Include Volunteer Hours in Your Budget

Many nonprofit organizations rely on volunteers in some capacity. Food banks use them to pack meals, Habitat for Humanity uses them to build homes, and national parks use them to maintain trails. The scope of volunteer work is huge.

But most of these organizations fail to account for volunteer hours in their budget, and they should! Volunteers provide indispensable services, and many organizations wouldn’t operate without them.

For grant writing purposes, I recommend including volunteers in your budget’s in-kind column.  Remember: Not all income arrives in the form of cash. Donations–material or otherwise–should be accounted for. Volunteers included.

By including in-kind donations and volunteer time in your budget, your organization will look even more competent. Not only are you soliciting buy-in and support from the community, you’re also doing more with less: You’re running a $250,000 program with only $50,000 cash because you’re able to secure and utilize in-kind donations and volunteers. Good on ya!

The Independent Sector helps you calculate the hourly value of a volunteer’s time in a particular state, and Hands on Network helps you determine that calculation for specific jobs. Be sure to keep these calculations on hand for your budget narrative.

See article on LinkedIn here.

Event Registration Fees: To charge or not to charge?

And now for a great post on one of my most favorite debates to have in the nonprofit world - registration fees.  Coming from three different organizations who do not charge a registration fee, I am personally ALL for them.  I was apart of one organization who tested out using a registration fee of $15 - just $15!  And we saw substantial growth in net profits.  This day in age, I think people almost expect registration fees and it helps them understand that this event is indeed a fundraiser.  Too many individuals come to fundraisers and do not contribute towards the end goal - of raising money for the cause... meanwhile, they are stocking up on the free food, t-shirts, and give-a-ways.  I understand the possible downsides of charging a registration fee - less attendees and the possibility of people paying the registration fee and not fundraising a cent more... but I would rather have 100 individuals at my walk, who care about my cause and have demonstrated their commitment to my cause, than 500 individuals who don't fundraise or donate even a dollar.  I think it's a debate of quality vs. quantity.

It is one of the most popular and hotly debated questions in the world of walkathons and athletic event fundraising: to charge or not to charge.  While the classic answer – “it depends” – holds true, if your run, walk or ride does not currently have a registration fee, it's time to consider it--because people who pay to play also tend to show up to play.

Too many fundraising events tolerate a large percentage of non-performers. A successful fundraising event requires a strong fundraising culture. A registration fee helps set an expectation by requiring something of the participant up front. This will guarantee a certain level of income for the event by ‘weeding’ out the non-performers and raise the awareness and mindset that the cause is important, money is needed to take action to help the cause, and there is value to being part of the event. Positioned correctly, such a fee can have a positive effect on fundraising performance, while at the same time decreasing event support costs by reducing the number of non-performing participants. In fact, all of the clients we interviewed who charged a registration fee were positive the fee resulted in more committed fundraisers.

Another benefit of charging a registration fee is that participants who pay a fee tend to actually show up at the event. While our data set did not include actual attendance figures, we heard time and time again in the interviews that participants who pay a registration fee are more likely to physically show up at the event. If one of your goals is to make a public spectacle with lots of people, be cognizant of the effect a registration fee can have on physical attendance as well.

However, there are two caveats with registration fees. The first is that while events that do charge a registration fee see higher fundraising growth, they also see slower participation growth. If you do not charge a registration and your event is relatively mature or you are happy with the rate of participation growth, you should consider implementing a fee. Most organizations position the fee solely as a way to cover the costs of the event. However, if your event is very small, or it is more important to you to rapidly grow the participation, you may want to hold off on implementing a registration fee.

The second caveat is that participants who pay a registration fee do not necessarily fundraise, so don’t think that you can rely on this correlation to guarantee participants who also fundraise. In fact, it is common for as many as 60% to 70% of paid registrants do no fundraising. All participants should be encouraged to fundraise and provided the tools to be able to articulate “the ask” for your organization, regardless of registrations fees.

Ultimately, registration fees seem to be beneficial to events success, but be careful! Analyze the median and average funds raised per participant after each event to set the fee at an appropriate level that encourages participation. 

