A New Twist on Fundraising!

Join the GIVE Social Network

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:48:00 +0000

Chapter 8: "GIVE Crumbs"

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:06:00 +0000

This will be a short post, but a fun one. I just took my family on vacation through South Dakota and Wyoming. Of course my wife and son are both involved with GiveWithoutGiving.org, and both have their own GIVE page. My son (12-years old) told me if I gave him a stack of "GIVE Crumbs" (business cards), he would leave a trail of them at each place we visit. I thought his enthusiasm was great, so I of course supplied him with as many "GIVE Crumbs" as he needed. I often say that GIVE is a grass-roots campaign to help build awareness and visibility for worthwhile causes; my son was a great example! Who knows if anyone will pick up a "GIVE Crumb" and register for a free GIVE page, but I thought it was a nice story. We would eat at a restaurant, and he would leave one on the table or at the register. We would go to a grocery store, and he would leave one on the public bulletin board. Although he is my son, it was a lot of fun to see a 12-year old glob on the idea and share such enthusiasm about it!

If you haven't done so already, maybe you should print off some "GIVE Crumbs" to hand out as you make your travels :)

Chapter 7: Moving Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:48:00 +0000

Well…it's been a couple of months or more since my last blog entry, but it doesn't mean there hasn't been anything going on. Let me break this into three parts: 1) Refresher 2) What's new 3) What's to come.

Refresher:

GiveWithoutGiving.org “functionally” operates as a not-for-profit organization. What does this mean? We are operating as though we are a not-for-profit entity, but we have not completed our State filings (in process) to make it official on paper. Once this process is completed, we will be classified as a not-for-profit entity in the State of Missouri. This will do a couple of things:

It will allow a supporter's purchase on a qualifying virtual billboard to be tax-deductible. There are a few legal wrinkles we still need to iron out here.
It will bring credibility to our organization as a viable and trustworthy fundraising entity.

The basic premise of GiveWithoutGiving.org is to offer FREE virtual billboards to any group or entity needing to raise funds to support their cause or mission. Supporters can purchase space on these virtual billboards to pay tribute to an individual or maybe advertise a business – they can essentially use their space however they want. The proceeds earned from the sell of these spaces are donated to the group or entity a virtual billboard represents. It's truly a win-win scenario for the virtual billboard owners and the respective supporters. The virtual billboard owners have an effective and innovative way in which to raise money for their designated cause or mission, and the supporters have the opportunity to gain visibility through their respective space on a given virtual billboard. The supporter can also claim their space as a charitable tax deduction in some cases.

What's New:

I suppose the most notable thing worth mentioning is our acceptance into a business development program offered through the State and University of Missouri (http://www.missouribusiness.net/). We've been assigned a seasoned business development mentor; and access to legal, marketing, media, and other resources as we prepare ourselves for the next phase in our evolution. I like to think of this as springboard that will take our program to the next level. Many of the enhancements you'll read below were spawned from our involvement in this program.

If you haven't visited GiveWithoutGiving.org in awhile, you'll notice the application has been completely redesigned to improve the overall user experience. No longer do you have to sort through a long list of virtual billboards to find the cause or mission you would like to support. You can perform a simple keyword search to locate the virtual billboard you are interested in. Once you've identified the virtual billboard you would like to support, you can simply click the “Buy Blocks” button right from the same screen to purchase your blocks or space. If you recall in the old version of the application, you had to scroll through a long list of virtual billboards if you wanted to make a purchase. I felt this was redundant and frustrating to the user, and I wanted to consolidate the search and purchase functions into a single view.

We are launching an official pilot program targeting a mix of no more than 20 churches and K-12 schools. The goal of this pilot program is to stage ourselves for a more broad-scale marketing campaign and promotion. We will be intimately involved with the pilot participants to ensure the success of the program. If you are interested in participating in this pilot program, please send your request to pilot@givewithoutgiving.org.

