Online Auctions
One of the most effective online fundraising tools you can use today is the online auction. Nonprofits know that auctions are time consuming and difficult to manage, but also very lucrative. In 2006 alone, more than 16 billion dollars was raised through charitable auctions in the U.S. (National Auctioneers Association). Furthermore, auctions give nonprofit organizations the unique ability to tap into “household spending” dollars which compose 66% of the GNP compared to the only 2% allocated to “charitable giving” (Making Auctions Work Best for Corporate Sponsors and Fundraisers). The use of an online auction in your nonprofit will reduce the amount of resources required to host the auction while maximizing the potential profits.

In today's environment, web sites are one of the best outreach tools that nonprofits have. They not only inform the public of the organization's mission and programs, but they also serve as its face. It's important that the site be friendly and inviting to users, or they will spend little time getting to know the nonprofit.

With the advancement of technology comes opportunity for nonprofit organizations. The Internet offers more and more methods for fundraising every year. Simply setting up your organization’s web site to accept donations is just the tip of the iceberg in today’s world of technology.

Thanks so much to Alexander Garbera for asking a great question in response to our last post on using the internet to fundraise.  I'll do my best to answer it here.

Let me start out this post by saying up front that if you have any questions about taxes, you should definitely consult a professional - a CPA or a tax attorney, for example.

Grants sometimes make up the backbone of nonprofit funding, especially for newer organizations that don't yet have their own sources of support. The Internet has created new grant opportunities that make a nonprofit organization's development department a little less stressed than it was in days gone by. That's not to say the researching and writing grants is simple, by any stretch of the imagination, but online resources have certainly taken some of the legwork out of the process.