Findings

• The average amount raised is significantly higher for nonprofits that charge an event registration fee.
• Our data set included information on registration fees collected as a part of participating in the event.  We found that the majority of organizations charge a registration fee. In fact, for every organization that does not charge a registration fee for their events, there are three organizations that do.
• Registration fees are trending higher each year. The average registration fee in 2008 was $19, and has grown an average of 5% each year.
• The average amount raised is significantly higher for organizations that charge a registration fee.   
• The online registration numbers for events that do not charge a registration fee grow consistently year over year, whereas the registration numbers for events that charge a registration fee do not.

-Jeff Shuck, Event360 Blog

Adapted from Join the Race: A joint study by Convio and Event 360 with support from the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council, analyzing the best practices for increasing performance of nonprofit team fundraising events. Download the full white paper here.

"Promise Me" I will get cancer?

"Promise Me" is a name of a perfume released by Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation.  A rival cancer charity is claiming that the perfume contains ingredients (which are not listed on the label) that actually cause cancer.  Komen has decided not to manufacture any more bottles, but to leave all remaining product on the shelves.  What is wrong with this picture?  I can't believe ANY nonprofit organization, being put in this situation not immediately pulling the product.  


In my opinion, this makes it appear as though Komen cares more about making money and less about actually preventing and curing the disease they are supposedly fighting.  What if down the road, women who use this perfume (and thought they were doing a good job fighting breast cancer by buying it) actually got cancer from this product?  Wouldn't you rather be safe than sorry, Komen?

Does perfume sold to raise funds for cancer research actually CAUSE cancer?

By JOHN STEVENS

The Susan G Komen for the Cure foundation is facing calls to pull its 'Promise Me' from the shelves after it was revealed that it may actually contain ingredients that cause cancer.

A rival cancer charity claims that the scent contains toxic chemicals that are not listed on the label and are linked to breast cancer.

Karuna Jagger, executive director of Breast Cancer Action, said that they had the contents tested after concerns about the perfume, which is sold at stores including JC Penney, Target and Amazon.

Fragrance: The Susan G Komen for the Cure foundation has denied that the perfume contains too high levels of the controversial ingredients

'It contains a number of chemicals of concern that are not listed on the ingredients,' she said.

'I let them know what chemicals were found and they responded in a confusing way,' she told CBS San Francisco.

'On one hand they said they test their ingredients, and on the other they said they are working with the manufacturer to reformulate the perfume to eliminate any doubts.'

She added: 'In a situation where not enough is known about what is putting women at risk, and why so many women are getting breast cancer and dying of breast cancer, we feel that every precaution should be taken.'

The foundation claims that the levels of the questioned ingredients are 'well within the guidelines of the International Fragrance Association', but that the perfume is being reformulated.

'The last batch of the perfume was manufactured in May of this year; we expect manufacturing and sale of the reformulated product to begin in early 2012,' a spokesman told website Mimi Frou Frou.

'Given our assurances from four independent reviews of the fragrance, we have not asked the manufacturer to recall or remove unsold products.'

The perfume, which is sold at $60 a bottle, was first released in 2001.

Ways to Increase Charitable Giving

This is a great article that highlights four easy to implement ideas how to increase charitable giving at your organization.  Increasing donations, especially at a rough time economically, is such a daunting task, but after your read this article, it will seem a lot more feasible.

The Giving Pledge, the effort by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to increase giving by the nation’s wealthiest people, missed a key opportunity, fund raisers say. Instead of simply reaching out to billionaires, they should have promised to match donations of people with a lot less money.

That’s one suggestion offered in a new report by Adrian Sargeant and Jen Shang, two scholars who study and teach fund raising at Indiana University.

The report is based on ideas to increase charitable giving that were offered by influential nonprofit leaders and other executives.

Besides suggesting that billionaires offer matching gifts, the report includes 31 other ideas for improving giving, which has been stuck at 2 percent of average household income after taxes for the past 40 years, according to “Giving USA.”

Other ideas from the report:

* Encourage charities to develop productive ways to handle complaints from donors, which would reduce negative word of mouth, build trust, and provide ideas to improve fund-raising operations. Charities could take a lesson from the business world, the authors write, where “complaining customers are the firm’s biggest asset.”

* Place more fund raisers on nonprofit boards so they can educate fellow trustees about the best ways to raise money.

* Persuade fund raisers to stop talking to donors about annual funds, capital campaigns, endowment drives, and other such insider approaches and instead urge them to focus on what their money will accomplish.