You'll also notice we have made an effort to use more familiar terms throughout the website. We're using terms like “virtual billboard” instead of “pixel grid”, “blocks" or "space” instead of “pixels”. You'll notice we've removed things like the “ALT TAG” field from the purchase process – I'd venture to guess that less than 2% of you know what that actually means. It's no longer there, so it doesn't matter. You'll notice the new “pager” functionality in the keyword search; meaning, if there are more than three items matching your keyword search, you'll see a “page 1, 2, 3, etc.” so you can more easily locate the virtual billboard your are searching for.

Here's a list of some of the other enhancements since my last blog entry:

Improved PayPal credit card processing.
The default size of a virtual billboard has changed from 50 x 50 blocks to 100 x 50 blocks forming a more rectangular shape that is more symbolic of a roadside billboard.
The registered owner of a virtual billboard can now determine the price they want to charge per block; whereas, before it was a fixed rate of $10 per block. $10 is still the default rate, but the registered owner can now specify the rate they would like to charge; hence, influencing the total fundraising potential of their virtual billboard. A virtual billboard with the new default settings now has a gross fundraising potential of $50,000.
You'll notice several free virtual billboards we have added when you do a keyword search on the term “FREE” (I.e “FREE Demo Board”, “FREE Kids Board”, FREE Prayer Board”, and FREE Baby Board”. Virtual billboards are always 100% free, but the blocks on these virtual billboards are also FREE. The “FREE Demo Board” is a great place to experience the program before deciding to support a virtual billboard representing an interest you share a special affinity with.
We've added a new self-running demo you can watch to familiarize yourself with how to use the program as a supporter.
You'll also find a new fundraising potential calculator on the home page and the floating menu. This allows you to change the number of blocks and rate to project the fundraising potential of a given virtual billboard (http://www.givewithoutgiving.org/pixels/calculator.html)
You'll notice towards the bottom of every virtual billboard there is a dynamically generated code snippet you can copy and paste into an existing web page. This allows you to display a designated virtual billboard with all the active links directly into an external web page. I've included a mini virtual billboard as a part of this blog entry to illustrate the feature. You can see more examples by clicking the following link or pointing your web browser to http://www.givewithoutgiving.org/pixels/demo_page.html.

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.

What's to Come:

As with any software application, there are always minor bug fixes to be addressed. Having come from the software industry, I am proud to say that these are very few and far between. If you find a bug in the application, please submit it to support@givewithoutgiving.org so we can resolve it as quickly as possible. We go through a pretty diligent quality assurance process to ensure our code is sound, but sometimes things slip between the cracks.

One of the larger projects we are working on is the ability to introduce reveal code into a virtual billboard. What does this mean? Think of a virtual billboard with a background image that has a layer over the top of it. Each time you purchase space on this virtual billboard, a portion of the image beneath the layer is revealed. The fundraising goal is to reveal the entire picture beneath the layer. The supporter can still attach an image or picture, but it will be displayed in the caption window along with their message text instead of on the virtual billboard. This would be great for a church launching a new building campaign where the background image could be the architectural diagram of the proposed building. Each time a supporter makes a purchase, more of the building is exposed.

We're also working on a code that will actively monitor your fundraising status and present it in a visual format (i.e. traditional fundraising thermometer we're all familiar with).

As always...I appreciate your feedback. I read every email that lands in my Inbox, so please send me your thoughts and suggestions. I'll try not to take so long between blog entries :)

Chapter 6: A Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:50:00 +0000

I had a couple of hours to collect my thoughts on a flight from Washington D.C. back to my home in Kansas City today, and I decided it would be a good time to craft another blog entry and reflect back on GiveWithoutGiving.org. Much of what I wrote is repetitive to my previous blog entries, but I did include some additional detail I may have previously left out. If you haven't done so already, be sure to subscribe to my Founder's Blog so you get my updates when I post them.

I've been building a giving program since my late father was first diagnosed with cancer back in July of 2000. My mission was to create a platform where friends and family could exchange their thoughts and prayers for a loved one; while in doing so make a financial contribution to help offset unexpected expenses their loved one may be faced with. The original vision has evolved over time, but my Dad has been and continues to be my inspiration for the program.

