Letters of Support - Fundraising for Idaho!

The Idaho Natural Resource Foundation (Idaho NRF) was met with positive support after the presentation on December 15, 2010. Britt Hosmer Peterson, Idaho NRF Consultant, asked attendees to commit to sending out letters requesting support of the foundation. The letters will be sent to outfitter and guide's clients throughout the year, preferably immediately following the client's trip in Idaho. By the end of the presentation, attendees had collectively promised to send out over 500 letters!

If you did not attend the presentation and would like to receive the postage-paid, pre-stuffed letters from the Idaho NRF office - simply call Janey now at 208.342.1438!

We've designed these letters so simply that all you have to do it write your client's name and address on the envelope and pop it in the mail! How easy is that?! By you committing to send out a handful of letters you are supporting conservation work in Idaho. In advance, we'd like to thank you for your time and help!

All funds raised will be going into the Idaho NRF general endowment fund. This is the lifeblood of any organization. This is the money that keeps the foundation going, it enables us to create, organize, and manage projects throughout the state. It helps you with your outdoor business, supporting the natural resources you make a living from.

Idaho NRF was designed to help fund IOGA projects, through raising money outside of our small community of outfitters and guides. Please do your part in raising money for our 2011 general fund!

Call Janey now and commit to sending out at least one letter. Do not wait: 208.342.1438.

You can also e-mail Britt to find out other ways you can personally contribute. She'd love to hear any new fundraising ideas you may have!

Some homework...

Please visit our website 
Follow us on Twitter: @IdahoNRF
Like us on Facebook: Idaho Natural Resource Foundation

Thank you everyone!

Fundraising Guru!

Rock Environmental welcomes a fundraising expert to the team!

Jane B. Ford, M.Ed., uses practical skills to help non-profits achieve their missions. She bases her consulting work on over 30 years of experience working with community and faith based non-profits.  At Rock, she will be using her talents working with international conservation and wilderness foundations.

Jane is also a published author, her book, Get Grants Now, offers a helpful perspective on seeking foundation and corporate grants to support the mission of non-profits.  Her experience and conversational writing style combine to make this book both a useful tool and an enjoyable read!

At Rock, Jane helps non-profit clients develop creative marketing and fundraising plans, concentrated research and funder prospecting, and preparing corporate and foundation grant proposals.  The two words that clients consistently use to describe Jane are practical and inspirational! 

Foundation & Conservation Consulting. Rock Environmental. info@rockenvironmental.com

Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away, NOW!

The Atlantic Philanthropies, a well-known and much respected foundation, had its beginnings in the early 1980s when it was established with a gift from an anonymous donor. Eventually, it was discovered that the donor behind this foundation, which has made grants totaling more than $5 billion, is Chuck Feeney and that he gave virtually all of his money to the foundation. In fact, Mr. Feeney is so committed to his charitable pursuits that he owns neither a home nor a car!

More recently, the foundation has made an even bolder move. It plans to spend its entire endowment and close shop by 2020. Why this dramatic course of action? Because Mr. Feeney and the foundation believe in Giving While Living – the concept that major problems can be solved sooner and more easily if we make investments in solutions now.

But the foundation doesn’t want to stop there. They hope to inspire others to embrace this philosophy. To assist with that effort, they’ve published a report, Turning Passion Into Action: Giving While Living, that discusses the impact of giving in this way as well as tips for donors who are interested in putting this concept into practice. It even includes a slide show of several donors who embrace this philosophy.

What do you think? Is “Giving While Living” a good idea for the sector? Do you practice this concept?

Posted by Sandra Miniutti

Fundraising with PayPal

Many people are aware of PayPal from its popular use as a payment system for eBay auctions. PayPal is a universally recognized Internet payment merchant with a solid reputation of being secure and easy to use. It is by far the largest of its kind, and is available in 103 countries/regions and used by more 100 million accountholders worldwide. But PayPal can be so much more.

Along with being a payment option for eBay online auction users, PayPal also offers a feature called PayPal Donations. PayPal Donations is a simple solution enabling nonprofit organizations to collect donations from their own Web sites or a link in their email newsletters. It is an ideal solution for nonprofits that don't have a full-time technology staff or sophisticated online fund-raising software. PayPal Donations is an easy to implement donation system that involves no upfront costs, and maintains detailed transaction records for your accounting.

The most common method of collecting PayPal donations is by setting up a donation button on your website. Include a paragraph with the button explaining this method and encourage visitors to click on the button to donate. Or you can create an entire page on your website discussing your organizations needs and encouraging visitors to donate via PayPal.

You can create several types of buttons to match your message. You can also create a series of buttons in incremental dollar amounts that your supporters can choose from. You can even set up ongoing monthly donations, called subscriptions, so your supporters can give a little each month, month after month.

PayPal takes all the headaches out of making sure your supporters enjoy a safe and secure donation experience. All contact and credit card information is entered on PayPal's secure website to eliminate any potential problems. After the donation is complete your supporters can be returned to a thank you page on your website if you choose. It's a quick, convenient and comfortable process.

Supporters can donate using a credit card from VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover. Supporters need not have a PayPal account to donate but if they do they can also donate from their PayPal account or transfer from their bank account.

When you receive a donation, PayPal will send an e-mail letting you know the amount and who sent it. Your supporter will also receive an e-mail receipt which can act as proof of their donation for tax purposes. This is a fool-proof method of tracking donations. And PayPal maintains detailed transaction records on their website that you can access 24/7.

I'm betting you are waiting for the other shoe to drop. That shoe named Fees. Well, those aren't so bad either compared to a regular merchant account.

No application fees.
No setup fees.
No monthly fees.
No gateway fees.
No transaction fees.
No expensive card machines to buy.
No expensive software to buy.
Ok, so what do they charge? PayPal doesn't charge anything until you get a donation, then they charge per transaction based on your total monthly donations:

0.00 - $3,000.00 = 2.9% + $0.30
$3,000.01 - $10,000.00 = 2.5% + $0.30
$10,000.01 - $100,000.00 = 2.2% + $0.30
over $100,000.00 = 1.9% + $0.30
(all funds are in U.S dollars for business accounts with donations being made and accepted in the United States)
For example: If you received a donation of $100 then PayPal would retain $3.20 before crediting $96.80 to your account. Meanwhile, the donor would realize the full $100 for tax purposes.
($100 x .029%= $2.90 + $0.30= $3.20)

It's easy to get your money too. PayPal will transfer your funds to your bank account whenever you want for free.

PayPal eliminates the need for your nonprofit to spend thousands of dollars on technical things like secure Web certificates, credit card merchant accounts, online processing software, and credit card machines. Nor does PayPal charge any upfront fees or monthly fees. And it is extremely easy to implement with a simple and competitive fee schedule.

If your organization doesn't already have an established way to accept cash donations PayPal is my recommended method. Once you set things up you can receive money 24 hours a day from anyone with an email address. Don’t miss this opportunity to make fundraising for your cause easier with this turn-key donation solution.

Article Source:www.fundraising-newsletters.com

Start accepting donations now with a PayPal business account. ...shoot me an e-mail for info! Britt Hosmer Peterson - britt @ rockenvironmental .com