Believe.in – Fundraising Without Fees

The point of a fundraising campaign shouldn’t be to line the pockets of credit card processors and other business executives. When people donate to a charity, they want to know that the money they’re giving is going to the people in need. Believe.in is a social fundraising tool that guarantees that 100% of the funds collected through its platform will make their way to their intended recipients.

Create a profile on Believe.in and select a few “themes” based on the topics you care about most (like education, science, or healthcare). Believe.in will automatically pull up a list of charities that you might like, based on your interests, and you can click to follow certain organizations and stay updated on their latest fundraising efforts. Next, you’ll want to get started with your deed log. Keep track of all your good deeds, from the $200 donation you made to the Red Cross to the time you spent volunteering at a local animal shelter. Nothing is too big or too small to add to your deed log. Believe.in helps you share the entries in your deed log (if you wish) as a way to subtly encourage your friends on social networks to get into the giving spirit.

Those same friends will come in useful when you start using Believe.in for your own fundraising efforts. Open up a new fundraising project and select the charity where you’d like the proceeds to go, then invite supporters (i.e., friends on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) to donate to your campaign through PayPal. Believe.in guarantees that 100% of the donations you collect will go to charity, which is the biggest difference between Believe.in and other fundraising platforms.

Practical Uses:

• Raise money for cancer research
• Ask friends to sponsor your participation in a charity bike ride
• Keep track of your charitable contributions
• Find out about new organizations that support your favorite causes

Insider Tips:

• Connect your social media accounts to the Believe.in platform
• Believe.in works with brands, as well as individuals
• Believe.in has already connected with more than 170,000 charities
• Customize your privacy settings to make your profile public or private
• The platform works with PayPal Giving Fund to process donations

What we liked:

• It takes less than two minutes to create a new fundraiser on Believe.in
• Believe.in does not take a cut of the donations processed through its platform
• Users can decide whether to notify their friends when they make charitable donations
• There is no limit to how much money people can raise

What we didn’t like:

• Believe.in requires that people register for an account to donate to a fundraiser, which might stop some people from donating

Alternatives:

• Givey – https://www.givey.com
• HopeMob – http://hopemob.org
• Pledgeit – https://pledgeit.org.uk

Company Info:

• Launched: March 2013
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: London, England
• Founded by: Matthias Metternich and Will Cookson
• Web site: http://believe.in

Costs:

• Free