Accepting donations online

Many nonprofits want to accept donations online, but don't want to pay the processing fee charged by many sites. With Razoo, the processing fee is no longer a concern.



So what's the catch? Believe it or not, there isn't one! I contacted Razoo with that very question. They told me there is a donor backing their service who believes it is important for nonprofits to have online donation capabilities without losing a percentage for service fees. Knowing that 100% of your donation goes to nonprofits using Razoo is definitely enough for me, but there are other features that are pretty cool.

No account required! Signing up for an account can be a barrier for many users. It is still a good idea to set up an account with Razoo since it lets you track your donation history.

Connect with Facebook. If you have a Facebook account, you can use that to log-in to Razoo and share information with your Facebook friends.

Fund-raising pages. I've seen some pretty cool fund-raising pages out there, but they generally carry a fee, either through a percentage or a set up cost. Razoo lets you set up a fund-raising page at no charge. Anyone can create a page to support an organization.

I encourage you to check it out whether you are a nonprofit or an individual wanting to show support for a particular cause.

Are you thinking of setting up a web site?

TechSoup has a great post about simple low-cost web sites for nonprofits. The whole article is definitely worth reading. In my post, I want to comment on some tips about getting started.

Even if you’re not completely ready to set up your web site, register your domain name. In fact, register multiple domain names! Nonprofits generally use .org and I suggest also buying the .com and .net extensions. There are numerous providers of domain names and one I like (and feel is reputable) is 1and1.com. They only charge $8.00 or so each year.

Evaluating your needs is also an important step before diving right in. Even though someone may recommend an expensive web developer, it does not mean they offer services your nonprofit even needs. What is the goal of your site? Do you want basic (static) information with your name, address, office hours, etc..? Or, is it information that will be constantly changing, such as an event calendar?

Many of the nonprofits I have provided assistance to had their needs met with a basic, “out-of-the-box” solution. These types of sites provide wizards which will walk you through adding pages to your site. The site builder and hosting service with 1and1.com is $60 a year for a basic site.

More people are realizing that blogging platforms such as WordPress can actually work as a website. Take a look at some existing WordPress sites to see which features are available with a blog. This is another way to put up a web site without any programming knowledge.

There are definitely many other considerations, but this is a good way to get started. Remember, buy your domains. It’s okay to hold them even if you’re not going to use them for a while. Also, brainstorm with a few other co-workers or volunteers and decide what you want from your web site.