It is important to give your potential donors an extra incentive to give to your cause. Setting up an online store and selling your merchandise is a great way to start and you’ll soon have people wearing around your brand – further promoting your cause.
In 2008 ecommerce sales reached $133.6 Billion according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. How can your nonprofit organization tap into this huge market? Your organization has 2 options when it comes to fundraising through ecommerce.
Integrate a custom online store into your website
For around $500 – $1000 you can get an online store integrated into your website if you find a developer who knows what they are doing. The next step is to start creating your products. I recommend using http://www.zazzle.com/. Here you can brand anything from mugs and t-shirts to your own skateboard. Pretty cool! Order your inventory, take some photos and put them on your new website and start selling! Oh – don’t forget to sign up for a payment processor so you can accept credit cards. PayPal has become the standard for online payments processing and gives good deals to nonprofit organizations.
Use a third party service to manufacture and ship your personalized items
Setting up an online store, creating your own inventory, and then praying that it sells can be an expensive risk if you are new to ecommerce. CafePress is a lower risk option if you want to sell items online to raise money. How it works: Each product has a Base Price that includes fees associated with selling. You simply set your retail price above the Base Price. When you sell an item from your shop, CafePress keeps the base price and sends you the markup.
There you have it – 2 straight forward ways to start fundraising online.
Do you like this? Share It!
Post comment
Free tips on how to improve your web presence
Loading...