Ways to raise money

Charity fundraising ideas and ways to raise money for charity

Charity is the most generous work one can do out of the concept of fundraising. However, when talked about charity fundraising the first thing to come in mind is ways to raise money for charity.

There can be of course, millions of ways to raise money for charity, but choosing one of the best suited ways to raise money for charity from amongst the millions is the object of question for many.

Here, we try to sort out the dilemma of many by listing out some of the ways to raise money for charity.

Some ways to raise money for charity

  1. Jewellery sale: Sale of jewellery is one of the alluring ways to raise money for charity. Working with a wholesale jewellery company to sell their goods at your home is a good way to receive a portion of sale. This idea is a sure way to catch the attention of all classes of women and out of them the upper class one would not hesitate to spend their penny on jewellery.
  2. Paintball Arena: Ask someone for any open place which they can lend you for some days. Set up a paintball zone in that place and charge entry fees for the game. This is one of the ways to raise money for charity which attracts people of all age groups.
  3. Yard Sales: Go through the unused items in your closet and organise a yard sale. This could easily earn you a few bucks which you could donate to charity.
  4. Zombie Walk: Not only fundraising but also awareness about the cause of charity is important. More the awareness, more would be the ways to raise money for charity. An organised Zombie walk where you could invite the general public is a perfect and fun way to spread the cause of your charity fundraising.
  5. Yoga Class: A generous yoga instructor would never say no if asked to hold a yoga class for charity purpose. You could spread the word of yoga class and charge entry fees on participation. This entry fees could be well treated as one of the ways to raise money for charity.
  6. Tupperware Party: Similar in concept to a jewellery sale Tupperware party can be used as one of the ways to raise money for charity.

You can definitely choose any one of the above ideas for your charities fundraising or even improve upon them, but before seeking donations for charity, it is important to spread the consciousness about the cause of the charity. It helps more and more individuals get linked to the cause. This helps in making the implemented ways to raise money for charity a success.

Type of Crowdfunding Platform to Choose

Type of Crowdfunding Platform to Choose

In the 21st century, crowdfunding platforms are becoming more and more popular among businesses, entrepreneurs and professionals. Crowdfunding is regarded as a viable alternative to conventional loans and borrowings and it is opted for by many startups and new businesses. This is a type of online fundraising which can help you gather funds quickly, and without a lot of hassles. However, it is important for you to choose the right crowdfunding platform, and the following tips will assist you in finding the best one for your needs.

Check the user traffic

Find out whether or not the crowdfunding platform enjoys high user traffic from search engines and referrals. Check the reviews and various sites that inform about the traffic count of such platforms. You will need a platform that is visited by lots of people, so that your marketing pitch is able to grab lots of eyeballs. Crowd funding sites that have high traffic are generally more successful, for obvious reasons.

Check the acceptance of projects

You should also check whether the crowd funding sites you are going for accepts the type of project that you would like to raise money for. Not all crowdfunding websites allow every type of project, and the least that you can make sure is whether the platform you are signing up with accepts your kind of project. A lot about online fundraising is choosing the right type of platform.

Check the success rate

It is also important for you to check the rate of success that is enjoyed by the platform. Evaluate the total number of campaigns on the crowdfunding websites that you pick. Sites like IndieGoGo and Kick Starter have lots of campaigns – many of which are successful. These have flexible policies in financing projects.

Check the fees

Crowdfunding platforms are one of the best ways to raise money, but you should check the project fees. For successful projects, most platforms charge a specific fee. However, some platforms charge a higher fee for pitches that fail to make the cut. You should check the percentage of fees and decide which one you would wish to go for.

Crowdfunding is undoubtedly one of the best ways to raise money for startup businesses. However, the platform needs to be chosen carefully – as it is one of the most important factors that can decide the success of a marketing pitch. You need a platform that justifies the time, energy and effort that you invest into it.

