Online Fundraising Pioneer FirstGiving Still Inspires Non-profits and Donors

Billed as a pioneer of online fundraising, FirstGiving has been established for over a decade and is a platform dedicated to connecting non-profits with supporters drawn to the causes they value most. Founded by lawyer and investment banker Zarine Kharas in the United Kingdom, Kharas realized and identified that the power of the internet could serve as a low-cost and effective way for supporters to raise much needed funds for the non-profits they support.

FirstGiving is dedicated to one purpose: empowering passionate nonprofit supporters to raise more money than they ever thought possible for the causes they care about.

FirstGiving benefits non-profits and its supporters by helping them with the planning and execution of a strong online fundraising campaign.  FirstGiving also offers peer-to-peer support and encouragement packaged in a very user friendly interface that can accommodate many types of fundraising initiatives. Once the online campaign is set up, supporters can create a personal fundraising page with their own unique web-address where they can:

• Share their story;
• Engage their circle of family, friends and contacts; and
• Capture donations through a secure portal that process all donations on their behalf.

Online Fundraising Pioneer FirstGiving image courtesy of firstgiving.com

FirstGiving also has the ability to incorporate and connect to the most popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and to the supporter’s blog (if applicable). These elements greatly improve the reach of the fundraising campaign. Combined with their online, on-the-spot and personal technical support, FirstGiving provides a strong, superior platform that is easy to set up, fun to use and even tracks the progress of the fundraising goals.

The company has recently extended its service umbrella with the release of FirstGiving Payments, a simple ‘Donate Now’ button that can be customized and integrated on a non-profit’s website making onsite donating easy and seamless. The service optimizes the amount donated by facilitating both one-time and recurring donations. Once the transaction is complete, they can share information about the non-profit directly through the various social media network platforms, spreading the word and encouraging others to learn about and support the cause.  FirstGiving Payments is also careful not to compromise the logo, image or identity of the non-profit brand in the process.

Some great fundraising accomplishments have been made through FirstGiving including:

• the Organization for Autism Research whose over 2,900 fundraisers have raised over $2.53 million dollars since 2003; and
• the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network raising over $1.5 million since 2004, with one fundraiser bringing in over $450,000 through their personal page.

To date, there have been over 8,000 registered non-profits, 13 million online donors and $1 billion raised through the company’s US platform along with its sister platform, JustGiving in the UK and in Japan.  Over the past year and a half, $77 million has been raised through FirstGiving’s online fundraising platform in the US alone.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values and advancing the missions of the non-profits we proudly serve.