Fundraising for Non-Profit Organizations

Eco-friendly and environmental consciousness cover a broad spectrum of concerns from global warming to what detergents to use. And virtually all efforts to promote these concerns are driven by Non Profit Organizations. Funding for these organizations is critical to their continued ability to protect the planet and create more planet friendly living. While our focus here is on environmentally focused non profits, the fund raising information here is equally applicable to all non profits

Internet Technology Creates Fundraising Opportunity
In the Non-profits world one of the biggest challenges is to tap into those people who are either not "onboard" or who are "onboard" but not really participating. 90% of the message only reaches those that are already "onboard" (resulting in preaching to the choir) And, with non-profits, more than any other vertical, organizations depend on WOM (word of mouth) to get more people onboard and to broaden the base from which they can solicit donations. Too often, charitable institutions are too focused on 'donations' and not focused on BUSINESS. It is a business and the business needs revenue. Revenue can come from other sources besides donations. The internet "revolution" opens many new possibilities and the evolution of social media and ecommerce is now particularly suited to create new methods of revenue generation for Non-Profits. For example, online shopping sites that pay cash back can generate 10s of 1000s of dollars if large memberships use them regularly. Getting the memberships to use them can be a challenge and adding a ning.com community site enhancement and an IM tool like skype or yahoo so that members can shop together can enable non-profits to direct their memberships and orchestrate them to use the shopping portal. The ability to create contests and pass out kudos enables the non profit to help the members to change their shopping and benefit the charity.

It takes some effort to get your members into the habit of shopping online and shopping through the charities commission generating portal, but consistent application of a relatively simple plan will soon produce significant results.

A simple and effect way to share the concept with your members is to create a "screen capture follow along" with audio and captions. Using a tool like http://www.screentoaster.com, you can easily demonstrate how easy it is for members to shop through your portal and create revenue for your cause.

Click on this link to see how simple it really is.

Here is the link to my personal shopping portal http://shoptoearth.net/biwiseo

Regular Store Shopping, too!
600 regular Department Stores, Specialty Shops and dot com stores
Sears, Macy's, Saks, Kmart etc
Addidas, Banana Republic, Gap, FootLocker, etc
Expedia.com, buy.com, hotwire.com etc
The shopping portal also has 5 or 6 hundred regular stores that I shop at, too! And it pays a "cashback" or commission for every purchase made online at those stores as well! I spend about a grand a month on clothes, household goods, and other consumables and I spend even more on home electronics and computers and even more on travel! So altogether this cash back for shopping on my own web portal is pretty attractive and I know I have family and friends that will shop online through my portal, so it is a nice proifitable deal for me.

One more money making component
After I bought my shopping portal I got another email from the guy whose site i originally shopped on. He said "thanks for the $100!" and explained that he gets a $100 for everyone who signed up through his link AND he will continue to get "points" that he can turn into cash, everytime someone shops on MY portal. He went on to explain, as I had already seen in the slideshow I had watched, that if anyone signed up through my portal he would also get more points and he would get points off from any shopping done on those websites, and so on. He explained that I was now in his downline and anyone who bought a shoping portal through MY link, would also be in his downline and they would make up my own downline if I wanted to pursue this. He also offered to give me any assistance or guidance I might need to do this as a business.

And now, I am doing it as a business, and liking it. My main focus was to shop green, and I do that and encourage others to, every chance I get. And now I make money at it. That's pretty cool.

Driving to stores increases Pollution

How much pollution reduction can be achieved if we all simply quit driving to the store? I think it is a big number. Millions of cars driving a few blocks, or many miles to get to your favorite mall, department store or specialty shop, certainly must produce a lot of pollution.
Breaking your old habit of jumping in the car and driving to a store to get a new outfit, or shoes, or TV or computer, or just about anything really, (with the exception of perishables - I MISS WEBVAN!) and replacing that habit with sitting down at your computer and ordering what you need is a simple and practical way to reduce your carbon footprint. Not only will you save time and gas, but the gas you don't use helps decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. Simply shop online and you get multiple benefits and you are helping the planet!
You can shop at over 600 of your favorite department stores, specialty shops and online businesses simply by going to my shopping portal at http://shoptoearn.net/biwiseo (full disclosure: I make a small profit from every purchase you make) . Stores like Office Depot, The Home Depot, Macy's, Sears, Saks, Addidas, The Gap, Banana Republic, Dickies, Dockers, Bluefly.com, Expedia.com, hotwire.com, buy.com - all the stores you know and trust. Take advantage of discounts and free shipping offers!
How do you make that better? Buy eco-friendly products from environmentally conscious manufacturers from their online stores. You do not have to spend hours on google looking in order to find the widest variety of products and the best selections of eco-friendly everything. Just shop through my online shopping portal http://shoptoearth.net/biwiseo and you will find 1000s of products from 100+ of the best known names in environmentally conscious manufacturers. Everything from toilet paper and tissue to health care and beauty products. Weider Nutirtion, Atkins Diet, Kiss My Face, True Green, Twinlabs, Tiger Balm, Think Products, Sun and Earth and many more. You will find products that you didn't even know existed!