Keyword: crowdfunding, crowdfunding platforms, crowdfunding websites, online fundraising, ways to raise money, crowd funding sites, crowdfunding platform

5 Major Advantages of Online Fundraising

5 Major Advantages of Online Fundraising

Crowd funding is a new way of online fundraising which can help entrepreneurs find investors easily, and find a proper platform where they can publicize their creative ideas in order to get lots of investors interested to put money into their projects. Efficient and cost-effective, crowdfunding platforms can go a long way to help you in getting your funds. It offers the 5 major advantages to any entrepreneur.

You can raise funds easily

It is quite difficult to raise the initial capital for any venture. But whether you have a business, a film, a social cause or even a personal cause to raise money for, you will find crowdfunding sites to be extremely useful. These save the time and effort needed to talk with bank authorities, apply for loans and inform about your business idea. If you are turned down by traditional lending organizations, these platforms can be a great alternative way to raise funds.

You can avoid risks

As a startup without enough business knowledge, putting your own money in the line can be an extremely risky proposition. However, crowd funding helps you avoid the risk of investing your personal funds. Even if the project fails, you will not land up with a financial emergency. You can even test risky business ideas with crowdfunding.

You can use the platforms for marketing

Crowdfunding platforms prove to be one of the best ways to raise money. Other than helping you with fundraising, it can also assist you with marketing. You can get vital marketing tips and ideas from experienced investors on crowdfunding sites, get them connect you with valuable business contacts and also get feedbacks from them about whether or not you need to fine-tune your business model in order to make it more successful.

You can promote your offerings before launch

There is also the advantage of being able to promote your products and services before actually launching them, and finding out whether they are actually able to generate some interest in potential consumers. You can also get valuable suggestions on improvement from online users on crowdfunding platforms and tweak your offerings to make them more suitable for consumers.

You do not have to offer stocks or ownership

With online fundraising platforms, there is no need for you to offer remunerations to your contributors in terms of money, equity or any special privilege. In exchange for funding, you may offer free tickets for concerts, t-shirts or mugs, discounted services etc.

Keywords: Crowd funding, crowdfunding platforms, crowdfunding sites, online fundraising, crowd source funding, ways to raise money

Creating Community Awareness and Support thru Crowdfunding

How to Use Crowdfunding to Obtain Community Support?

You must have heard about how crowdfunding has become one of the newer ways of funding, and is even being considered as a viable alternative to traditional lending institutions such as banks. This is actually one of the ways to raise money from many supporters for a single goal or project. It takes online fundraising to the next level, and helps people and organizations to get the support from a community of likeminded individuals in order to get finances for a project. Read on and know how you should use crowdfund to get support from the community.

Express yourself well

There are lots of crowdfunding websites, such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, which can help gather the necessary funds for a project. With these platforms, you can get a prominent position from which you will be able to run a fundraising campaign. These offer some of the best fundraising ideas, and you have to offer a small amount of money as fees. But it is important to express your ideas well to the crowd of potential crowdfunder investors and customers that you are trying to reach out to. Clear expression and articulation can help you to get people crowdfund your business. You can easily get the capital required and get your project started.

Mention the idea and the business plan

Some people hesitate to come clear about their business models and plans on crowdfunding websites, for fear of imitation and concept thefts. But you need to realize that without a proper idea about your business plan and your background, crowdfunder individuals will hardly feel enthusiastic about supporting you and get your venture off the ground. It is essential to tell them where and how you intend to go with your proposed venture. Be real, honest and transparent on the crowd funding sites and you can get the trust of people. You can make them crowdfund your project with less insecurities and greater amount of confidence. As the concept of fundraising online revolves around gathering community support, it is important for you to be serious in your efforts and make sure that you leave no stone unturned.

Mention the results and end goals

You also need to come clear about the kind of results that contributors can expect to witness and the time frame that they can see it in. You should tell them about your business model and the type of revenues or rewards that you expect from the venture. You need to tell them the reasons why they should feel the urge to be interested in your campaign, and prefer to invest on you instead of others. Keep in mind that crowdfunding is one of the best ways to raise money based on trust. Naturally, the more that you can get people on crowd funding sites to trust you, the better you will be able to get their support. The kind of support that you can get may go beyond simply monetary contributions. Your investors can spread word about your campaign and enhance your online fundraising efforts.

