Answers to questions you may have about the April 2012 Open ChallengeHow do I “win” the Open Challenge?
What is the prize structure for the April Open Challenge?
What happens if I don’t succeed in getting 50 donors and $4,000?
During what time frame will donations count for the Challenge?
What’s the minimum dollar amount someone can donate?
Can donors give by check?
Do you accept cash donations?
What if my donors don’t have a credit card, PayPal or checks?
What if donors don’t have access to the Internet?
Is there a transaction fee for donations?
Has GlobalGiving run similar open challenges in the past?
How often should I make changes to my project page?
What is the maximum file size for files I want to upload to my project page?
What if I have more information that donors might want to know?
What happens if I change my project page during the Challenge?
Can we use our project page to sell items for our project?
How can I thank my donors or see who has donated to my project during the Challenge?
Can I add donors to my own personal mailing list?
Will you, GlobalGiving, find donors for my project?
Will GlobalGiving be promoting my project?
What’s the best way to alert people to the Challenge?
What should I say to people about the Challenge?
How do I know how much total money has been donated to my project?
How do I “win” the Open Challenge?
You must mobilize supporters to raise $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors between April 1 - April 30, 2012 in order to secure a spot on GlobalGiving.
In addition, participants can compete for supplementary cash bonuses for their projects from GlobalGiving. See the prize structure below for more information.
What is the prize structure for the Winter Open Challenge?
For the Winter Open Challenge there are three cash bonus opportunities:
1) Bonus Grants! At the conclusion of the Challenge the top three (3) projects that raise the most funds will also receive supplementary cash bonuses from GlobalGiving of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 respectively. The project with the greatest number of unique donors will be awarded a bonus of $2,000.
2) Bonus Day Surprises! For 1 day (24 hours), One donation per unique donor (up to $1000 each) will be matched at 15% till the total matching grant of $3000 is used up.
The matching funds will not count towards to the $4000 threshold. The date will be released one week beforehand.
3) Spreading the Word Bonus! All projects that meet at least half of the challenge threshold (raised at least $2000 from at least 25 unique donors) will be eligible for the “spreading the word” bonus. For this bonus the top 5 projects whose project pages have been shared the most on Facebook will receive $300 each. You can see the total count below the second donate button.
I don’t understand the Leaderboard. I didn’t think this was a competition with other projects. Don’t you think it can influence the final results?
You’re right! Every project in the Challenge can be a winner. As long as you raise at least $4,000 from 50 donors, you will be invited to stay on GlobalGiving.org.
The Leaderboard is a good way for YOU to know how your project is doing in comparison to others. It also lets you know how close you are to any of the bonus bounty rewards.
Don’t let the Leaderboard make you nervous, though. Use it to your advantage. You can make it a point of urgency or challenge for your donors. Tell them your goal is to move up in the rankings by the end of the week and THEY can make it happen. Or near the end of challenge, tell them how many donations you need to get or keep a bounty reward. Donors act upon a sense of urgency; this can encourage them to help you along.
What happens if I don’t succeed in getting 50 donors and $4,000?
In May 2012, the funds you raised during the challenge will be disbursed to your project, but you will not remain on the GlobalGiving site beyond April 30, 2012.
Note: In light of wire fees charged by the participants receiving a wire transfer, organizations based outside the US must raise at least $100 to receive funds from GlobalGiving.
All projects that do not reach the thresholds will be invited to participate in the next Challenge, and good news! We keep your due diligence documentation on file so you are NOT required to resubmit your due diligence.
Yes! Please do! We keep your due diligence on file, and we will invite you to resubmit your project and try again during our next Challenge. But don’t focus on that just yet! The Challenge isn’t over until the last minute – we’ve seen projects mobilize on the last day and win bounty rewards, so keep fundraising. We’ll be sending emails during the Challenge with fundraising tips and tricks, and keep checking back to the Toolkit (Fundraising and Marketing Resources).
During what time frame will donations count for the Challenge?
Online donations will be accepted through 11:59 pm, United States Eastern Time (GMT - 5) April 30, 2012. Checks must be received by GlobalGiving on April 26, 2012.
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What’s the minimum dollar amount someone can donate?
The minimum online donation is $10.
We accept checks, in US dollars, drawn on banks in the US. All checks must be received by GlobalGiving by April 26, 2012. In addition, check donors must specify the name of the project on the check on the memo line in order for it to be properly attributed to your project. Checks received after April 26th will be applied to the indicated project, but will not count towards the threshold for qualification or the bonus grants. Checks should be made payable to the GlobalGiving Foundation and should clearly indicate the project to which the funds should be applied.
