Blindfold Challenge Fundraising Kicks Off to Support 4 Boston-based Organizations

After two Boston Marathons, Kelly and Robyn are giving their bodies a break from long distance running. But their hearts are still beating for the Perkins School for the Blind.

This year, instead of running 26.2 miles, they will run 3.1 miles…blindfolded. On April 14, they will run the Blindfold Challenge as part of the BAA 5k.

The Blindfold Challenge is a unique opportunity to run a 5K blindfolded with the help of a sighted guide. This experience mirrors the way that blind athletes train and run, and the tools and training that blind individuals use to succeed in their everyday lives.

Kelly will be blindfolded and Robyn will guide. They will be connected by a two-foot tether and run the same course, at the same time, and under the same circumstances as the other runners in the 5K event. By the time they cross the finish line, they’ll understand what anyone with vision impairment already knows: that being blind won’t hold you back, that you don’t need your eyes to see what’s inside you—that, in the end, fear is the only disability.

Funds raised support Massachusetts organizations that provide rehabilitation, education and technology for the blind and visually impaired, including MAB (The Massachusetts Association for the Blind), The Carroll Center, and The National Braille Press.

Help them raise awareness and funds for the Blindfold Challenge here: http://www.fundraise.com/blindfoldchallenge

Wine party to benefit Boston area non-profit organizations

For the seventh straight year, some of Boston’s best entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and technology all-stars will come together to raise money for Technology Underwriting Greater Good (TUGG) in the form of a wine party.

The goal is to raise $300,000 and the party will be on January 31 from 6 to 11 p.m. and will be held at Cyclorama. The party will include 20 amazing wines, a fabulous tequila bar, great food, live music from Darlingside (www.darlingside.com) plus an amazing DJ for the return of “Club TUGG!” The dress for this special event is business casual.

There are many different way to get involved in this fundraiser, and they include: purchasing a ticket ($75), making an individual donation (which includes a mention in the wine party program with special distinction for donations above $1,000), starting a fundraising team, becoming a lead sponsor (for $25,000, lead sponsors get 50 tickets to the party, logo inclusion on all event publications and sponsor signage, a full page advertisement in the wine party program, featured logo inclusion on the TUGG Web site, logo inclusion on TUGG’s wine party event Web site and VIP wine tasting for team members), becoming a corporate sponsor (for a $10,000 sponsorship 30 tickets to the party are included, logo inclusion on all event publications and sponsor signage, half-page advertisement in the wine party program and logo inclusion on TUGG’s wine party event Web site), entrepreneurial sponsor (for a $5,000 sponsorship 15 tickets to the event are inluded, logo inclusion on all event publications and sponsor signage, named included in the program and logo inclusion on TUGG’s wine party event Web site) and by sponsoring an entrepreneur for $75 that will allow an entrepreneur to enter on the benefit of a donation.

TUGG is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, publicly supported organization under section 501 (c)(3) of the IRS Code, and is incorporated and registered in Massachusetts. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Donations may deductible for fiscal year 2012 or 2013 depending on time of the gift.

Anyone interested in becoming a larger sponsorship can send an email todavid@tugg.org, and the publication deadline for the program is on January 15.

According to David Brown, the Executive Director of TUGG, the event has grown every year. The first year about 200 people attended, and last year more than $150,000 was raised, while approximately 750 guests attended the event.

Brown is is hoping that nearly 1,000 people attend this year’s wine party and has been pleased with working with Fundraise.com and loves how easy it is to set up a fundraiser.

“It’s been a great experience,” Brown said. “We have a good relationship with Fundraise.com from the start.”

Money raised during the event will go towards funding six early-stage non-profit organizations that have close ties to TUGG, which Brown described as “the philanthropic arm for the technology field.”

“This event is a great way for members of the technology community to come together and support these six non-profit organizations,” Brown added.

For more information about TUGG, visit: http://www.tugg.org/ and to find out more information about the fundraiser and to make a donation, visit: https://www.fundraise.com/tugg-corp/seventh-annual-tech-charity-wine-party.

