March 23, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Crowdrise
Web site: http://crowdrise.com
What it does: Crowdrise is a social-networking Web site that encourages people to create fund-raising pages for charities and causes they want to support. Charity supporters then get the word out through Facebook, Twitter, and other sites to encourage their friends to donate.
Safeguards: Charities are invited to create their own profiles and add stories and information. Employees or volunteers can take charge of overseeing their organization’s profile by finding the group’s name on a list of charities that have IRS approval and confirming the employee-identification number. According to Crowdrise’s terms of service, the site “may contain errors or omissions, or may be out of date.”
Fees: The site charges a donation fee of 5 percent plus an additional fee of $1 for contributions under $25 and $2.50 for larger ones. Charities have the option of paying $299 a year to be featured prominently on the site.
Jumo
Web site: http://jumo.com
What it does: Jumo allows people to build profile pages for issues that interest them.
Safeguards: A nonprofit can create profile pages and add donation buttons only when it provides the group’s employee identification number. All donations are processed through Network for Good.
Fees: The site charges a donation fee of 4.75 percent, which is processed through Network for Good
Causes
Web site: http://www.causes.com
What it does: People can donate to a charity through Causes on Facebook and publicize the donation to their friends on the social network.
Safeguards: Nonprofit can create a fund-raising page on Causes. The e-mail address must be confirmed as part of a registration process. The site also encourages potential donors to “make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any online or offline transaction with any of these third parties.”
Fees: The site charges a donation fee of 4.75 percent, which is processed through Network for Good
FirstGiving
Web site: http://firstgiving.com
What it does: FirstGiving allows people to set up personal fund-raising pages for charities they wish to support.
Safeguards: Donors can search for charities that are registered through the Internal Revenue Service on the site and make donations directly to the organization, regardless of whether the group has set up a page on the site. To create a FirstGiving page, organizations must have charity status from the IRS and pay a $300 annual fee.
Fees: Domestic donations are charged a 7.5-percent fee. International donations, which are handled in conjunction with the Web site GlobalGiving, are subject to a 15-percent fee.
