How Facebook Has Made Fundraising Easy

Social media keeps us connected with friends, family, and co-workers across the world. How did people ever stay in contact when they had to write a letter? Today, we are in the middle of the digital revolution. Is there anyone who doesn’t have a social media account? It seems that everybody is on the internet posting pictures, tweeting about their life, and “liking” their friends’ comments.

Many people spend their free time surfing through the recent posts to see what is happening on the message boards. While some say social media sites are addictive, they have also brought about a lot of good too. For instance, Facebook has been able to connect people far and wide that normally wouldn’t get to talk. Another positive thing is this mega site has made fundraising easy. Have you ever seen so many donation request pages or people selling their home-based business products? Fundraising is nothing like it used to be. Things have changed for the better.

Fundraising For The 21st Century
Remember the old days of fundraising. Kids often knocked on the door selling candy bars and other trinkets. Today, it’s not safe for children to go door to door, and people are leery about giving money to anyone who shows up at their door with sales tactics. Another fundraising method was to call friends and family members and ask for help, and this worked for that time period. Thanks to Facebook, those embarrassing calls are a thing of the past. With the average person having over 100 friends on this site, it is easy to see how the word can get around quickly.

It’s not uncommon to receive numerous requests to fund someone in their time of need. Maybe you get fundraisers for your local school or church selling products for a trip or new computers. Putting fundraising online takes the pressure out of it. Those who are not interested can move on, while those who are interested can buy what they want.

Some people put a picture and a brief story about why they need the money. They set their goal and then select the friends that sees this request. Now, they may be limited to 50-75 people on their friend’s list, but those friends tell their friends who will share with their friends. You get the picture. Facebook is an excellent platform to share fundraising with others.

What about all the cookie dough, candy, and candle fundraisers? Forget taking the pamphlets to work, school, church, or wherever you go. You can simply post the items you're selling online and let the customers come to you. If you think these new fundraising methods don’t work, you would be mistaken.


Why Fundraising On Facebook Is Smart




Facebook is a mouthpiece for many. One such person to use fundraising to help for medical costs was Richard Overton. He is the oldest veteran of World War II. He lives in Austin, Texas, and he needs 24/7 nursing care. His son, Volma Overton Jr., create a page and put it on Facebook. The goal was to raise $200,000 to cover medical care. After just three months of being posted, they have collected $169,000. Not only did they get money, when people heard Richard’s story, nurses and home health aids volunteered their time to help him out. Chances are he would have never got the help he did if he didn’t have Facebook to spread the word.

Options Are Limitless When Facebook Is Involved
Did you know that there are 1.32 million active accounts on Facebook? That means word can spread fast, you can reach more people online than you ever thought possible.

Let’s assume you run a local youth group in your town. If you have learned anything, you know that people love the thrill of being able to get something for nothing. The chance to win something will entice many people.
Facebook will allow you to create a page just for your fundraising. You can really create quite a stir in your neighborhood if you have the right fundraising event. Why not have a professional company help you choose and plan your next event?

Ideas For Success
Schools, churches, individuals, and all other groups and organizations are looking for ways to generate money. Here are some of the most popular options for digital fundraising available today:

      Dessert Dash
      Treasure Chest Raffle Drawling
      Winner’s Choice Raffle
      Reverse Raffles
      Fundraising With Mystery Box
      50/50 Raffle
      Baby and Kids Resale
      Mr. & Mrs Night
      Bake Sale
      Board Game Tournament
      Cake Walks
      Whatever you can think of!!


Some of the best fundraisers around are entertaining, but they can also be educational too. Digital fundraising is a great way to make money online. Charities and not-for-profit organizations often have to use fundraising to keep their doors open. Now, fundraising can be fun. Best of all, people can use their PayPal, Google pay and Apple pay accounts to get involved. They don’t have to write a check, run to the bank for cash, or chase you down to collect their products. Everything is automated and ran with ease. Do some research and you will see why so many are now using fundraising on Facebook to help their cause.

Author Bio: Helen Cartwright is a passionate blogger, who excels in the Digital Marketing, Fundraising and Finance niche. When not wired in marketing strategies she ghost-write for a variety of authors who have their work published on leading online media channels such as The Huffington Post and Entrepreneur.com.​

Clann Credo - Fields of Dreams

Proud amateur sports clubs around the country have big dreams for their club members and players: better playing fields; better clubhouse; better dressing room; better equipment, and better training facilities. But finance can often be the obstacle to making these dreams realities.

Clann Credo Community Loan Finance does not believe that finance should be an obstacle to community projects and so provides loans with affordable interest and repayment rates with no personal guarantees asked for. Clann Credo has provided loans of over €10 million to over 100 sports clubs nationwide over the past 20 years. 
                                                    
The different sports that have benefited from Clann Credo community loans include: GAA; Athletics; Soccer; Water sports; Baseball; Archery and Badminton. Clubs who have benefitted include: Louisburgh GAA Club in Mayo; Cork Boat Club; Tralee Bay Swimming and Social Club; Drogheda and District Athletic Club; Ashbourne Baseball Club, in Meath, and Stella Maris Football Club in Dublin.

Stella Maris FC U16 training session

Clann Credo provides community loan finance for any sports club that can demonstrate the positive impact the project would have on the community and that has the ability to repay the loan.  
Clann Credo is a self-sustaining, not-for-profit charity helping community, voluntary and charity groups and clubs transform their communities with Community Loan Finance and, over the past 20 years, has managed to loan over €82 million to almost 800 projects.

Clann Credo has regional staff with vast experience in community sports loan and who help club members through the loan application process from beginning to end.  There is no application form needed, just pick up the phone at 01 4002100 or contact our regional offices (details can be found on the website www.clanncredo.ie)

Stella Maris Football Club in Dublin has given us some great footballers including John Giles and Eamon Dunphy, but the club was on the brink of collapse when they heard about Clann Credo. Clann Credo’s loan helped them to construct a new FIFA Two Star pitch and are also continuing to help with new training facilities.  As a result, new managers and payers have increased by 240%.
“From the get go, Clann Credo understood where we wanted to go and what we wanted to achieve”, says Derek Moore, Secretary, Stella Maris FC, “They took our field and gave us a field of dreams.”

          Stella Maris FC new pitch

“Clann Credo is unique, it is essential and laudable and the work it is doing is incredible”, says Eamon Dunphy, sports journalist, “I would encourage people to look at what Clann Credo has to offer and to see what that support can do for your own community”.


“We want to ensure that every sports club who could avail of Clann Credo funding knows how we can help them with Community Loan Finance”, says Paul O’Sullivan CEO of Clann Credo, “We work in partnership with these clubs, not just in relation to finance, but also with expert support and strategic planning”.

This is a video about Stella Maris FC and their experience with Clann Credo.




Eamon Dunphy, Sports Journalist and former Stella Maris player.