My wife found this funding site online, and gave me the idea to setup a donation/fund site in the event anything happened to her, and I guess that would be fine and dandy if people would donate. I can not get people to buy from my sites, why would anyone give me money for nothing? I guess it would be more of a blog/content type of site that would be linking back to the fund site and providing more info about the donation/fund. How would I even market such a thing? ps My wife is having surgery next month, now she has me thinking she is going to die....
Oh my goodness, it sounds like you and your wife are going through some stressful times. I am sorry to hear that. People donate to feel good. Helping a cause that someone deems worthy brings feelings of accomplishment, goodwill towards mankind, etc. So, the first step, in my opinion, is to carefully define the "cause" to show how compelling (worthy) it really is. The next step is to build trust with the potential donor. This can be done in a variety of ways, but getting officially registered by the IRS as a nonprofit is one of the best ways to do so. Raising funds without nonprofit status is much, much more difficult but can be done. Having an illustrious board of trustees signed up with your cause and from your local community, for example, is a good way to start building trust. I would start promoting with a local PR campaign. Local media are the folks expected to vet these types of news stories before regional or national media will pick them up. It takes a lot of work, but does not require any cash to run an effective PR campaign.
The problem with most people, they are never prepared enough. not enough savings, not enough retirement, and when something bad happens, then it is generally too late. Even though we have medical bills now; I hope I would never have to really use the fund in the way that I am thinking if I should lose my spouse..... Your idea of non-profit is interesting; however, I have never heard of any individual obtaining non-profit status so they can use it for themselves.... ie: I would be asking the govt to accept my wife fund as non-profit so that I can provide for myself, and not pay taxes, then donators would be able to get a tax write off if they donate to the wife fund. You are right; Trust is everything! Communication is also key; If the donator takes the opportunity to ask questions, then they are likely to trust more, and donate, and having a site that is non-profit may help also, as there are people that donate, and they are looking for a write-off, maybe to reduce their taxes, feel good about themselves, or for whatever reason... I disagree that it will be harder to raise funds if you do not have non-profit status, after-all, it is just a title that offers a tax deduction to the donator... There maybe other factors on how hard it will be to get donations, do people trust your site, do they believe me, have I convinced them to donate? After-all, to the common one time donation, that means nothing for a tax write-off. In order for tax write to be effective, then you need to contribute a certain amount, for the donate here or there person, that means very little, and they are just donating cause they donate from their heart. Thanks for your comments....
If people know you, trust you & trust that there is a legitimate need...that would make it work. I've used those sites in the past, but only with people that I know personally & trust implicitly. It would be a very hard sell to a larger market if it was a personal "charity" rather than something more wide-spread with further reaching concerns than one person (no matter how deeply felt the need is by that one person). A charitable site that saves children, gives medicine to people in war torn countries, etc. would perhaps be better if you're wanting a wider audience....but yes, trust would have to be gained first. I've worked with non-profits for much of my life, & if you're planning to market to a wider audience, then the non-profit status is a HUGE player. People will give from their heart & without a tax write-off for close friends and family members, but if you're talking larger scale than that, probably not. And it's not so much because of the "kick back" of tax deduction as it is that the non-profit status lends a bit of government credibility to the venture. People know that the gov't has looked over them and sees them as a non-profit venture.
Why should strangers give you money IN CASE something happens to her?????? If everyone asked for free money not a single person would receive a dime. Why are you so special??
There are a number of these sites already, (I really dont think you need your own personal site) and the truth is, I think it is great that people help each other out. But in most cases there is too much fraud (people using a sad story simply to get a free ride). I have seen other people using a facebook page for what you are suggesting (and links back to the fundraising campaign)-> its just something to consider instead of having to create and manage an entire website just for this. I get your point, but sometimes just a bit of money can save lives. Money for covering life-saving medical expenses doesnt grow on trees. @NetStar, I would like to think that if you were ever in a situation where for some reason just a few $$$ could save your life, that people would want to help you.... For me, If i ever had to ask for funds for something urgently, it wouldnt even pay back what I have already donated to charity.
Why not, join this site? It is already established and has traffic. I seen a few people promoting their charity page on facebook. Your friends and followers will see these postings and maybe help. Not sure but maybe you can even start your own Facebook page. Even set up a Twitter to work with your page or vice versa. Anyway good luck.
well, all this was her idea, even though she is thoughtful, i guess she just thinks other people will be, and take care of me if something happens to her... personally I do not think anyone would; no in my history of life has never given me anything, and no one has ever asked if i was ok when I was sick.... and the reason for having my own site, it puts it more in my control, and would make it more personal then just hooking up with some fund site that has links the somewhat resemble affiliate links, and you know how good probably feels about one domain having so many "affiliate" type links... my guess is thheir indexing rate is horible, and it is word of mouth that can make some of the fund pages go viral.... and to be honest, once the site is up and running... probably would be little to no maintenance, and from there, i guess social media could help out there too...
Thats exactly what I said to her when she gave me the idea... She seems to think people out there may have a heart.... Why do people give to the needy? Why do people give to the guy with a sign that says Im hungry? Why are they special? It is obvious you wouldnt give; However, my wife would... Some people have a heart, and others do not... besides, lets just leave the site out for a moment... If i had to hold a sign up for food, then I will..If you get hungry enough, then you would too... and one other thing... I am looking into this because my wife asked me too; It does not matter if people will ever help me out or not, she has more faith in people then I surely ever will, and you have proven that...
I have seen a lot of people set things like this up on GoFundMe.com. I suggest using a site to raise money through that people are already familiar with -- raising money online can be tough because people are leery to put their credit card information online. For these types of things mostly the marketing is through social media, word of mouth and benefit events. When posting you must actually ask people to share, and ask the people that share to ask people to share. Videos work great for getting this to spread. Otherwise at least make sure you have pictures (people need to feel the connection). If you have a blog already in place market there, or start a blog about whatever the cause is that you are dealing with and how it is affecting you and your family. Generally, there are other people in similar situations (or had been there in the past, family was, etc) and they are great resources as to getting help (financial, ideas how to spread the word, emotional help, etc). Best of luck to you and your wife.
Yes, I realize online can be tough; I never thought it was going to be easy... It is just a media avenue which is fairly inexpensive. But all of this is a Just In Scenario, if something did tragically happen, I surely would not spend my days on a computer hoping someone has a heart...The internet is 24/7 - Other then that I would be hitting the streets for help... and you are right, i would have a better chance at getting a dollar or a can of food holding up a sign on the highway, because people can see upfront you have need... I would consider the site just something extra, and maybe even promote it in my spare time when I am not out looking for food/money, etc... I guess the common sense thing to do would be to go for some type of funding site first, then go from there; at least something would be up.... thank-you