When my father was being treated for cancer at M.D. Anderson Research Hospital in Houston, TX, a couple of things stood out. What struck me most was that my Dad was one of literally hundreds of patients going through the exact same experience – and that was just one out of many hospitals treating patients like my Dad. Think of the thousands of people faced with life-changing events on a daily basis. I witnessed first-hand the emotional and financial devastation my Dad’s illness had on our family, but I also noticed our situation wasn’t unique. My Mom would run up phone bills in the hundreds of dollars trying to keep family and friends informed back in Kansas. Their retirement savings evaporated due to their insurance provider not covering some of the experimental treatments and medications prescribed by the doctors. There were countless medical and travel expenses that eventually consumed all of their savings as my Dad was fighting for his life. When my Dad passed in July of 2003, my Mom was left with a financial calamity. She ultimately lost any financial security she once had. Now at age 66 my Mom continues to work instead of enjoying the dream of retirement her and my Dad once shared. The sad reality is that this is the norm instead of the exception for many families.

The personal experience I described above was and continues to be the inspiration behind GiveWithoutGiving.org. GiveWithoutGiving.org is a website where friends and family can purchase space on a virtual billboard, and the proceeds are donated to the specific cause the virtual billboard represents. A virtual billboard can represent an individual or family in need, a specific cause, a church or school, a community, or any organization or club one might want to support. When a contributor purchases space on a virtual billboard, he or she can attach a picture that includes a short message they want to share with those who visit their space on the virtual billboard. Contributors can also attach a link directing visitors to an external website they would like to share or promote. When supporters visit a virtual billboard, they move their mouse pointer over the various pictures that were purchased by contributors. As they move their mouse pointer over a contributor’s picture, a short message from the contributor pops up sharing his or her thoughts about the cause the virtual billboard represents. The visitor can also click on any one of the pictures that occupy a space on a virtual billboard, and be directed to an external website the contributor designated when he or she purchased the space. You can essentially think of it as an interactive message board to support a given cause through what we refer to as virtual billboards and virtual real estate.

The key benefit of the program is that 90% of all earnings are donated by GiveWithoutGiving.org to the cause the virtual billboard represents. For example…if you purchased a single block of space on a virtual billboard representing your son or daughter’s soccer club, it would cost you $10. Of that $10, $9 would be donated by GiveWithoutGiving.org to your son or daughter’s soccer club. The same applies if the cause were a cancer fund for a loved one. The program creates a fun and interactive way for people to financially contribute to a cause they support.

The other benefit is that the program is absolutely FREE. If you have a cause you want to support and raise funds for, there’s no charge or fee to register for a virtual billboard. Once you’ve registered for your virtual billboard and have been approved, you simply start sharing it through your network of friends, family, co-workers, church members, or any other group of people that share a common interest with the cause you are sponsoring. Each virtual billboard has a unique web address that you can share in emails, link to on other websites, or publish in flyers or on business cards.

The added benefit to contributors is that their space on a virtual billboard doesn’t necessarily have to be personal in nature. It could be an advertisement for their business that signifies corporate sponsorship for the cause the virtual billboard represents. For example…you might own ACME, Inc. and want to show your support for the Juvenile Diabetes Association represented by the associated virtual billboard. You could purchase a 20x20 space on the virtual billboard and use your company logo as the picture for your space. You could attach a short message describing your corporate sponsorship and support for the Juvenile Diabetes Association, and also include a link directing visitors to your company website. You’re not only illustrating your company’s support for the Juvenile Diabetes Association, you’re advertising your business to everyone else that visits the virtual billboard and shares your common interest with the Juvenile Diabetes Association. It really becomes a community of peers.

In summary, GiveWithoutGiving.org is a supplemental fundraising program that is designed to drive funds to the specific cause a virtual billboard represents. Unlike other programs, 90% of all revenues are donated to those that need it most – the individual or family in need, the local soccer club, the building fund for your church, the band club, or any other worthwhile cause or organization. GiveWithoutGiving.org retains the remaining 10% to maintain the operational status of the program. This program isn’t designed to replace your current fundraising efforts, but rather compliment them. Please visit http://www.givewithoutgiving.org/ and be sure to subscribe to my Founder’s Blog.