Keywords: Crowdfunding, fundraising ideas, crowdfunding websites, crowd funding sites, crowdfunder, crowdfund, ways to raise money, online fundraising

Crowdfunding for Medical Research

3 Ways Crowdfunding Helps in Medical Research

The new century has seen a lot of advances in the field of science and medicine. Technological advancement has made medical practice better, more economical and quicker. The best thing about this advancement has been the type of benefits that patients are now able to get. The innovations and scientific advancements in the domain of medicine has helped also doctors and medical researchers to devise newer and easier methods of treatment, and experiment more as far as treating patients is concerned. But the lack of funds can kill the progress, and it is a fact that only grants are insufficient where medical innovation is concerned. Added to these, there are continuous budget cuts in these programs which make it quite tough to initiate and carry on meticulous research. Crowd source funding, one of the best ideas for fundraising, proves to be assistive in at least 3 ways.

It can help raise money more easily

With medical research, it can be quite tough to get government grants and even private organizations seem disinterested at times to loosen their purse strings without enough scope of profitability. However, there can be a major benefit in the field of medical research with the help of crowdfunding. It can help research organizations to publicly advertise their requirements and make use of online ways to raise money. It is able to create awareness even among investors who have been hitherto unaware of the scope of this type of investment. Investors can be wooed into backing these types of research projects for various reasons – any personal interest in the research, an interest to earn decent returns on investments or an inherent interest in the domain of medicine and medical science.

There are many platforms available

There is a wide range of crowdfunding platforms available, which are reward based in nature. These have assisted researchers to gather enough money from many investors, even total strangers, to finance their medical experiments which would not have been finished otherwise. With the availability of many crowd source funding platforms, there is the scope to get more and more backers interested. However, it is tougher to set up a biotech firm or a life science organization only from donations. With reward based crowdfunding, funds can be raised for the starting research. Once enough information is obtained and experiments are carried out for the medical trials, researchers can catch the interest of many VCs, economical strategic partners and dynamic partners more easily.

It helps broaden the investor population

Online fundraising is also one of the best ways to raise money for clinical research, considering the fact that it helps democratize investments as it lets any individual earn through investments in private organizations that solely aim to improve life science There is enough chance for patient communities to lend their own support to researches and innovations in medical and life science. Crowdfunding platforms are helping even people interested in bringing about a change in the healthcare system to make their monetary contributions, in however small way possible. This is undoubtedly one of the best ideas for fundraising.

Keyword: crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, online fundraising, ideas for fundraising, ways to raise money, crowd source funding, grants

Why is Peer To Peer Lending One of the Best Ways to Raise Money?

Peer To Peer Lending – Why it is one of the Best Ways to Raise Money?

Peer to peer lending, also referred to as P2P lending or person to person lending, is fast being seen as an ideal alternative to government loans and funding from traditional banks. This type of lending allows you to borrow money from P2P lenders. At one time, this concept was meant for financing micro loans for entrepreneurs to set up businesses in developing countries. With changing times, however, this type of loan is being commonly opted for by students trying to fund their higher education, housewives and small businessmen. Read on and find out how it proves to be one of the best ways to raise money.

Lack of high interest rates

Considering the fact that banks come with greater overhead expenses than P2P lenders, they charge a higher rate of interest. In case of P2P lending, banks are kept away entire from the entire process. This helps you to save a high amount of money in terms of interest, which makes it one of the best fund raising ideas.

Quick approval process

As compared to traditional sources of lending, such as credit unions or banks, which can take even a month for approving or rejecting your request for a loan, most of the P2P lenders make use of an application known as “automated decisioning” software which can almost immediately reject or accept the application for a loan. Once the application is met with approval, most of the P2P lenders take as little time as 5 days to process your request and release funds. This makes it one of the best fund raising ideas.

Fewer legal obligations

Many people find it difficult to satisfy the elaborate legal obligations which are set by banks, and the transactions also happen to be quite tiresome with these institutions. Peer to peer lending proves to be one of the best ways to raise money due to the fewer legal obligations that it comes with. The approval process is fast and the release of funds is quick enough, when applications are approved.