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Posted 1 year ago

Featured Fundraiser: Boston Center for the Arts

(Photo courtesy of Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo)

The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) is a non-profit performance and visual arts organization that encourages and supports working artists to create, perform, and even provide space for them to exhibit their works. By connecting these artists and the beautiful work they are creating, they are forging a connection with the community in hopes to bring in new audiences for the arts. For more than 40 years now, the BCA has been a meeting point of the surrounding South End of Boston and the emerging artists that occupy the area.

Fundraise.com spoke with Angela from the BCA over email to find out more about how they got started and what keeps them going.

How did the BCA get its start?

In a time when a building a day was being torn down in the South End, arts supporters had a vision. They took that vision to an auction and acquired the existing Cyclorama, Artist Studios Building (once named the Tremont Estates Building) as well as a privately owned small theatre over Emerson College to create an arts center.

The vision was to create a home for artists and the community. Like the Latin Quarter of the 1890s, they saw a bohemian neighborhood with cultural and artistic diversity among the resident artists and community patrons.

Over 40 years later, the BCA is still a home for working artists to create, perform and exhibit.

What motivates you in your fundraising efforts?

Boston is thriving with innovative artists who need a place to exhibit their works and we strive to make that possible within our community. Being a part of an organization that sees innovation daily encourages us to seek funding to support local artists.

What is your favorite part of working with the BCA?

Our favorite part about working at the BCA is all the excitement that happens on campus. From dance workshops to visual art exhibitions to film competitions, we have it all in one location. Each year, more than 200,000 people visit the BCA. Located in Boston’s South End and occupying an historic city block bordered by Tremont Street, Clarendon Street, Warren Avenue and Berkeley Street, the BCA is a resource to Greater Boston providing a creative “home” for artists, a welcoming arts destination for audiences, and an art connection for individuals of all ages.

Who benefits from your fundraising efforts?

“The dance residency at the BCA allowed us time, space, consistency and support… some of the most important factors needed to create high quality art,” said Courtney Peix, a recent dance resident at the BCA. Her company, Contrapose Dance presented their recent piece groundwork at the BCA in February 2012. Our fundraising efforts support working artists like Courtney to create, perform and exhibit across our campus.

What advice do you have for aspiring fundraisers?

Fundraising is rooted in relationships. For aspiring fundraisers, it is important to build relationships with people within your community and with funders that have a vested interest in your core mission.

What goals are you trying to reach by fundraising?

The BCA’s mission is to support working artists in the creation, performance and exhibition of new works. Through fundraising, we hope to continue this support by providing a platform and community for working artists in Boston.

Do you have any additional notes or stories about your cause you would like to share?

You would be amazed at all that happens on the BCA campus in the South End. Behind many brick buildings emerging, established and seasoned artists are creating new works. From dance residency choreographers leading a troupe of local, regional and national dancers to a curator finding multi-disciplinary artists for an exhibition. The BCA is a campus filled with visual arts, performance and community!

For more about the Boston Center for the Arts please visit: Online Arts Fundraising

(Photo courtesy of Silvia Lopez Chavez, BCA Studio Artist)

Bake Sale Ban, Not All Bad

Yesterday in Boston, there was a story on front page of the Boston Herald titled “Food Fight” that had all the local media outlets including CBS, The Boston Channel, Fox News, NECN, and Jim & Margery abuzz.

The Herald reported yesterday that in attempts to help curb the obesity epidemic, state education and public health officials are cracking down on school bake sales and on treats served and sold beyond school lunch programs. The ban is set to go into effect August 1^st and the legislative mandate bans offending foods consumed from 30 minutes before the school day until 30 minutes after. They can be replaced with fresh fruits and veggies, water, whole grains and fat-free milk.

Today, parents and teachers are expressing concern because bake sales are used to raise money for critical programs and they are community-building events. In another Boston Herald article yesterday titled, “Parents: Rule’s half-baked,” many parents expressed this concern.