Chapter 5: Partner Collaboration

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:33:00 +0000

It's been awhile since my last blog entry, but much has happened since my last post. As we continue to reach out to individuals and organizations to supplement their fundraising efforts, we've also been reaching out to potential partners to enhance our offering. Although GiveWithoutGiving.org’s virtual billboard program has been received extremely well, it has the potential to be even better when combined with other programs that compliment and philosophically share our same vision.

This may be putting the cart before the horse in that we're still working out a few details, but I'm compelled to share with you the results of some of our partnering activities in an effort to enhance our programs and improve your fundraising results with GiveWithoutGiving.org. When it comes to fundraising, you want to maximize your efforts so as to increase your revenue potential for your organization or cause. The primary focus of the GiveWithoutGiving.org website is to sell ad space/personal tributes on our free virtual billboards; whereas, 90% of the ad revenue is donated to the designated cause the virtual billboard represents.

Through our partnering efforts we have teamed up with Cognigen Networks to offer a wide range of residential and business-class services from many nationally recognized providers. Below is a sampling of services we now offer through our relationship with Cognigen Networks:

Local & Long-Distance Phone Services
Voice of IP Telephony Services
Unified Communications
Dial-up and Broadband Internet Services
Satellite Television
Much more…

Please visit our services section from the floating menu (GWG Services) for a complete listing of products and services offered through our partnership with Cognigen Networks. Staying true to form, GiveWithoutGiving.org will apply 90% of all earnings to our General Relief Fund that is intended to offer financial relief to individuals and communities in need. More information on the General Relief Fund can be found on the GiveWithoutGiving.org website.

Our most exciting partnering activity has been with a national loyalty card provider (USA Savings Club) where you receive noticeable discounts from merchants you regularly frequent in your local community. You simply present your loyalty card at the time of purchase to receive your discount from participating merchants. In addition to the discount you receive on your purchases, we have negotiated with these same merchants to donate a percentage of your savings to the fundraiser or cause assigned to your specific loyalty card. The best part is that you get to determine which organization or cause you want to support through this program! You might think of it as a universal grocery store card (with a twist) that’s good with many of the local merchants you currently frequent within your community. There is no cost or membership fee to participate in the program. We’ll provide as many loyalty cards as needed at no charge for you to distribute to your supporters. Each time a loyalty card is used by one of your supporters, a small percentage of their savings is donated to support your cause by the participating merchant.

What’s in it for the merchants? We will be handing out thousands of free loyalty cards to organizations in the local community to distribute to their supporters. This program will drive thousands of motivated buyers to the merchant’s store front knowing that each time a supporter uses the card a percentage of the card holder’s purchase will be donated to the organization or cause assigned to the loyalty card. Card holders are driven to the merchant’s store front primarily based on the emotional attachment to a given cause, but they also benefit in additional cost savings from participating merchants on their normal purchases.

Combined with our virtual billboard program, this will truly revolutionize the world of fundraising. Please stay tuned as we are in the final stages of launching this program!

Chapter 4: Why Not?

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:10:00 +0000

There are several adjectives that describe GiveWithoutGiving.org's "One Pixel at a Time" program:

New
Unique
Revolutionary
Innovative

A handful of folks have offered some candid feedback that in turn prompts this blog entry. I think the words above can be a little scary to some people. No one wants to be "first" or one of the "early adopters" of a new program. I think they would just as well see someone else try it for awhile before deciding to take the plunge themselves. Most people make decisions based on level of risk. So what are the risks? What's the absolute worst thing that could happen by registering for a FREE virtual billboard? As mentioned, the program is absolutely FREE...so there's really nothing to lose! The worst thing that could happen is that you simply decide not to continue with the program. When you register for a FREE virtual billboard, you get a unique URL (a pointer to your new virtual billboard) that you can link to from within your existing website and/or promote through newsletters and other distribution channels. If you decide the program is not for you, simply remove the link from your website and stop promoting the program. When you think about it, the worst thing that could really happen is that someone might actually purchase space on your virtual billboard, and you earn a little money for your cause.

