Susannah's dashboard

Susannah replied on July 30, 2008 13:20 to the problem "Can't bring up the right fristgiving page with correct name?" in Firstgiving:

Hi, Darleen,
The search function looks for the page creator name at the top right of the fundraising page. Since you were the page creator, one must type in Darleen Lafontaine in order to find it.
If you would like to change that to Megan's name so your friends may find the page by searching for her, you may sign into your account and click "your details." There, you can change the name of the account to Megan's.

Susannah replied on July 28, 2008 15:35 to the question "Our Scholarship Program needs great input for fund raising/donations?" in Firstgiving:

Hi, Greg,
Is your scholarship program a nonprofit? At this time, Firstgiving fundraising pages can only be used to raise money for registered nonprofit organizations. If so, go ahead and make a fundraising page! For tips on how to make your page successful, visit http://getsatisfaction.com/firstgivin...

Susannah replied on July 23, 2008 17:32 to the question "disappearing donations" in Firstgiving:

Thanks, Beth! I thought you'd also be interested to know that your fundraising page is updated automatically, while the Facebook application updates less frequently, I believe daily. You should see this change reflected on your Facebook page shortly

Susannah replied on July 23, 2008 14:11 to the question "My page has someone else's information??" in Firstgiving:

Happy to help.

What does it say in that area? What is the address of your fundraising page?

Susannah replied on July 23, 2008 13:33 to the idea "Allow donors to select a non profit" in Firstgiving:

Interesting!

Susannah started following the idea "Allow donors to select a non profit" in Firstgiving.

Susannah replied on July 22, 2008 16:29 to the question "I don't know blogs!!! how, where, when??" in Firstgiving:

Hi, Karol,
We don't have a Firstgiving blog site at this time, but feel free to use the personal message section as a blog, and email people each time you update it! Lots of people do this and it's a fun way to get people to keep coming back to your fundraising page (and hopefully make a donation!). Check out www.firstgiving.com/coastalgsrescue as a great example.

If you would like to experiment with blog sites, I suggest typepad or wordpress. They seem to be the most popular and easy to use. Don't forget to add a widget if you do! (see http://getsatisfaction.com/firstgivin... for instructions)

Best of luck

Susannah replied on July 18, 2008 13:08 to the question "How do you add an Organization after a Team is created?" in Firstgiving:

My colleague, Ryan, went ahead and changed it for you. Let us know if it's not what you want!

Susannah replied on July 17, 2008 19:28 to the question "How do you add an Organization after a Team is created?" in Firstgiving:

I'll look into it--what is your fundraising page URL?

Susannah replied on July 17, 2008 17:02 to the question "How do you add an Organization after a Team is created?" in Firstgiving:

Hi, I'm not sure what you mean by "organization field." But, I think I have an answer for you.

I suggest editing your page title to reflect that the page was created in memory of someone. Check out http://www.firstgiving.com/jollyrogers as an example. Your team will remain intact.

Hope this helps!

Susannah replied on July 17, 2008 16:55 to the question "How can we change our charity???" in Firstgiving:

Sorry about the confusion. Once a page is made, the nonprofit cannot be changed or edited. No worries, you can cancel that page and make a new one! You may want to copy and paste your personal message into Notepad so you don't have to write it again.

To do this, log into your account and select the tab "your fundraising pages." At the bottom, it says "to cancel this fundraising page, please click here." Select "yes" to confirm.

Once it's cancelled, click "your fundraising pages" again and select the button at the top "create a new page." After you choose which type of fundraising page you're making, it will ask you to select a nonprofit. You know the rest!

note: From your website, (www.rideforautism.org), it looks as though your 501 (c)(3) status is pending. At this point, Firstgiving pages can only be made for registered nonprofit organizations. You can check out some autim nonprofits here: http://www.firstgiving.com/Design/1/R...

Hope this helps!

A comment on the problem "Firstgiving Site Update" in Firstgiving:

Hi, sorry about the delay! I went to our homepage and searched Michael's name. He has a fundraising page at http://www.firstgiving.com/michaelhor..., where you may make a donation. Hope this helps! – Susannah, on July 14, 2008 19:29

Susannah replied on June 25, 2008 13:23 to the question "Multiple videos" in Firstgiving:

Not greedy at all! It's a great question and I think Hannah did an excellent job explaining other options.

Susannah replied on June 23, 2008 13:27 to the question "Help!" in Firstgiving:

Hi, Traci,
Where does your company's name display? Can you reply with your fundraising URL (i.e. www.firstgiving.com/yoururl)

Susannah replied on June 19, 2008 20:54 to the question "Adding html code?" in Firstgiving:

Unfortunately, it is not possible to add html code to the personal message at this time. I think it's a great idea, though, and appreciate the feedback. I'll go ahead and make the suggestion to our development team

Susannah replied on June 19, 2008 20:42 to the question "How to Delete my account?" in Firstgiving:

Thanks, Hannah!
Also, babypink, when you make your fundraising page, be sure to click "I'm new to this site" when it asks for your email address. That way, your email address and the password you choose will be linked directly to your personal account.

Susannah replied on June 18, 2008 21:02 to the question "The charity select button won't work" in Firstgiving:

Hi, Psarro,
Just to shed a little light on this: the reason you couldnt find the charity is because Reid's Ride is the name of the event. As Maggi mentioned, the name of the charity in charge of donations is Essex County Community Foundation, who manages the Reid Sacco Memorial Cancer Research Fund. Our system currently only searches for charity names, but we hope to improve this in the future and yours is great feedback--thanks!

Best of luck on Reid's Ride. Lynnfield is my hometown and his family is incredible!

A comment on the idea "Anonymous should mean anonymous" in Firstgiving:

That's exactly what I was getting at! Is there a flaw within the system? Can we do something to fix this? – Susannah, on June 17, 2008 14:35

Susannah replied on June 17, 2008 14:31 to the question "What makes an online fundraising page successful?" in Firstgiving:

Exactly! Some of my favorites:

1) Get in touch with the organization you’re fundraising for and ask if they’ll include information about your page on their website and in their next newsletter.
2) Change your email signature to include a link to your fundraising page. It’ll raise awareness of your page and prompt everyone you email to donate.
3) Put up notices in your gym, church, college, children's school or anywhere else you can. Tell people to donate by going to your short web address, ie www.firstgiving.com/johndoe.
4) Email all your potential supporters - not just friends and family. How about colleagues, ex-colleagues, college friends, local church/clubs/PTA? Ask them to send your page to anyone else who might want to donate.
5) Send multiple emails to update everyone on your progress. Update the message and photo on your page too. It’ll involve people who have already donated and nudge anyone who hasn’t. You know what it's like - people mean to donate, but they may not get around to it on the first request.
6) Change your email signature to include a link to your fundraising page. It’ll raise awareness of your page and prompt everyone you email to donate.
7) Place a widget or badge wherever you can, such as on your blog or myspace account. Get a widget by clicking “promote this page” on your fundraising page.
8) Use Facebook to tap into an even wider community. Add Firstgiving’s application at http://apps.facebook.com/firstgiving.

Susannah replied on June 17, 2008 14:20 to the idea "Anonymous should mean anonymous" in Firstgiving:

How does one make a proper anonymous doniation to a charity? Checks obviously arent anonymous, so would it require dropping off a wad of cash?