As an example, the reported noted that Harvesters, a Kansas City, Mo., food bank stopped asking its donors for annual gifts or capital donations. It now uses appeals that ask people to help it feed children, families, and the elderly and to promote healthy eating habits. “The new approach is immensely more powerful,” the authors write.

“No one supports a single nonprofit because they happen to have an annual fund or an endowment,” write Mr. Sargeant and Ms. Shang. “It is not the vehicle that matters to donors; it’s the difference they can make in society.”

Nonprofit Leaders Suggest Ways to Increase Charitable Giving
By: Holly Hall

Get Your Holiday Appeal Opened

Let’s face it, your constituents are very likely going to be receiving end of year appeals from organizations other than your own.  Maybe some they are those less involved with, and others they are more involved with.  Amongst all of the clutter we know to be in our inboxes it is important to think about how to stand out in the crowd.  Your heart-warming story that you have spent hours developing and integrating with other messaging will only get read if your e-appeal is opened.

That being said, if you have already written your subject lines, I’d like to urge you to test them against these tips.  If you haven’t written them yet, then it’s time to get started. When writing your subject lines, keep these four things in mind:

1. Be clear about the substance of your message.  Does your subject line accurately portray the content of your email? It is important that you keep the trust between you and your constituents, so do not be misleading.


2. Keep it short. Keep it simple.  There are a lot of very long, drawn out subject lines toppling over each other in our inboxes.  They end up looking a little jumbled together, don’t they?  Break it up with a short and compelling subject line.  Among all of the long subject lines, a short one will make your message stand out.  It will also be read easier on mobile devices.


3. Consider who you are sending “from”.  Think about this as your return address if you were to send something in the mail to a friend.  Who is it from?  When I’m a possible donor and I see “from” x, will I know who that is? For this, be consistent with the messages that you have already been regularly sending to your constituents.  End of year is not the time to change it up and try something new.


4. If it sounds like it could be spam, it could be spam.  Avoid words that you commonly see in spam emails. The most common words in spam emails are:
1. shipping!
2. today!
3. here!
4. available
5. fingertips!
6. online!

Be sure to avoid things like punctuation marks, as those can often set off spam filters.  I know the holiday season is exciting, but refrain from using exclamation points.

If you have the opportunity to run a test of subject lines with a small group of constituents, that is fantastic.  If your email marketing tools allow for split testing, then select a small audience, split it in half and test two subject lines with this group.  You can see what performs better with your constituency and then send your message(s) out to the rest of your audience with the tried and true subject line.  If you’d like to download a full article on this topic, click here.

How to get your holiday appeals opened

by Taylor Shankin, Connection Cafe

Workplace Giving Infographic

View larger here

33%

According to Network for Good’s Online Giving Study, 33% of all online donations occur in the month of December.

What do you have in store for your year-end fundraising campaign?

Press Release: Good Idea or Bad Idea?

New study says most media burn nonprofit press releases instead of reading them.

Leveraging Analytics for Mobile Marketing and Search Advertising

Curious about how you can use analytics to maximize ROI of your mobile outreach? Avinash Kaushik (@Avinash), Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, led a great webinar earlier this week, discussing how you can engage with mobile audiences and take a mobile-specific approach to tracking your results.

Here’s a few key takeaways nonprofits can use, along with a link he provided that will create a custom mobile report within your own Google Analytics setup.

Mobile Outreach Strategies: Online and Off
QR codes (image) allow you to build deep relationships with consumers in contexts where you previously had much more limited opportunity for engagement.


Individuals shopping for strawberries in the supermarket can also become fans of your facebook page or engage in other Calls to Action (CTA) with a QR code.

Nonprofit Takeaway: Be creative about opportunities for leveraging mobile. When canvassing a neighborhood or street corner, people are likely to throw out the paper you hand them. If you can get them to download your app, your organization just got a whole lot stickier in their mind. When someone is bored and waiting at a bus stop and sees your billboard with a QR code, chances are significant they’ll click on the link. Where else can you reach mobile users? The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

When people do a search for snow conditions on their phone, Skull Candy has a paid ad that points directly to their iPhone app. By taking advantage of the analytics SDKs, you can track whether people follow through to actually download your app, allowing for calculations of advertising conversion rates (and ROI). Once they download your app you’ve gained critical real estate on their mobile screen, enhancing opportunities for building brand loyalty and other CTAs.