It's not my intent to take a defensive position, but rather to offer further explanation to eliminate any confusion regarding allocation of funds. I entirely understand that some people may question GiveWithoutGiving.org's policy to retain 10% of every purchase to cover operational costs. I have the same thoughts when I make a donation to a recognized charity. How much of my contribution is really going to benefit the intended cause? We're all aware of the stories where we find very little of our donated money actually goes towards the cause it is intended for. In most cases, you really don't know how your money is being allocated. It's for this very reason I feel it's important that I offer this deeper explanation.

If you're interested in the truth about charitable contributions as they relate to most nationally recognized organizations, visit http://www.charitynavigator.org/. The difference with GiveWithoutGiving.org is that we're upfront and honest with how your money is being allocated. The recipients of our donations are the virtual billboard owners themselves; so inherently they have the ability to audit the donations they receive. If you're the owner of a virtual billboard, it's pretty easy to figure out if you're getting your 90% or not. Simply add up the total number of pixel blocks sold on your virtual billboard, and measure it against your donated funds from GiveWithoutGiving.org. It's easy math! If the numbers don’t add up, then we would be committing fraud that would most certainly result in monetary consequences and likely imprisonment. As blunt as this may sound…if you go back to "Chapter 1" of my Founder's Blog, you'll clearly see my motivation isn't to go to jail. Our goal is to to help people, and we want to do it in a genuine and honest way.

Okay...so what happens with that 10% we're withholding from every purchase on your virtual billboard? We use PayPal to process our credit card transactions. PayPal charges us a 2.9% + $0.30 per credit card transaction. So with a minimum $10.00 purchase, GiveWithoutGiving.org retains $1.00. Of that $1.00, PayPal chews up $0.59. That leaves $0.41 left to cover technology enhancements, hosting fees, promotional expenses, and human capital costs. Now based on participation and volume, we could potentially generate more revenue than what is required to cover our operational costs over an extended period of time. This is why we have established fixed budgets for these items. If we generate more revenue than what is required to cover our operational costs, we apply the surplus to our General Relief Fund. This fund is designed to offer financial relief to randomly selected people experiencing financial challenges as a result of an event or condition outside of their immediate control. A recipient could range anywhere from an individual struggling with an illness to a family who has lost everything due to a natural disaster.

So back to the original question, "Why not"? Jump in and give it a go!

Chapter 3: What is a "Virtual Billboard"?

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:22:00 +0000

Have you ever been cruising down the Interstate and seen one of those gigantic signs set off from the road that reads, "Advertise Here" -- it usually has a phone number at the bottom for you to call? Think of a "virtual billboard" as one of those gigantic signs you pass by while surfing on the "Information Super Highway". It's really the same thing with a few unique twists.

The signs you see on the Interstate are very expensive, and usually reserved for just a single ad or message. Contrary to the roadside signs, you can own a virtual billboard absolutely FREE! You can spend as little as $10 to place an ad or message on a virtual billboard. Unlike the signs you see on the Interstate, a standard sized virtual billboard will host hundreds of ads and messages. Additionally; you have the opportunity to attach a short message describing the purpose of your ad, as well as link to an external web site you would like to direct visitors to!

From a marketing perspective, the best thing about a virtual billboard is that inherently it has a targeted audience -- the host web site from which it is linked to. For example, a school might have a virtual billboard that is linked to their school web site. Obviously, those that visit the school web site share a common interest in the school and its programs; hence, the ads on the virtual billboard can be targeted to that very specific audience! If I own a car dealership, I may want to advertise on the school's virtual billboard to target high school students looking for a used car before heading off to college. What a great place for a "Go Army" ad with a link to the US Army recruiting web site! That is advertising maximizing the full potential of a targeted audience!

However, don't lose sight of the fact that advertising may not be the motive behind the buyer. It could be that the buyer simply wants to support the cause; hence, the advertising component is just a bi-product or reward for his or her support. Either case, it's a win-win solution for the buyer and the owner of the virtual billboard!

