On May 2, 2017, from midnight to midnight, the great day of giving will come upon us!
Give for Good is a 24-hour online giving challenge led by The Community Foundation of North Louisiana to raise unrestricted dollars for the nonprofits in #Dreamport. Let me break it down for ya:
- Anyone can make a donation of $10 upwards to a participating nonprofit
- Many nonprofits will be doing cool stuff in the community to promote more giving, so check with your favorite nonprofit to see if they have an event
- No checks or cash – for a gift to count for the contest it MUST go through the online system (not directly to the charity), aka get out your credit card, go to giveforgoodnla.org, and ready those typing fingers
- By “contest,” I mean, participating nonprofits get EXTRA money for achieving certain goals (i.g. most donations between a certain time frame)
- Nonprofits ALSO get EXTRA money from the Lagniappe Fund (explained below) based on the overall percentage of donations donated by diligent donors.
What if I am “busy” on May 2?
For anyone with the constant fear of forgetting, the online gift system is up and running RIGHT NOW. New for 2017, you can set up your gift in advance and the money will deduct from your bank account or be charged to your card on May 2.
If you give in advance you will notice that the checkout will list “Today’s Total” as $0.00 because the scheduled gifts will not be processed until May 2. The total shown above that will reflect the amount that will be charged to your credit card on May 2. A tax receipt will be sent to the email address provided when the donation is processed.
Could this be any easier?
Yes, yes it can. Also, new this year, you no longer have to insert credit card info for each nonprofit you donate. You can now select as many organizations as you wish and fill up your online shopping cart for one big giving and one convenient checkout.
What is the Lagniappe Fund?
This is a pot of money that the Community Foundation has collected from donors to reinvest into the community. The Lagniappe Fund will be shared by all participating nonprofits receiving at least $500 of donations on May 2. The amount each nonprofit receives will be based on the overall percentage of funds raised on the day of the event.
EXAMPLE: The total of the funds raised on May 2 is hypothetically 1 million dollars. Awesome Sauce Nonprofit raised $10,000 in donations through the online system. Since $10,000 is 1% of 1 million, Awesome Sauce Nonprofit will also receive 1% of the Lagniappe funds on top of the $10,000 in donations it receives from its dedicated donors.
This is not a dollar for dollar matching. It is a percentages game. Either way, your dollar counts more on Give for Good Day than it would any other time of the year. So if you think you might want to donate to a super cool organization making an impact on our community – DO IT on May 2.
But what is all this other math stuff about fees?
We do have to pay for the system that makes all this possible, so there is a transaction fee.
EXAMPLE: Madison donates $10 to Awesome Sauce Nonprofit. She will be assessed the following fees: 4.9% for using a credit card, 2.8% processing fee from the online platform provider, CiviCore, and a 2.1% + $0.30 credit card processing fee. On a $10 donation, the fees total $1.28, so Awesome Sauce is actually getting an $8.72 donation.
When you checkout, you do have the option to help cover the fees by adding 4.9% to your donation during checkout. The Community Foundation does not receive any portion of the transaction fees or donation you make.
NOTE: I know you want to give us all your money, but Heliopolis is not a nonprofit. We do appreciate the sentiment though, y’all.
Check out websites below to learn more about Give for Good North Louisiana. There is a list of all participating nonprofits and a list of the special contests mentioned above. Also, go “Like” your favorite nonprofits and follow them on facebook.
Give for Good NLA website: giveforgoodnla.org
Community Foundation of North Louisiana cfnla.org