Easy qualifying

While approving the loan, neither the cash flow for your business nor your assets is considered. You can use the proceeds of the loan for any type of purpose associated to your venture. The P2P lending market is undergoing a huge growth. Some of the US firms engaged in this type of lending involve Virgin Money USA, Green Note Loans, Fynanz Loans, Lending Club and Prosper.com.

Keyword: peer to peer lending, ways to raise money, fund raising ideas

Best Platforms to Fund Musical Bands

Online Fundraising Sites – Two Platforms to Fund Musical Bands

When it comes to fundraising ideas, it is a good idea to go for online fundraising sites. It is important to keep in mind that crowdsourcing has become one of the very important ways to raise money for expensive projects to take off. Whether you are trying to gather money for a business venture, a music album or just for charity, you can get the necessary funding from these sources. If you are a musician who is trying to finance your band or music album or even get a degree in music to further your career, you can try music crowdfunding – which is also referred to as fan-funded music. These are two sites that you can try.

Sellaband

This is one of the best online fundraising sites that you can try for funding your musical aspirations. A lot of artists begin on this website by gathering funds for the expenses needed for recording a new album. Money can also be raised from this site for supporting musical tours as well as for covering promotional expenses. Fundraising campaigns can also be organized in order to fix a broken down vehicle for journeying many miles on an open road.

There is also a search page that can be used by users to browse through the genres of music that they love and discover new artists. There are special musicians discounts offered to specific vendors who offer important services like digital marketing, promotion or mastering. A fee of 15% is charged on the platform for all successful campaigns. It is undoubtedly one of the best online fundraising sites where you can use creative fundraising ideas to raise money for your musical career.

PledgeMusic

Like Sellaband, PledgeMusic charges a fee of 15% on every campaign that is successful. Fans can make pledges for free. In case a campaign is unable to meet its target of fundraising, the pledges are forfeited by the artists and given back to pledgers. Music-based crowdfunding benefits everyone – from fans to artists and even the platform itself. Crowdsourcing, apart from being one of the best ways to raise money, also helps artists to engage better with their fans. Musicians can make pages on the websites where they can pitch for money. Artists can also incorporate some of their tracks for potential pledgers to listen to, and get to listen to new music and discover new bands in the process.

The artist page of PledgeMusic appears similar to that of a blog page, where most of the sections and the content can be found on the landing page itself.

Keywords: online fundraising sites, fundraising ideas, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, ways to raise money

Peer to Peer Lending

Peer to Peer Lending – Should You Go For It?

You might have heard about the term “peer to peer lending” one of these days and wondered what it might be. This is simply one of the social ways to raise money which is going from strength to strength and more and more people are going for this type of funding instead of traditional banks and lending institutions which have elaborate and usually difficult approval processes, not to mention the strict terms and conditions. If you are looking for some effective fundraising ideas and wondering whether or not P2P lending can be your answer, read on and know.

How Does This System Work?

It actually involves getting money from online marketplaces such as Prosper.com that allow borrowers to get in touch with lenders. Peer to Peer lending is actually a form of social lending in which lenders and borrowers can agree on a loan without letting a third party dictate the terms and conditions of the loan. It is one of the coolest ideas for fundraising, without depending on traditional lending institutions. The loan request of a borrower is listed on the website and indicates the amount needed as loan, the loan duration and the interest rate preferred. Depending on their investment criteria, lenders go through hundreds of listings to place bids on the ones that suit their business as well as by determining the monthly expenses, monthly income and online profile of the borrowers. Where fundraising ideas go, this is one of the newest ones.

How Are Borrowers Assessed?

Like traditional lending organizations, such as banks, social lending places such as peer to peer lending sites have their own ways of judging whether or not a borrower is creditworthy. These websites assess them through their credit scores and a variety of other parameters, such as their affordability scores, stability scores, DTI ratio and more. Based on these parameters, these sites can lend as big amounts as 25,000 pounds for a span of 1 – 5 years. P2P is certainly one of the best ideas for fundraising.

Can You Apply for this Loan?