Nonprofit Takeaway: Brainstorm about what potential donors and advocates might be searching for, and design apps that provide a benefit to your constituents while simultaneously supporting your mission.
As people peruse TVs in their local electronics store, LG includes a QR code where you can learn more information about the product. In addition to providing a sense of validation by displaying customer reviews, prospective customers can also save the link on their phone and deliberate further on purchasing your goods later if they decide they need to do more research before purchasing.

Nonprofit Takeaway: Next time you organize a big event, be sure to incorporate prominent QR codes that link to your donation landing page in your collateral. If you’ve set up a text to give campaign, QR codes can prepopulate people’s phones with the text number and message that will send a donation to your organization.


Mobile Targetted Search Ads
Search ads can be targeted to mobile consumers and include CTAs that take advantage of mobile devices. When searching for a locksmith, one company uses their phone number as the primary CTA, rather than their website. When people are locked out of their house and need a locksmith, they don’t want a website: they want the phone number of someone who can get them back in their home. Mobile users clicking on the link have that phone number automatically loaded into their phone dialing app, allowing for one click ease for a sale.


Nonprofit Takeaway: If your nonprofit provides services to the public, include your phone number. Even better, you’ll be able to track the length of the phone call (a frequently useful metric for ROI). Adwords (and other ad providers) can direct people to a temporary phone number and then forward them to your phone number, allowing for tracking call length for each ad variation. You can then compare ads to determine which leads to the longest phone calls (if using that metric for calculating ROI).

Other ads are more easily adapted to take advantage of another mobile-enhanced experience: maps. When people are in the market for a road bike, a search can lead them to geographically targeted ad for a bike shop near them. Even better, the ad can contain the address on a map, allowing for the phone to take advantage of GPS and immediately plot out directions to the bike shop.


Nonprofit Takeaway: If you provide services from a physical location, make it easy for people who need your assistance to find you.

Tracking How Your Website Performs for Mobile Users

Once visitors click on the ad, how well is your website designed to change mobile users from prospects to completed sales? Too often companies send visitors to their non-mobile optimized homepage. Do it right — create customized landing pages for your campaign!

Make your site easily usable by mobile visitors and, just as with desktop design, show a clear CTA, and you’ll find bounce rates drop dramatically while conversion rate hits the roof.

Nonprofit Takeaway: Create mobile optimized donation forms, and follow mobile usability best practices.


Determining ROI for Mobile Users
If your ad contains multiple CTAs, adwords tracks each CTA (and conversion rate) independently. As you test multiple versions of ads, compare CTAs and weight each ad based on the value of each action.

Tracking mobile users against all site visitors can be useful. Google Analytics includes a built in advanced segment for mobile users. If you find that certain devices are showing higher ROI, you can create additional segmentation based on user device, OS or resolution (i.e. tablet vs. phone). Custom reports can be developed to show performance between browsers across three critical areas: acquisition, behavior, and outcome.


Avinash provided a link to automatically add the mobile performance report into your existing Google Analytics account. By looking among the tabs you can quickly review mobile user performance at a glance.
Nonprofit Takeaway: The nonprofits we support have seen a dramatic increase in mobile visitors, and they’ve responded by working with us to develop great mobile sites. In the next couple of years the number of mobile website visits will surpass desktop usage, and it’s important to be ahead of the curve. Your supporters are increasingly looking to engage with you using their mobile devices – are you prepared for them?

Leveraging Analytics for Mobile Marketing and Search Advertising
By: Rob Pierson, Beaconfire Wire
Full Article here.  

American Cancer Society CAN Ad

Something so simple... yet so powerful.

Watch this 30 second ad for the American Cancer Society's CAN (Cancer Action Network).

Payoff for CSR Initiatives

This is a great infographic making the case for Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.  I couldn't agree more.  Do you want to work for a company who participates in charitable activities?  Does your company offer volunteer opportunities?  Workplace giving?  If more companies made more of an effort to get behind a cause they believe in, the nonprofit would obviously benefit, but would the company too?  What about it's employees?  Reputation?  Sales?  Seems like a win-win for me... yet it's still hard to get the corporate world involved sometimes.  How do we get them more involved?

8 Tips for Promoting Volunteer Success

Volunteers are the lifeblood of most non-profits, associations and clubs. But many organizations – especially small-staff or volunteer-led groups – struggle to effectively recruit, train and manage their volunteer base.