However, we at Fundraise.com feel there are two main positive aspects about this ban to highlight:

#1: 1/3 of Massachusetts elementary school children are now obese – this is a major problem and one the ban might help fix. As long as we explain to kids about the importance of balanced nutrition and eating correctly, while consuming treats in moderate amounts, we may see a small change in the food behaviors of these children.

Perhaps bringing the issue out into the open in schools and talking about it, will help children to recognize the difference between good and bad food choices and set them on a better health-path for life.

#2: For parents and schools who are concerned about the money bake sales raise, we feel this is a great opportunity to start teaching kids about how fundraising actually works… People aren’t buying items off of the bake sale tables because they’re dying to eat them; they’re buying the bake sale items because they want to help the school, the children, and the programs that the money collected from the bake sale will be used to support.

By explaining to children that the cupcakes, cookies, and sugary snacks are merely a vehicle to start a conversation with potential donors and a small way to say “thank you,” for their contribution, we can teach students that it’s the people selling the baked goods that raise the money, not the baked goods themselves.

Fundraise.com encourage teachers with computer-age students to set up a classroom fundraiser on our site, and award each student with their own fundraiser page under the main page. Kids can personalize their pages with hand-drawn and scanned pictures, photos, and a descriptive story about why they’re raising money and how awesome the supplies or enrichment programs will be after they’ve collected enough funds to support them…

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

We know we’re a glass-half-full kind of company, but we truly feel there are definite positives to be found in the “bake sale ban” and we’re happy to help with any questions. Email us at info@fundraise.com or give us a call at 857.445.4165.

Fundraise.com at MIT’s Startup Showcase

TheMIT Startup Showcase is the opportunity for a selected number of exciting early-stage startup companies to present to an audience of angel investors, venture capitalists, and members of the MIT community.

Thirty early-stage businesses from sectors including emerging technology, healthcare, mobile, social media, and energy were selected to exhibit their business vision and technology prowess at the 14th Annual MIT Venture Capital Conference.

Fundraise.com founder Nate and Matt from the FR.com Operations team did a super solid job explaining what’s happening both in and out of our office in South Boston and we had a great time chatting with MIT students as well other entrepreneurs and their teams from companies like Kinvey, Quora, Dropbox, NYX devices, hopper, and asana.

It was an awesome night of knowledge sharing and networking had by all.

Finding Your Audience Online:

A couple members of the Fundraise.com team were lucky enough to see the Boston Lyric Opera’s latest production of Macbeth, currently playing at the Shubert Theatre; music by Giuseppe Verdi and libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei, after William Shakespeare’s drama.

Fantastic music, ghoulish scenery, and a sinister plot had us chatting about a myriad of topics. One of which, though seemingly unrelated to the performance but a relatively obvious observation, was the median age of the audience - skewed older, much older.

Not that this should come as a huge surprise; the opera, for many, is an acquired taste. Like nice wine or aged scotch, the lyric opera seems to require a certain mature appreciation for the arts.

So then how does an organization like the BLO capture the attention of a maturing younger audience, turn them into enthusiasts, and eventually add them as supporters or better yet donors? A good place to start looking is online….

Living in a technological world, where anyone’s content is available at the click of a button, it’s still difficult to get the word out to not only a large audience, but also the correct audience.

Knowing your target audience is an essential part of being able to reach them effectively. For example, if an organization like the Boston Lyric Opera is looking to appeal to local patrons of the arts, the people they want to reach are probably those within the Boston arts community or those with some vested interest in the cultural offerings of the city.

However, since Boston is a major metropolitan area and the BLO is an accomplished group with prominent media coverage outside of the city in news outlets like The New York Times, they could easily launch a campaign designed to appeal to opera lovers nationwide.