Chapter 2: Explaination of Fees

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:24:00 +0000

We have all this spelled out on the GiveWithoutGiving.org website, but I thought I'd take a stab at explaining the fees in my own words. Most charitable organizations retain an "industry-standard" 15% or more of your donation to cover operational costs. We're no different in that we have our own operational costs, but we're only retaining an "industry-leading" 10%! Of that 10%, the PayPal credit card processing fees chew up 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. This leaves around 7% to cover all the other operational expenses that go into maintaining this program (i.e. development costs, hosting fees, human capital costs, etc.). My contribution as Founder is that I've already absorbed most of these costs as my personal investment in the program; hence, I can afford to be more generous than other organizations. This goes back to my first post (Chapter 1) in that this is a true passion of mine, and I've made a personal investment to see it succeed. My goal is to help those less fortunate, and I truly believe this is the vehicle in which to do it!

So let's run some real numbers...let's say you purchase a single pixel block for $10 to support a chosen cause represented on a virtual billboard. $9 will be donated directly to the cause you chose to support. Of the remaining $1, $0.59 will be consumed by the PayPal credit card processing fee. This leaves $0.41 to to be applied to all other operational costs.

The point being...the motivations behind this program are genuine and reflected in the numbers. As stated on the website, if there is a surplus of capital after all other operational costs are paid, the surplus amount will be applied to the General Relief Fund. The General Relief Fund is the "catch-all" money bucket, so to speak, that will be used to randomly help individuals and families experiencing a financial crisis due to events outside of thier control.

Please feel free to contact me directly at gunruh@givewithoutgiving.org if you have questions surrounding the economics of this program.

Chapter 1: From the Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Founder & "Giver") — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:59:00 +0000

Thank you for visiting my blog. I am the founder of GiveWithoutGiving.org, and welcome the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. I live my life in chapters, so I thought it was appropriate to start this blog in the same manner. Are you familiar with the GiveWithoutGiving.org -- "One Block at at Time" program? It's a fundraising program with a new and innovative twist. The idea is to sell virtual real estate (blocks) on a virtual billboard (grid) where the proceeds go to support a designated cause of which the virtual billboard represents.

Let me start off by giving you a little history on GiveWithoutGiving.org. This all started several years ago when my Dad was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer located on the lower portion of his spine. I had a first-hand look at the physical, emotional, and financial devastation this disease can cause! This was the motivation for me to develop a program that would allow family and friends to share their thoughts and prayers for a loved one, while at the same time providing much needed financial assistance to the person or family in need. I watched my Mother rack up phone bills in the hundreds of dollars as she tried to keep family and friends informed of Dad's condition while being treated at M.D. Anderson Research Hospital in Houston, Texas. I also witnessed Mom and Dad's retirement savings completely dissipate in a few short years due to their insurance provider denying coverage on "experimental" drugs and treatments prescribed by the doctors treating my Dad. His cancer was rare, and conventional treatments were ineffective. The part that struck me most when visiting my Dad while in Texas was that he was one of literally hundreds of people going through the very same experience. I don't know which is worse...the cancer or the system! This was a sad, yet moving experience. My Dad ultimately lost his battle to cancer, but the financial burden on my Mother lingered on.

The scenario above was the inspiration behind GiveWithoutGiving.org. It started out as a very personal attempt to offer some financial relief to my parents. The program was received well by friends and family, so I teamed up with a business partner in 2002 to take it to the next level and officially launch GiveWithoutGiving.org. We initially started out by offering common services people could subscribe to where a percentage of our commissions would be donated to a specific cause or purpose. This approach really didn't catch on like we thought it would, so we had to re-invent ourselves; hence, we arrived at "One Block at a Time" several years later. Quite honestly, we don't have a lot of traction in these early stages, but we are confident in the concept. In the fundraising world, there's simply nothing that compares. We truly think we can serve a greater good, and offer significant financial relief to those needing it most.

I think it's important to understand the history behind an idea so as to better understand the motivations that drive it. Although my Dad is no longer with us, this is still a very personal crusade. My primary goal is to help those in need, but clearly this program has potential in other areas.