is easy but powerful.
Look for crowdfunding platforms that allow you to easily share updates, both on the campaign page as well as via email and social media. These updates, which may include thank you messages, impact stories, and deadline reminders, will keep your donors engaged.
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A feature of great crowdfunding platforms is the ability to add a goal tracker to your campaign that shows real-time donation updates. This can create a sense of urgency among donors to inspire more donations.
You can use DonorPerfect to automatically organize and update your donor database every time someone makes a gift with their integrated payment processing tool. This makes it easy to keep track of your donors and their contributions.
With access to donor details, you can continue your relationship with people who donate or register for events through the platform. This allows you to follow up with people in the long term, like through your newsletter list and automated donor campaigns.
Access to Donated Funds
Access to donated funds is crucial for nonprofits to manage their finances effectively. You can expect the distribution of funds to vary based on the payment processor you use, ranging from daily to monthly options.
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Donate Kindly, for instance, allows for daily, weekly, and monthly payout options, which is a great feature for nonprofits that need to manage their funds regularly.
DonorPerfect also offers automatic organization and updating of donor databases, which is a huge time-saver for nonprofits. This integrated payment processing tool ensures that donor information is always up-to-date.
The timeline for payout will depend on the specific payment processor, but it's essential to choose a processor that meets your nonprofit's needs.
Recommended read: Seed Funding for Nonprofits
Getting Started
As of November 7th, 2019, nonprofits can now sign up to get started on the GoFundMe Charity site.
GoFundMe Charity is an equalizer that allows small organizations to make a big impact. With a small budget or staff, you can punch bigger than your weight.
The largest organizations out there use these tools and so can you. GoFundMe Charity is proud to bring to market the most powerful enterprise software that's still easy to use.
GoFundMe celebrates its 10th anniversary next year, having brought together more than 50 million donors to raise more than $5 billion in its company history.
Online giving has grown 17% since 2016, making GoFundMe a go-to choice for nonprofits.
A unique perspective: Financial Ratios for Nonprofit Organizations
Pricing and Fees
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Pricing and fees can be a major concern for nonprofits looking to use GoFundMe or other fundraising platforms. Donorbox, for instance, is free to get started with, but you'll pay a 1.5 percent platform fee per transaction, which you can ask donors to cover.
GoFundMe's pricing model is a bit more complex. They offer two options: a tipping model where nonprofits don't pay anything, and a donor-covered model where donors cover a small platform fee. Either way, there's a standard payment processing fee for each transaction.
For nonprofits, it's essential to consider the fees associated with each platform. Some platforms charge high fees, up to five percent per donation, plus transaction fees. It's crucial to research and compare fees to ensure your nonprofit gets the most out of each donation.
One way to minimize fees is to ask donors to cover processing fees as part of their gift. Donorbox allows you to do this, and research shows that 53.4% of total donations are covered by donors when this option is enabled.
Here's a comparison of the pricing plans mentioned:
- Donorbox: 1.5% platform fee per transaction, which can be asked of donors
- GoFundMe: Tipping model (no fees for nonprofits), Donor-covered model (small platform fee covered by donors), and standard payment processing fee for each transaction
Frequently Asked Questions
Does GoFundMe charge a fee for nonprofits?
No fee is charged to nonprofits for creating a fundraiser on GoFundMe. However, donors who opt for recurring donations may be charged a 5% fee to support this feature
Does money from GoFundMe go straight to the charity?
No, money from GoFundMe does not go straight to the charity. Instead, it's sent directly to the charity through PayPal Giving Fund for a more secure and efficient transfer.
How much does GoFundMe take on a $100 donation?
GoFundMe takes 2.9% + $0.30 of a $100 donation, totaling $3.20 in fees. This leaves $96.80 for the fundraiser.
Sources
- https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/gofundme-alternatives
- https://www.gofundme.com/c/start/charity-fundraising
- https://www.qgiv.com/blog/gofundme-alternatives/
- https://wiredimpact.com/blog/gofundme-for-nonprofits-what-you-should-know-about-gofundme-charity/
- https://corvee.com/blog/are-gofundme-donations-tax-deductible/
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