of the tax Form 990. Keep in mind that churches or nonprofits with

less than $25,000 in revenues are not required to file these reports.

When reading an organization’s materials, look for evidence that the

mission statement is being fulfilled.

sign of a healthy nonprofit, says the NCIB, is that at least 60

percent

of an organization’s annual expenses go to program activities. The

American Cancer Society, for example, in 1998, spent 77 percent of

its budget on program services. The key is to avoid nonprofits drained

by administrative expenses. However, if an organization is new, there

may be higher level of fundraising and administrative costs. Be

charitable

in picking your charity.

make high pressure phone calls or won’t send written material are

dubious. Also, don’t let someone pick-up your contribution. Insist

on using the mail.

a check made payable only to the full name of the charity, and don’t

respond to letters that say you have pledged money unless you are

certain that you did. Remember that in most cases donations to

charities

located in foreign countries are not tax deductible for U.S. federal

income tax purposes.

Top Of Page
Click Here, Save the World

It’s a small click for mankind, but a big bang for the

fundraising community.

The "click-thru" fundraising tactic, best illustrated by the

United Nation’s Hunger Site, could be the greatest advancement in

fundraising this century. "With just a click of your mouse, you

can feed a starving person at no cost to yourself," the United

Nation’s E-mail reads.

The brainchild of Indiana programmer John Breen, the United Nation’s

Hunger Site proves that it’s possible to engage corporate money and

individual philanthropy simultaneously. In the case of the Hunger

site, corporations contribute a half-cent for each click in exchange

for showing each person who "clicks-thru" the sponsor’s banner

or homepage. Individuals need only tolerate a momentary commercial

message for a win-win situation.

"Click-thru" advertising may not replace TV commercials with

ex-Soap stars or Hollywood luminaries, but so far, it’s looking like

a success. The United Nation’s Hunger site has seen

"donations"

grow from 172,739 to 4,823,556 over four months. On November 2, seven

corporate sponsors responded to 234,371 clicks to the Hunger Site

by contributing $16,740.79 each. The result, according to the UN:

410,149 cups of food for the hungry.

Although fundraising online is increasingly popular, there are ethical

and technical considerations to launching a campaign for a charity

online. With banner advertising and "click-thru" advertising,

organizations do risk alienating potential donors by pushing

commercial

messages. Also there can be legal restrictions to raising money on

the Internet. Establishing a website that can process credit card

transactions automatically can be complicated and expensive, and you

should be wary of how much control your ISP has in the fundraising

process.

The Internet Nonprofit Center, a project of the Evergreen State

Society

of Seattle, suggests fundraisers consider the following before

launching

their online campaign.

required.

websites for charities that they service. Find out if the appeal for

donations comes directly from the charity or from the service provider

for the charity.

party service provider. You want to avoid "factoring" schemes,

where your service provider offers to process your credit card

transactions

using its own merchant accounts. This puts you at risk from being

denied future credit card services.

just a financial donation. Some people are still uncomfortable with

giving their financial information online. You can bill people by

regular postal mail.

"Click-thru" sponsors should be relevant.

advertising

frequently that people are seeing new ads.

Corrections or additions?

— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.