While I’m no volunteer management expert, I have been on both sides of the volunteer equation: as both a staffer and volunteer at a number of non-profits. And from what I’ve seen and read, it seems that in order for volunteers to have an enjoyable and productive experience and for organizations to reap the full benefits of their labor, it requires some basic volunteer management planning. Here are my thoughts:

To successfully match volunteers with tasks or projects, organizations need to:

1. Set clear objectives:
o Exactly how will volunteers help?
o What are the specific goals for the volunteer in terms of: activities/tasks/projects
2. Create job descriptions for different volunteer roles
3. Identify a basic recruitment process and contact person for responding to volunteer applicants

To be effective in their roles, volunteers need to:

1. Be screened and matched to the appropriate opportunities (e.g., if they are professionals, do they want to use these skills as a volunteer or do they want something totally different; do they prefer face-to-face work or are they more suited to helping out online?)
2. Receive an orientation to both the organization as a whole and to the commitment they are making (e.g., if they are a Board member – what exactly does this entail?)
3. Be trained on the specific project/task. Your well-intentioned volunteer may not have canvassed or staffed an information booth before. A little training can go a long way to ensuring success and volunteer retention.)
4. Have an identified supervisor or mentor (e.g., staff, committee chair, out-going chair, etc.) – Be sure it’s clear – literally: “who do you get in touch with?”
5. Receive ongoing encouragement and recognition. You really can’t say thank you enough!

Charting Your Volunteer’s Journey
If your organization has never formalized your volunteer recruitment and orientation process, the eight suggestions above might seem a little daunting. But just as you want to match the right volunteer with the most appropriate tasks, you might also find that those of you tasked with organizing your recruitment process might have pertinent skills to offer. For example, if one of you is process-oriented, you could create a basic flow-chart diagram that will illustrate your volunteer’s journey from the first phone call or email, through the orientation and training process. Sometimes creating a diagram helps to identify logical steps that need to be taken and how these might intersect one-another.

Want More Tips and Ideas?
For more tips and ideas about making the volunteer experience more effective, check out the October Non-profit Blog Carnival – being hosted by the Wild Apricot blog on October 27th.

Article by Lori Halley, Wild Apricot blog
Read full article here

The Impact of $20

When was the last time $20 was the most impactful amount of money you had ever heard of?

For me, it was last week.

My mother wanted to create t-shirts for friends and family to wear as they cheer on my brother and me during the Philadelphia Susan G. Komen 3-Day. She was determined to demonstrate her technological prowess to me and found an on-line tool/company that allowed her to design her very own custom image and they offered speedy service, to boot. And as if that wasn’t enough, the email that popped into my mother’s inbox changed my respect for the impact of $20 forever.

Hi Doreen,
I noticed that you designed t-shirts for an upcoming charitable effort. We think it's terrific that you are participating in such a worthy cause! CustomInk would love to help you reach your fundraising goal by making a donation to your team.


Please reply to this email with either a:
• link/URL to your individual or team sponsorship page
• mailing address where I can send a check and to whom I should make the check payable
I look forward to hearing from you soon. And thanks for choosing us to make your special t-shirts!


Warm regards,
Laney, Charity Outreach Coordinator
CustomInk.com


And with Laney’s simple email and their $20 donation to my brother’s fundraising account, the impact effect took hold…

As a reminder: Having worked in event fundraising since 2004, I thought I had seen and heard it all, but this was truly an example that you never know where your next donation may be coming from, so don’t be afraid to talk about your efforts and talk about them some more. Don’t be shy about sharing your story. Don’t be afraid ‘put it out there’ every chance you get. Someone, somewhere just might surprise you. CustomInk did.

As a bar-setter: Almost immediately, my expectations surrounding excellent customer service were catapulted to a whole new level. CustomInk demonstrated that a company can provide an excellent service, run a successful business and still have a heart and make a personal impact in people’s lives. Their donation went above and beyond excellent customer service and garnered tremendous respect from me and my family.

As an investment: This company didn’t have to make a huge donation to my Mom’s efforts. All it took was $20 to turn me into a true CustomInk advocate! I have not stopped talking about CustomInk and their unexpected generosity since Laney sent her email. And I assure you that I will be telling everyone I know to get their next custom print purchase from CustomInk. How about that for incredible return on your investment?

