Green Options » fundraising

Fundraising for Schools, Charities, and Nonprofits with Freelanthropy Toolbar

Derek Markham — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:35:05 +0000

If you’re looking for an easy, free way to raise money for your favorite environmental group, nonprofit, school, or charity, the new Freelanthropy toolbar can turn your searches into cash!

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Surviving Dark Economic Times: A Non-Profit’s Employees Take a Stand

Lisa Wojnovich — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:29:24 +0000

The National Audubon Society, like so many other businesses and organizations in the United States, is struggling with the current economic recession. So much so, that they have made a significant push for contributions from their own employees. Despite salary freezes for this year and the next as well as the threat of layoffs in the near future, Audubon employees have stepped up and pledged $800,000 in voluntary payroll deductions.

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iPhone as Fundraiser

Kelli Peterson — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:32:47 +0000

Is there anything the iPhone can’t do?

Shazam figures out what song you’re listening to. A pocket flashlight (not to mention a light saber) is only two taps away. And Yelp can get the phone number, directions and even a review of the place you’re trying to find and meet your friends at in a quarter of the time directory assistance, Safari, Google or any mapping software can do it.

So, why wouldn’t our love affair with the iPhone help us make the world a better place? Why wouldn’t our obsessive usage create perfect opportunities for capturing micro-donation portals to make contributions to the micro-finance or giving sites of Kiva or Global Giving? What about a carbon calculator that lets you immediately link to an offset purchase equivalent to the inquiry? It would seem that millions of tiny donations could add up to lots of impact. It seems possible, and even more so fun. But does it really add up to a smart fundraising play?

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Bundling Website Enables Campaign Donors to Target Green Candidates

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:06:52 +0000

Wondering what to do with all that money (not) burning a hole in the pockets of your organic cotton jeans? Well, the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund has launched Give Green, the first bundling website to raise money exclusively for environmental champions and candidates. By donating through Give Green, donors can make it clear to candidates that they care deeply about environmental issues.

“Ever increasing numbers of environmental voters and donors live in every part of the country,” LCVAF President Gene Karpinski said. “But America’s clean energy future is not just a local issue. Give Green makes it easy for concerned citizens to support not only local environmental candidates, but also future members of Congress from across the country who will fight for a clean, renewable energy future.

“Bundling” is the somewhat controversial, but legal, process of accepting political contributions from many small individual donors, such as company employees or union members, and combining donations into one large lump sum, which is then given to a candidate.

Strategically, I applaud the LCV for developing an above-board bundling program that allows donors to target their campaign donations to races other than ‘their own.’ However, the fact that there are no limits to the amount of bundled contributions accepted and distributed by a member gives us, in my mind, sufficient reason to keep a close eye on how the broader practice of bundling develops in the future

Pack a Green Picnic This Summer

Deb Hiett — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:32:05 +0000

Eco-Friendly, Biodegradable Tableware from Let’s Go Green

Picnic in green style this summer with eco-friendly biodegradable plates & bowls, and compostable utensils and cups from Let’s Go Green. Made from sugarcane fibers, these bowls and plates are 100% biodegradable, but sturdy enough for your sloppiest Joes. Their 16- and 20-oz. plastic cups are made from corn, and their PSM (plastic starch material), compost-certified utensils will naturally decompose back to organic elements. Let’s Go Green also offers 100% recycled lunch and dinner napkins, recycled without chlorine bleaching.

Save big when you buy their Picnic Sampler, which includes 50 each of knives, forks, spoons, and 9″ plates — all for only $19.99.

Let’s Go Green has dozens of wonderful products for every room in your home. In fact, a great housewarming gift is one of their Green Home Starter Kits….

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How To Fundraise the Fair Way

Alicia Erickson — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:17:10 +0000

As schools and fall activities start their momentum, so too does the need for funding. I spent many fall afternoons in my school days hauling a box of chocolates door to door in the name of a field trip or project, all while resisting the urge to eat them… sometimes successfully.

It is not common to think of where our chocolate bars come from. I did not even know what a cacao pod looked like until several years ago. Few people, including children, understand where or how these delicacies reach us. Yet there is a dark side to chocolate, ranging from fueling wars to child labor, with around 286,000 children working farms in the Ivory Coast alone. It is important that we not only consider what chocolate we grab for ourselves the store, but also the message we send our children out to fundraise with. Fundraising with Fair Trade chocolate both helps your local organizations in their endeavors while also supporting the hard-working cacao farmers. And using Fair Trade also presents the opportunity to educate people, including those selling the products, towards an alternative to the dark side of the chocolate industry.

For Fair Trade fundraising check out:

Equal Exchange Fundraising provides everything you need to get started. There is a template for permission slips and letters to other parents, press releases and posters for promotion. Their incentive programs include chocolate samples, coffee roaster tours, school presentations and the chance to win a trip to a cacao farming community, as well as a tiered structure ranging from $1,000-$5,000 with organic shirts, caps, etc. And don’t be locked into just chocolate: try offering coffee, tea, cocoa, dried cranberries or roasted walnuts to bring in funds.
The Lutheran World Relief Fundraising Kit offers Divine chocolate that is focused more towards faith-based fundraising, with great ideas on how to help people find connection between fair trade and their spirituality. They offer planning tools, posters, educational presentations to supplement chocolate.

The next time an organization you or your children are involved with wants to raise money, suggest the Fair Trade option and help farmers while bringing in your funds.