Welcome to the CauseFM Blog.
CauseFM gives independent artists the ability to make an impact on their communities and the world by raising money and awareness for nonprofits and causes they believe in. Cause.fm is scheduled for full public beta release this summer. We’re currently in our Private Alpha phase, testing out the platform, loading up information, and getting things ready for a limited beta release. Once everything is stable and running smoothly, we’ll go into public beta mode later this year.
Check the blog regularly for site updates, current event news, our thoughts on current issues, features about charities and the musicians who support them, and much more.
You can also get updates via SMS by texting follow causefm to 40404
Phoenix, Ariz. (PRWEB) December 1, 2011 – Cause.fm, LLC (http://cause.fm) today announced the launch of its new socially-minded digital music distribution platform, Cause.fm. Cause.fm gives independent artists the ability to make an impact on their communities and the world by raising money and awareness for nonprofits and causes they believe in simply by selling music downloads. A portion of every sale made through the Cause.fm platform is donated to the charity of the artist’s choice.
“The power of music can be leveraged as a vehicle for social change,” says Cause.fm founder David Negron. “The Cause.fm platform promotes awareness of social causes and nonprofit field work, while simultaneously supporting independent artists and the music they create.”
Cause.fm serves as a social network for artists, fans, and non-profits, fostering communication and interaction between users, providing a means for effective fundraising and collaboration while encouraging activism and volunteerism at the individual and local level. Through the Cause.fm platform, artists can team up with their fans to support any cause, while non-profits can leverage the power of social media and grassroots digital music to raise funds and awareness. Musicians can upload their music for sale directly on the Cause.fm website, and fans can download their purchases to any device. Artists choose the amount that gets donated per purchase, as well as the benefiting charity. Any non-profit can create a profile for their organization on Cause.fm to benefit from the platform for free.
“Fewer resources are available to non-profits than ever before. Government funding has been drastically cut, foundations have redirected funds, and the breadth of individual giving has narrowed,” says Negron. “Meanwhile, the need for direct services has risen, leaving non-profits unable to keep up with the need. Therefore, finding creative ways to fundraise is imperative.”
Cause.fm, LLC is a subsidiary of One Light Music Productions, Inc., a US-based music and media company dedicated to increasing accessibility to all forms of art. One Light Music’s key mission is to erase boundaries by connecting people through music and the visual arts while empowering creative freedom.
Visit Cause.fm on the web: http://cause.fm
Cause Marketing is more than just a buzzword — it is a powerful and necessary collaboration between the commercial world and the nonprofit world that helps build awareness and raise funds. Here are a few books that can shed some light on the subject, and give you a few ideas.
Cause-Marketing for Nonprofits: Partner for Purpose, Passion and Profits
by Jocelyne Daw
This book captures the exciting potential for business and nonprofits to partner for mutual benefit and discovery… Cause Marketing for Nonprofits provides a wealth of hands-on, practical experience that can benefit any nonprofit organization interested in this innovative and growing form of generating revenue, building profile and achieving mission. Easy read, good overview.
Nonprofit and Business Sector Collaboration
by Walter W. Wymer and Sridhar Samu
In this book, top researchers explore the how, why, and when of this kind of collaboration. In addition to examining the various types of relationships that currently exist between these kinds of organizations and what the future could hold, Nonprofit and Business Sector Collaboration goes on to explore cause-related marketing, philanthropy, social enterprise, sponsorships, alliances, licensing agreements, and more.
Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
by Leslie R. Crutchfield, Heather McLeod Grant
This book comes from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and is an innovative guide to how great nonprofits achieve extraordinary social impact. What makes great nonprofits great? The authors searched for the answer over several years, employing a rigorous research methodology which derived from books on for-profits like Built to Last. They studied 12 nonprofits that have achieved extraordinary levels of impact—from Habitat for Humanity to the Heritage Foundation—and distilled six counterintuitive practices that these organizations use to change the world. This book has lessons for all readers interested in creating significant social change, including nonprofit managers, donors and volunteers.
1. Increased Reach
Email makes it possible to contact supporters, family, and friends from different geographic locations as well as those within close proximity. Fundraising campaigns can now reach potential supporters from coast to coast and not just those at arms length.
2. Increased Safety
Since there is no door-to-door selling involved in an online fundraising campaign, there is no need to approach strangers when asking for money. The added safety of using the internet to fundraise brings a sense of relief to parents as well as team members.