As a catalyst: Due to this organization’s $20 donation, my brother was inspired to have his own company make a donation and we have both decided to ‘keep going’ with our fundraising efforts and schedule a ‘after event party’ to share stories and raise even more money! How many other organizations and people that I have spoken to will feel just as inspired to make a difference? The number is only growing…

And that is why $20 is the most impactful amount of money I have ever heard of.

-Posted by Michelle Fleitas, Event360

Props to CustomInk.com for reaching out and being a class act.  I hope more companies will follow their lead and get involved with causes close to their hearts.  I can't get over what great customer service this is and how much good "press" they will receive just from a simple $20 donation.  I can guarantee you that the amount of business they will bring in as a result of this generous act will far outweigh the amount of their donation.

Handle Complaints Swiftly

Handle complaints swiftly or face more of them

Roger Dooley of Neuromarketing blog has a great post on the contagious nature of complaints. Negative impressions have a way of spreading, says Roger, even when they aren’t valid.
He tells this story of an experiment by Martin Lindstrom, author of Brandwashed:

We set up a table in the middle of the restaurant, and four actors were hired to pretend to be friends sharing the conviviality of a meal. They all ordered the soup, since it was the only starter on the menu, thus allowing an element of control. After breaking some bread and taking his first mouthful, one of the actors called for the waiter and proceeded to deliver a three-minute rant about the scalding temperature of the soup. As the soup continued to be served to the other tables, the complaints began rolling in. By the end of the dinner, 26% of the guests had made similar complaints. Each bowl had come from the same pot, so either they had extremely sensitive tongues or they had all been influenced by the initial complaint.

Negativity spreads fast.  Take the “nocebo” effect as another example from Roger—subjects given placebo pills with no side effects will report nausea if they’re told they might have that side effect.

In other words, if people expect something to be bad, they will experience it as bad.

As Roger says, watch out for contagious negativity: “Fix the problem. Apologize. Anything you can do to mute the complaining quickly will prevent contagious dissatisfaction from spreading.”

That’s good advice.  React swiftly and graciously to criticism on social media, in your office and around town.

-Katya Andresen, Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog

How Do We Get People to Use GoodSearch?

GoodSearch 

Following the trend of people wanting to incorporate “doing good” into their everyday lives, more than 13 million people are helping feed the homeless, save the environment, cure cancer and help more than 100,000 nonprofits and schools just by searching the Internet and shopping online. Six years ago, brother/sister team Ken and JJ Ramberg wanted to figure out a way to turn everyday actions into a way to support the causes trying to make this world a better place. So, they partnered with Yahoo and launchedGoodSearch.com a Yahoo-powered search engine which donates about a penny a search to your favorite cause, and then GoodShop.com a shopping portal which donates a percentage of your purchase at more than 2,500 stores (including Amazon, Expedia, Staples, Williams Sonoma and others) to your favorite cause. And, just this week we launched GoodDining, where people can earn up to 6% for their favorite cause by dining at 10,000 restaurants nationwide. As a result, more than $8 million has been directed to the charities and schools designated by its users.

4-star UNICEF has used the money earned from GoodSearch and GoodShop to provide clean drinking water to more than 200,000 children; the 2-star National Inclusion Project which helps children with disabilities has used the $16,000+ its supporters have raised to send nearly 250 children to summer camp; and supporters of the 3-star ASPCA have earned more than $40,000 to help animals in need. New charities can join at GoodSearch.

And, with a recent site update, both users and organizations can track their earnings right on the GoodSearch website. Users can also now can review individual charity profile pages to select charities to support based on their descriptions, number of supporters and activity levels.

As the holiday season approaches and people prepare to do the majority of the year’s shopping, organizations are focused on getting the word out to their supporters to not forget to either click through from GoodShop to their favorite store, or download the GoodSearch toolbar, to ensure that every gift they buy also results in a donation to their cause!

This guest post was written by Scott Garell, CEO, GoodSearch.

So I don't know about you, but I probably average about 10 Internet searches a day.  Which means I could be raising 10 cents a day and $36 dollars a year... just by using GoodSearch instead of yahoo.com or google.com.  And if all of my co-workers and I changed nothing other than our Internet search provider we could raise roughly $7,300 each year for the cause of our choice.  So why don't we use it everyday?  Have you ever used it?  What can we do to get more individuals to use this great fundraising tool?