Checks issued outside the US are required to be more than $100 to be processed by our bank. Only international checks of more than $100 will be accepted.
Mail checks to: GlobalGiving Foundation, 1023 15th Street NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20009, USA
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Do you accept cash donations?
Unfortunately, we are not able to accept cash donations.
What if my donors don’t have a credit card, PayPal or checks?
GlobalGiving also accepts bank wire transfers, stock transfers, and private equity shares. For more information on those types of donations, click here.
What if donors don’t have access to the Internet?
Donors without internet access can donate by check or wire transfer. You could also host a party and give them access to a computer and the internet to help them donate. You might also suggest a local internet café near their home.
Is there a transaction fee for donations?
Yes, GlobalGiving charges a 15% fee, but works to keep the fees you pay as low as possible while providing you great services and resources. The 15% fee helps cover the costs we incur to promote your organization and projects, provide you with fundraising training and tools, and maintain and improve our online technology in order to keep you connecting with new donors.
With our new add-on option, we also offer the donor the opportunity to make an additional donation to cover the fee so that you receive the intended amount.
In light of wire fees charged by the participants receiving wire tranfers, organizations based outside the US must raise at least $100 to receive funds from GlobalGiving.
Has GlobalGiving run similar “open” challenges in the past
Yes, we have. Learn about one of our previous Open Challenges, which was in the Winter of 2011.
How often should I make changes to my project page?
Your project page should always reflect the most current contact and project description information related to your project and organization. As long as the information is accurate, you do not have to make changes to your page.
Changes to your project page can be made by logging into your account. If you have any trouble changing your project, please contact Manmeet Mehta at mmehta@globalgiving.com.
What is the maximum file size for files I want to upload to my Project Page?
5MB.
What if I have more information that donors might want to know?
If you have more information that isn’t part of your project page, you can send a Project Report! This report will be automatically emailed to all your donors, as well as posted to your project page for potential donors. Project Reports are usually approved and sent out within 24 hours of posting Monday – Friday.
While you are required to post Project Reports every three months, you can certainly post more often if you have great news to share with donors. We encourage that! This will also help your ranking among lists of projects on GlobalGiving. Donors like projects that have recent reports.
What happens if I change my project page during the Challenge?
If you need to make changes to your project page during the Challenge, you should login to your account, click on your project name, make your edits, and resubmit the project. Your project will remain active and can receive donations, but the changes will reflect on the page only after you have submitted the project and it has been reapproved.
Can we use our project page to sell items for our project?
Currently the project pages are not built to accommodate other information besides what is already featured. There is an opportunity to provide a link to an organization’s website, where you may have other featured opportunities, but at this time you cannot include outside marketing opportunities on GlobalGiving.
How can I thank my donors or see who has donated to my project during the Challenge?
You can easily view a report of all your project's donors when you login to your account and click on Donation Manager. In the Donation Mangager, you can click on any donor's email address to send an individual customized thank you email to that donor. Keep in mind that if you'd like to send a message to all your donors at once, you can submit a Project Report.
Can I add donors to my own personal mailing list?
Please only thank your donors for their contribution. If you have your own personal mailing list, you may give them the opportunity to sign up in your thank you email. But being a donor through GlobalGiving does not automatically sign them up for your mailing list. Doing this would violate CAN-SPAM rules in the US, and does not create good ongoing relationships with your donors.
Will GlobalGiving find donors for my project?
GlobalGiving is excited to have you join our network of projects. As your partner, we are using our marketing power and donor base to let people know about donation opportunities. If you complete the Challenge, you will also be eligible to be included in future campaigns on GlobalGiving and with corporate partners.
GlobalGiving will be marketing the Challenge overall, but not individual projects. In all of our previous Challenges, most Project Leaders have said that they found the most success reaching out to their personal networks to complete the Challenge. Current supporters were more likely to donate during the Challenge than completely new donors.
Will GlobalGiving be promoting my project?
We have an large number of projects in the Open Challenge. With such a large amount of projects, GlobalGiving is not able to promote single projects individually. We will have the Open Challenge featured on our homepage, but not individual projects. We are happy to support social media outreach initiated by you – through Twitter, Facebook and blogs. But in order to remain neutral, we will not initiate the promotion of individual projects.
