We are working on an exciting new feature in FundMate (our online fund collection product offering in YourSchoolMate.com and YourSiteMate.com). We are building an online donation pledging feature in FundMate.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term “pledge” originates from the promise a contributor makes to send in funding at regular intervals for a certain amount of time. During a pledge drive, regular programming is interrupted by an appeal for pledges by station employees, who ask the audience to make their contributions, usually by phone or the Internet, during this break.”
Although Pledging originated in broadcasting stations, many non-profits are using mail and online pledging as a effective means to collect larger donations, over a longer period of time. When you are a non-profit and are seeking large donations, it is hard for most donors to make a large donation of $500 or $2000. But then he may be willing to make a smaller donation of $100 each for the next five years.
One, this reduces the “intimidation” factor of a large donation and makes it easier for the donor to be involved with the non-profit. This involvement can further lead to a larger role in the non-profit later, as he learns more about the organization (similar to marketing buzz, “permission marketing”).
Two, it empowers the non-profit to plan and forecast fund collection over several years, for a large activity like building a new office.
If you are a non-profit and are not running pledge drives, you may want to check it out. With our new product offering, we plan to support donors making an online pledge in the non-profit’s website. We also help non-profit managers to manage the incoming funds and track the pledge over the duration. Another key feature is out bulk email feature that allows managers to communicate to the donors about upcoming donation or a missed donation.
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