As long as you satisfy the minimum application criteria, you can apply. In most P2P lending websites, the registration process is fast and can easily be satisfied. If you can offer a realistic explanation of your need for the loan, your chosen way of paying back the loan and a few pointers about your reliability and stability as a borrower, you can have a higher chance of getting your loan funded. It is one of the best ways to raise money.

Keyword: peer to peer lending, fundraising ideas, ideas for fundraising, ways to raise money

Charity Event Ideas

Charity Event Ideas – 3 Ways to Raise Money for Charity

Once you have decided on your charity event ideas, it is time to move on to something bigger – gathering funds for the charitable purpose. Everything needs money and a charitable cause needs large donations from hundreds of people to be a success. However, this is easier said than done. Charitable events are known to be preachy and boring, and getting people to actually contribute money – especially in the ongoing economic climate – is nothing less than a mission impossible. However, there are 3 effective ways to raise money that you can try in order to gather funds for your cause.

Crowd-funding

It has become quite popular in recent times as one of the easier and effective ways to raise money for everything from business to personal causes and charitable purposes. In order to get crowdfunding, you need to visit online crowdfunding platforms such as Razoo, Indiegogo, Kickstarter or RocketHub. You need to build an online fundraising page and advertise the charitable cause that you wish to raise money for. With the help of these platforms, you can get people interested in your cause and donate money for the same.

Angel Investing

Other than crowdfunding, you may also try Angel investors. These are generally experienced and well-established entrepreneurs who can offer funds and well as valuable connections and advice for starting a new business. If you have a charitable event to organize which would raise some money in the form of ticket or product sales, but you need some initial investment to set up the event, angel investors can be good to go with. Investors’ Circle, Tech Coast Angels and Golden Seeds happen to be some of the most popular angel investing networks out there and can get you in touch with potential investors. You can also join the online social network known as AngelList, which is used for debt investment or raising equity. You may build an online profile and get in touch with potential angel investors who would like to join their name with your cause out of goodwill or due to a lucrative marketing opportunity.

Charity Auction

You can also find this to be one of the best charity event ideas. It is one of the most effective ways to raise money quickly and substantially. Make sure that you buy a collection of great products which have a lot of demand. You may request your relatives or friends to donate second-hand items. You may also approach corporate firms in the locality to donate items for the auction and get free ads in return at the venue. This is another effective way, apart from crowdfunding platforms and angel investors.

Keyword: charity event ideas, crowdfunding, crowdfunding platforms, angel investors, ways to raise money

Gofundme

How to Use Gofundme for Raising Funds?

Since the recession, getting money for the initial investment has become harder for small businesses and private entrepreneurs without big money for support. This has led to the birth of crowd funding, a phenomenon that has become more popular in the US after it was directly mentioned in the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act which aims at supporting funding of small businesses in the US by relaxing the security regulations. If you have a small business project that is relatively personal but need external backing nonetheless, GoFundMe is the perfect crowdfunding platform to go for.

What is Go Fund Me?

It is an online crowdfunding platform, similar to other online fundraising sites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, and has been helping Americans all over the nation successfully raise funds for their business. If you have the power to move the crowd, you will be able to get donations for about any type of project. It comes with sensible fees and offers the scope to have your project get more visibility on the social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.

What Can Go Fund Me Be Used For?

This platform for crowd funding can be used for raising funds for practically anything. It is one of the best ways to raise money, whether you are a private entrepreneur fresh out of a B school with a bright business idea or a young college student who is trying to gather money to complete his education. Even if you have a blog or website and need some funds to pay for your domain name and web hosting, you can get the registration fees covered with funds that you accumulate from the website.

How to Gather Funds on Go Fund Me?

You can use a wide variety of strategies and techniques to raise funds, as GoFundMe is undoubtedly one of the best ways to make money. Even more than other crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, the key here is to focus on higher visibility. Without taking the help of any paid online advertising services, you can simply rely on the social networking websites to promote yourself aggressively. Post frequently on MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus pages and upload high quality videos to your own channel on YouTube and add links to the posts on your own GoFundMe profile page. It is important to be patient, and you will begin to see success in a matter of a few weeks with persistence and smart endeavor.

Keyword: gofundme, crowd funding, crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, ways to raise money