Once you’ve determine exactly who you’re going after, here are some tips to aid you in your initial approach…

Appeal to the Group

Any writing or posts you craft should be worded, formulated, and directed right at your desired demographic. Whether you’re looking to connect on a small-scale (your family, your community, your campus, or your profession) or on a larger-scale (people across your state, your country, or even the world), by properly conveying how donating to a particular cause affects your potential donor base and can improve their surroundings, will make them more likely to listen and respond.

Speak to them in language that’s engaging and that they’ll immediately understand. And don’t be afraid to craft different messaging for different target groups.

Communication Tools

The best way to reach your target audience is to connect with them in places where they’re already congregating. There are tons of ways to search online for like-minded people on a bigger scale. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are a good place to start, as is the power-blogging site, Tumblr. Using easily accessible, free tools like these allow you to find groups already invested in your cause, and enable you to start conversations with people who actively care.

Don’t rule out the power of offline, either. Many tasks are more efficiently completed online but sometimes meeting people face-to-face is worth its weight in gold. Check out networking sites like meetup to find groups already connecting in areas near you.

Promote Conversation

Through online communication - social media, blogs, forums, etc - the ability to converse with your audience is essential. Create a two way street where those intrigued and interested in your organization can pose questions or comments about the effort and engage those people on a personal level.

Look to develop the same atmosphere in type as you would any positive in-person interaction and you’ll see your online and offline communities grow.

Fundraise.com Featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy

New Fund-Raising Site Makes Quick Mark in Online Giving

Started just five months ago by a 19-year-old Bostonian, Fundraise.com has quickly established a place in the highly competitive online-giving market, according to Bloomberg.

The site’s founder, Nate Drouin, who postponed college to start the for-profit firm with $250,000 from relatives and friends, said Fundraise.com already has 500 nonprofit clients and expects to earn more than $2-million in revenue this year.

Mr. Drouin’s supporters as well as rivals who have met him note that charities can easily grab Fundraise.com code and paste it on their own sites as a widget. They also like the analytics that the company provides to charity.

“We think there’s a massive opportunity,” Dustin Dolginow, a technology analyst at the venture capital firm Atlas Ventures, in Cambridge, Mass., told the news service. Mr. Dolginow said he expects to arrange $1.2-million in new financing for the company soon.

Read the original post here: http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/new-fund-raising-site-makes-quick-mark-in-online-giving/37514

Haymakers for Hope at $50K with Fundraise.com

On March 24^th Haymakers for Hope made their campaign live on Fundraise.com; 47 days later they have raised over $50,000 and there are still 44 days until fight night…

On June 23^rd, 20011 Haymakers for Hope, Fundraise.com and Smith & Wollensky will transform the Park Plaza Castle at Columbus Ave into a heated boxing arena to raise money to benefit Dana Farber and The Jimmy Fund; an exciting and new type of event in comparison to Boston’s typical charity party offerings.

The idea was born in the fall of 2009 when Julie Anne Kelly and Andrew Myerson embarked on the grueling training process to compete in the New York City Golden Gloves. Julie was looking to defend her title, while Andrew was trying to win his first. Somewhere in the process, the pair decided the physical, mental, and emotional test of competing against the country’s best amateur boxers wasn’t enough – they also wanted to raise money for cancer research, making the tournament an opportunity to literally fight for a cure.

Both originally from the Boston area, Julie (a cancer survivor) and Andrew approached Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund with the idea and “Haymakers for Hope” was born. In 2009 the pair raised over $5,000 and Julie defended her title.

This year they’re scaling things up - expanding Haymakers for Hope by organizing competitive boxing events around the city of Boston and using Fundraise.com. For the June event, men and women of all developmental stages were targeted to participate with the goal of putting on a great show and raising money for charity. Fighters are matched in size, athletic ability, and skill in USA Boxing sanctioned matches for friends, family, and co-workers to see. The events are meant to be competitive but fun, with everyone walking away a winner even in a loss.

For more information on the event or to donate visit the Haymakers for Hope page on Fundraise.com: https://www.fundraise.com/haymakers-for-hope