A Donor's Perspective

The websites are both an excellent way to receive funding for organizations, programs or causes. The websites are interactive, easy, and most of all, innovative. -No more knocking door-to-door at local businesses to receive support, donations or funding!

I wrote today’s blog from the perspective of someone who is donating and supporting a cause rather than someone who is seeking support.

FirstGiving:

When first landing on the webpage, you immediately have the option to search over 20,000 non-profits by name and/or keyword. I typed in the word “breast cancer” as a test and immediately 48 different pages of organizations appeared, some of which have already raised up to $100,000.

Seeing over 48 different pages of organizations was a bit overwhelming. Numerous organizations were not in my country or province (there was no sorting device) and numerous organizations didn’t have any pictures or updates posted. If I were a donor looking to support a cause, without knowing a specific organization, this system would be somewhat chaotic. On the left hand side tool bar there were categories listed: Non-profits, projects, events, people, fundraisers and teams. The categories allowed me to hone down on specifics that I may seek as a donor looking for a specific organization or initiative. I would have liked to see sorting device allowing me to see all of the projects and organizations that were local to Alberta and Canada. (Or the US in this case).

While browsing through the many titles under the “breast cancer” category, I also realized that within the hundreds of organizations and initiatives, some pages were not updated or maintained while others had weekly updates and photos. A few pages did have a “donate now” buttons, which make it very easy for the donor.

Overall, my verdict on First Giving is that this is a fantastic fundraising website to help non-profit organizations plan, execute, and measure their campaigns. In terms of non-profits gaining awareness and seeking donors, the website could make a few simple changes in order to facilitate this. My suggestions would be to create more categories in which organizations can be filtered, including country and province/state. I also believe that outdated or neglected profiles should expire as they make it difficult to find a specific organization in the masses.

Donors Choose: 

As a donor’s perspective it immediately caught my attention that this website listed “Most Urgent = Highest Poverty + Closest to the Finish Line.” This sorting device makes it extremely easy and efficient for me to find what I am looking for. I also noticed a sorting device, which allows you to identify the school, city and state.

As a donor, it may also be important for me to see which cause has gained the most money to this point, and how far they are to reaching their goal. Perhaps I am a donor who wants to support a cause with few supporters to give them a kick-start. Or, perhaps I am a donor who is looking to support a popular cause, which is near the end of their fundraising efforts. It was very simple to find either.

Overall Verdict:

From the perspective of a donor or someone who is looking to support an organization or a cause, I found the Donors Choose website to be easier to maneuver. The site seemed better maintained than first giving (all organizations and projects had photos and updated information).

I understand the sites have two slightly different purposes as First Giving may be used more for an organization to track their progress. Nonetheless I think they could make a few simple changes to make a huge difference to eventually attract and engage more donors who ultimate the difference. 




- Jessica S.