Sharing the shopping experience. Even if you are not very technically inclined it is fun and easy to share the shopping experience. Download Skype from skype.com or use whatever real time instant messenger audio/video chat service you already have and call up a friend to join you in shopping on the internet! Honestly, this is easy, and it is fun. Chat and shop!
As you know, I make a small profit from any purchase you make on my shopping portal. You could, of course get your own shopping portal and make that commission yourself (see http://biwijoe.earn4100.biz ). Either way, you are helping the planet, and the economy!
Sharing is Caring! So send the link to this page to all of your eco-conscious friends!
Please go shop on it! :) http://shoptoearth.net/biwiseo

Regular Store Shopping, too!
600 regular Department Stores, Specialty Shops and dot com stores
Sears, Macy's, Saks, Kmart etc
Addidas, Banana Republic, Gap, FootLocker, etc
Expedia.com, buy.com, hotwire.com etc
The shopping portal also has 5 or 6 hundred regular stores that I shop at, too! And it pays a "cashback" or commission for every purchase made online at those stores as well! I spend about a grand a month on clothes, household goods, and other consumables and I spend even more on home electronics and computers and even more on travel! So altogether this cash back for shopping on my own web portal is pretty attractive and I know I have family and friends that will shop online through my portal, so it is a nice profitable deal for me.

One more money making component
After I bought my shopping portal I got another email from the guy whose site i originally shopped on. He said "thanks for the $100!" and explained that he gets a $100 for everyone who signed up through his link AND he will continue to get "points" that he can turn into cash, everytime someone shops on MY portal. He went on to explain, as I had already seen in the slideshow I had watched, that if anyone signed up through my portal he would also get more points and he would get points off from any shopping done on those websites, and so on. He explained that I was now in his downline and anyone who bought a shoping portal through MY link, would also be in his downline and they would make up my own downline if I wanted to pursue this. He also offered to give me any assistance or guiance I might need to do this as a business.

And now, I am doing it as a business, and liking it. My main focus was to shop green, and I do that and encourage others to, every chance I get. And now I make money at it. That's pretty cool.

ATT fail with “be Green with myWireless”

ATT fail with “be Green with myWireless” Another example of corporate not getting it. I much prefer METRO PCS to ATT Wireless. I am a customer at both…until Metro gets the iPhone. ATT’s most recent email to me tells me that if I pay them electronically and if I elect to receive my bill electronically it is “GREEN”. (I have been doing that ever since the service was available, but I guess they just spammed all their users without separating ebill customers) Their email implies they have some green consciousness. The fact that I do my business with them electronically implies that I have a green conscious ( I do see my green site http://www.thebestgreensite.com) but for them it is just a faster cheaper way for them to get paid. They benefit more than the environment. Now if in the same email they announced some admirable effort to help recycle dead cell phones (there is a huge number of them, all potentially polluting for years) or announced that they were donating a percentage of the money they save from not printing paper bills and not having to process paper checks, to some worthy green cause like http://repoweramerica.org/ , I’d say kudo’s for making at least some effort to offset their huge negative environmental impact on the planet. But just “Pay us electronically” doesn’t qualify as green friendly in my book…… As with their obnoxious Pay per minute plans, this is another ATT Fail!

Simple Changes
You can easily adopt in your everyday life

If you simply can't shop online, use re-usable bags at the grocery store, the drugstore, the produse market and conveninece stores. Look at the counter on the right side of this page. It NEVER STOPS. The counter indicates the number of plastic bags being used in the world.
Web Van and Publix shop on line were ahead of the times but plans are in the works to make such services available again.
Recycling is good but reducing the number of items you use that need recycling is better. Some big offenders include individual size drink containers. Buy galons, not six packs. The price of single serve paks (i.e. the price of convenience) is a huge cost on the world wide eco-system. Get a reusable single serve container and fill it from a larger container.