1 – Auction off premium event seating 2 – Grab Google Grants for publicity 3 – Leverage eBay for donations 4 – Swell your revenue stream with credit 5 – Multiply donations with upfront requests 6 – Explode your results by going OTT

Auction Premium Seating Heard about the Minneapolis church that auctioned off their three front pews for the Christmas Eve service as part of their school fundraiser? The bids topped $6,000 or $1,000 a pew. Not bad for something that went for free most other places. Just imagine what you can get for the premium seats at your own events.

Google Grants Are you hip to Google Grants? The world’s favorite search engine provides free advertising for registered 501c nonprofit groups. The Google Grants program is like Google’s pay-per-click AdWords program without having to pay for the clicks.

To be eligible, groups must have a website, non-profit 501(c)(3) status and not be religious or political in nature. Google picks new grantees every quarter. To apply for Google’s free advertising program, fill out an online application at http://services.google.com/googlegrants/application

eBay Giving Works Got eBay? Not in your fund raising plan? Then go to the world’s largest market place and sign up your nonprofit group for online donations. eBay Giving Works puts the power of the eBay Marketplace to work for nonprofit organizations.

Anyone can sell items on eBay and donate part or the entire final sale price to your nonprofit organization. Donations from the sales of eBay Giving Works items will be collected and distributed to you, and tax receipts will be issued to the seller on your behalf. Find out more at http://givingworks.ebay.com/nonprofit/

Increase Revenue With Credit Did you know credit is better than cash? Not only are people more likely to honor a pledge backed by a credit card than an ordinary phone pledge (100% to 70%), they are also much more willing to give more if you split the amount into smaller monthly pledges.

Instead of asking for a $100 donation, ask for $10 a month. Make sure you set it up as a recurring billing where you can bill the monthly amount for periods up to 36 months. Find the monthly sweet spot of your donor base and explode your donations on autopilot.

Make It Easy To Donate Shy about asking directly for money? A small Illinois nonprofit held a fundraising dinner for their supporters and raised $6,000. They prominently placed a big donation jar at the registration table and raised an extra $18,000.

Don’t be shy about asking for help and don’t be shy about making it as easy as possible for supporters to give financial support at any event. Just be upfront about your needs and give them high visibility.

Explode Results By Going OTT Know the secret of OTT? Over the top is what you want your fundraising event to be, the must attend occasion topping the social calendar. Pull out all the stops to add glitz and glamour. Be sure to provide multiple attractions that encourage participants to join in the fun (and open their wallets) wherever possible.

Silent auctions, live auctions, raffles, door prizes, entertainment, sponsorships, celebrity presenters, and glamorous settings work wonders by boosting turnout through free publicity and word of mouth. By going “over the top” with your fundraising event, you’ll magnify your donations mightily.

Put these fundraising ideas to work for your nonprofit group and make 2006 your best year ever.

Choose your Donation Style

There are a few different ways that you can choose to donate for charity. You might choose one charity and donate every month using a pre-authorized payment plan. You might choose a set amount each month and donate to a different charity each month. You might even decide that instead of making regular payments to any charities, you will instead make a donation every time you are approached at the supermarket or at the office. Although this last one sounds like it might be less expensive, it often ends up costing you more because you do not keep track of how much you spend.

Regardless of how you choose to allot your charitable donations, be sure to budget in a little extra. You might want to buy a chocolate bar from the kid at the door, or you might want to pick something up at the bake sale.

Track your Donations

Keep your donation receipts. This will allow you track how much you’re spending, which can help you decide if your current amount of donation is too much or too little based on your earnings. Traditionally, people allotted 10% of their income to charity, but you can judge how much or how little you feel is appropriate.

Research your Charities

You want the money that you give to charity to be well-spent. Some of the large world-wide charities have overhead expenses of as much as 60%. Go to your charities’ websites to see their budgeting. You want to choose charities with a low overhead cost, so that you know your money is going directly to help those in need, or directly to research, rather than to administrative or advertising costs.

Donate Alternatives

Maybe you don’t have enough money to pay your bills, let alone donate to charity. Consider donating your time instead. You could volunteer to collect money, or to organize paperwork at a local charity. Often, charities will be more pleased to have your time because they need people to help out.

You can also donate clothes, furniture, and even old cars to charity. Find out what kind of collections happen in your neighbourhood. It might even be useful for you if you are doing spring cleaning to have someone come to take away your old things. Donate things that are no longer useful to you, but don’t donate garbage. If something is useless, throw it out. You would be surprise at how many items can be donated: soup labels, grocery store receipts, pop can tabs, and even eyeglasses.

Do it for Fun

Often, charities organize events that will be fun. You can go to a charity dinner and have a wonderful evening, especially because you know that you are doing it for the right reasons. You might buy a ticket for a 50/50 draw, because chances are when they call your number you might win. If a charity is selling something that you might not need, consider if you might be able to get it as a gift for someone else. Your friend might be pleased to have a newly knit baby-blanket, even though it would have been no use to you.

Choose Charity Options

Sometimes you need to spend money, so why not choose to spend it through a charity? For instance, if you need to get your car washed, you might consider doing the charity car wash rather than the gas station car wash.

Sometimes schools or churches do fundraising where they sell cheese or oranges. Instead of buying your cheese or citrus fruit at the grocery store, you can buy them from the charity and feel good about how you are spending your money.

No matter how much or how little you earn, you can always provide something for those who are more in need than you. You will feel better about yourself by doing small things can make a big difference.