When promoting your own project, we encourage you to send your friends, family and networks directly to your project page and not the GlobalGiving homepage. Sending them exactly where they need to go will increase the chances of donation.
What’s the best way to alert people to the Challenge?
If you already have a donor network, you can email them about the Challenge. We have provided some sample emails in the Toolkit (Fundraising and Marketing Resources) for you to send to your donors. All you have to do is fill in the blanks with the relevant information to your organization and project. Just make sure to include a link directly to your project page so no one has to wonder where to go to donate.
What should I say to people about the Challenge?
Whether you email your friends, family and personal network or talk to them in person, emphasize why the Challenge is important to you and your organization. These people know you personally and want to help YOU. If they understand why this Challenge is important to YOU, they are more likely to help.
But also emphasize the deadline for the Challenge. People are more likely to donate if they know that there is a timeline. Creating a sense of urgency encourages donations.
Remind donors that as little as $10 can make a difference. They might think they can’t make an impact, but GlobalGiving is about the power of collective giving. Every donation helps!
You can find more tips about fundraising and talking to donors in the Toolkit (Fundraising and Marketing Resources).
If online donations are made from one email address are they considered unique? What about if two donors use the same credit card?
Any activity not in the spirit of requesting separate individuals to support donations is being moderated by GlobalGiving and GlobalGiving reserves the right to permanently disqualify organizations for any attempts of misconduct. Online donations are considered unique if they are made from separate emails. We also request that different credit cards be used and monitor this in our databases. We are monitoring I.P. addresses, credit cards, mailing addresses and various other parameters in our system to ensure that the only unique, distinct donors are counted towards the Challenge thresholds.
What if a husband and wife or local organization donate with separate email addresses, but the same credit card?
Donations made with separate email addresses, but the same credit card will only count as ONE donor. However, both of the donations will count towards your donation goal of $4,000. The same rule applies to unique checks.
How can I track my unique donors versus total donors? Will the Leaderboard show unique or total donors?
The Leaderboard shows your unique number of donors. Your project page shows the total number of DONATIONS. Some donors may have given twice and the number on the page can be different. Almost all projects competing in the Challenge will have some donors that are considered duplicates and will be eliminated from the unique donor total. After the final numbers are calculated, most projects “lose” proportionally the same number of unique donors from their total. We have not had a case where calculating unique donors has caused a project to lose ranking. Don’t hesitate to remind your donors about this when you reach out to them. But your donations will ALWAYS count towards your dollar total.
How do I know how much total money has been donated to my project?
Your project page will have real time totals of how much total money has been donated to your project – both during the Challenge and after. Checks are reflected in your donation total within 48 hours of being received at the GlobalGiving office, Monday – Friday.
The Open Challenge is for approved project participants to generate donations for their projects between April 1, 2012 (12:01 US Eastern time/GMT -5) and April 30, 2012 (11:59 pm US Eastern time/GMT -5).
Any approved project that is able to raise a minimum of US $4,000 and at least 50 unique donors will be invited to remain on the GlobalGiving website. These projects will be eligible to continue receiving donations from the general public, private and corporate foundations through www.globalgiving.org. Once the project is part of the GlobalGiving.orgcommunity, the rules and expectations of the GlobalGiving marketplace must be met (e.g. regular progress reporting to donors, etc.).
Online donations will be accepted through 11:59 pm US Eastern time (GMT - 5) on April 30, 2012. Checks received through April 26, 2012 will be included in the Challenge and will count towards the number of unique donors for each project. Checks received after April 26, 2012 will be applied to the indicated project, but will not count towards the threshold for qualification or the bounty. Checks should be made payable to the GlobalGiving Foundation and should clearly indicate the project to which the funds should be applied.
Please note that we are not able to accept cash donations. Two checks issued from the same bank account will be counted as one unique donor. The same credit card may be used for multiple donations however this will count as one unique donor. Please be aware that we will be monitoring activity to assure fairness for all participants. Similarly, online donations are considered unique if they are made from separate email addresses.
In light of wire fees charged by the participants receiving banks, organizations based outside the US must raise at least $30 to receive funds from GlobalGiving.
Please note that GlobalGiving maintains the right to make a final decision on all matters concerning the adjudication of unique donors and final results of the Open Challenge.
Projects on globalgiving.org undergo compliance checks to ensure they have a bona fide charitable purpose and meet applicable laws relating to international philanthropy. Organizations listed as partners do not necessarily endorse or support any particular project listed on globalgiving.org. The GlobalGiving Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization (EIN: 30-0108263).
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