3. Reduced Risk
A burden faced with many traditional fundraisers is the potential cost associated with left-over inventory. A referral or affiliate program is an example of an online fundraiser where there is no need to purchase or carry inventory. Your group is paid for referring products regardless of the quantity you sell. There is no longer a need to purchase large quantities of inventory that you may never be able to sell.
4. Add Variety, Customization & Creativity
Unique web based services give teams the opportunity to create customized goods from T-shirts, to team posters and calendars. Traditional fundraising products are outdated and carry little benefit or value to your supporters. The internet brings with it so much more choice in terms of items you can sell in order to fundraise. You can now fundraise with books, travel, magazines, sheet music, board games, movie passes and much, much more.
5. Reduced Costs
Running an online fundraising campaign can be very inexpensive. Email accounts are free and many companies offer free website hosting packages. With referral programs the merchant is responsible for carrying the inventory, shipping the products and any costs associated with the online transaction including credit card processing.
6. Speed of Success
Most web based fundraising programs provide you with instantaneous real-time tracking of sales and lead conversions. Additionally, it is so quick and easy to email a promotion your supporters.
7. Ease of Coordination of Effort
A traditional fundraiser usually involves purchasing inventory, handing out inventory, counting and managing stock, delivering goods sold, organizing volunteers, and booking rental space. An online fundraiser can all be done in front of a computer using email and your website as a communications tool.
8. Results
Because most online programs are free to set up and join having only one sale will usually result in a profit, or will more than likely cover all of the costs associated with your campaign. With some online fundraising campaigns there is no break-even point to worry about and normally no minimum number of sales is required to insure a profit.
9. Fun
Surfing and shopping online is not only fun for your group but your supporters as well. They will take pride in supporting your group and have the opportunity to conveniently purchase items they can actually use and benefit from.
Ayana Forward is the author of Raise Money Without Selling: Effective Web Based Fundraising.
Convio released the results of this years Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study. The study, which is designed to help nonprofit professionals evaluate beneficial online marketing metrics, showed this year that online giving is growing steadily and that nonprofits continue to grow their marketing audiences worldwide. Online giving was reported to have grown 14% since last year, despite a struggling economy.
Full Press Release:
Convio, Inc., today announced the results of its annual Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study. This year’s study shows that online giving is growing steadily, there has been an increase in the number of online gifts and nonprofits are continuing to grow their email files. The full study is available atwww.convio.com/2010benchmark
The study is designed to help nonprofit professionals evaluate beneficial online marketing metrics, evaluate the effectiveness of their organization compared to similar organizations and determine strategies for future success. The study focused on key areas related to online success, including:
- Website traffic and registration
- Email file health
- Online fundraising
- Online communications
- Advocacy
Key findings of the study include:
Online giving grew 14 percent despite a difficult economy. Overall, 69 percent of organizations raised more in 2009 than 2008, while 31 percent saw declines in their online fundraising.
An increase in gifts drove fundraising gains. Of those that grew fundraising in 2009, 92 percent saw an increase in the number of gifts in 2009 compared with just 43 percent of organizations seeing an increase in their average gift amount.
Small organizations grew fastest. Organizations with fewer than 10,000 email addresses on file, many of which are participants in the Convio Go! program, grew online revenue by 26 percent, and gifts by 32 percent.
Web traffic growth continued for most, but at a slower rate. 60 percent of organizations grew their website traffic from 2008 to 2009. Web traffic growth in 2009 was in the single digits at 6 percent compared with double digit growth seen in previous years.
Web traffic was strongly correlated with email file growth. 38 percent of an organization’s success building large email files could be directly attributed to the amount of traffic to the organization’s website.
This year’s study analyzes data compiled from 499 nonprofit organizations that have at least 24 months of data to compare. The study aggregates results into benchmarks that nonprofit organizations can compare against their peer group and the industry as a whole. In addition the study provides separate benchmarks for 15 nonprofit industry sub-groups, or verticals across 19 key metrics. In total Convio’s clients raised more than $920 million online in 2009.
About Convio
Convio is a leading provider of on-demand constituent engagement solutions that enable nonprofit organizations to more effectively raise funds, advocate for change and cultivate relationships with donors, activists, volunteers, alumni and other constituents.
