PixelsForProgress.org - FundRaising for Charity - need feedback

[thestebes]

Hi everyone,

This post will hopefully accomplish a few things - an intro, a review, and a request for help. I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Scott, I'm currently in college as an undeclared engineering major. I have been interested in internet business and marketing for a few years now, but have never followed through with any of my ideas. That changed this past week.

Inspired by the milliondollarhomepage website, I had an idea that a similar setup could be used for charity fund raising. Thus I started and setup PixelsForProgress.org. The idea is simple (for those of you unfamiliar with it), individuals and businesses can buy advertisement space on the homepage of the site. The ad space is purchased and priced by the pixel, divided in 10x10 blocks for simplicity. You decide where the ad goes, you decide what image to use, you decide how large it is. The majority of the funds raised will then be transferred to my current charity of choice - AfricaAid.org.

At this point, I would love some feedback both on the site itself and the idea. I also need to figure out a way to get traffic to the site - hopefully without buying ads myself. I figured this would be a good forum both to get feedback and help, and to possibly spur some interest. If anyone wants to do a link exchange, or perhaps write a blog review of the site, please send me an email, or let me know on the forum on my site.

Thanks for any help, your support is greatly appreciated. I hope I haven't broken any of the forum rules, this hopefully isn't considered spam.

Scott

Email - admin@pixelsforprogress.org

[rogercbryan]

Scott, I came close to doing this. I'm in the non-profit industry and have a great deal of connections. Yet I was not able to get the ball rolling. The only way I see (saw) this working was to use the connections that the charities have as your marketing list. If you can contact previous donors you may have a better chance.

The charity that you chose can also slow you down. You need a brand name charity like Goodwill, The Salvation Army, or The American Red Cross. What percentage of the money is going to go to charity? This should be at the top of the main page. This is the first thing people look for. If you are not giving at least 90% of the money to the charity you will have a tough time selling any space.

I speak from experience. I do this for a living. This is a tough project to sell...
Welcome to Charity Dispatch!

[thestebes]

Thanks for the quick reply. I would like the charity to focus on relief work in Africa specifically, I dont know if anyone has a suggestion of a better charity working in this area. This is just something I am personally in support of. I checked the red cross site and I believe you can donate to a specific cause - perhaps this would be a better way to go.

I was planning on donating 80% of the funds, as I would like to cover my personal investment. This can easily be changed to 90. Regardless, I would think that a business would choose to (or not to) advertise based on the overall price and ad success of the ad. In other words, I'm not sure how concerned an advertiser would be with the actual charity side of things. Although it is certainly a good cause - which will hopefully inspire more individuals to advertise.

thanks for the help so far

[BusinessAdviser]

The majority of the funds raised will then be transferred to my current charity of choice - AfricaAid.org.

What percentage of revenues will be donated?

[thestebes]

My original plan was for 80% to be donated. As rogercbryan suggested though, I might bump this up to 90%.

[rogercbryan]

.

In other words, I'm not sure how concerned an advertiser would be with the actual charity side of things. Although it is certainly a good cause - which will hopefully inspire more individuals to advertise.

Donors are VERY concerned about the amount that goes back to the actual charity from a fund raising event. Especially when the charity is not a name brand charity.

Be careful with this as you do not want to end up on the news for trying to scam a charity. If you are going to go forward with this you may want to get a letter from the charity you are working with that shows they are a licensed 501(c)3 and that they are giving you permission to market their name. I would post this letter on your site as well.

[GriZzly]

Pixels and Progress are not two words that immediately gel together in my mind. The reason being that the sale of pixels on a web page as an advertising medium completed its entire product life cycle in less time than it took God to create the world (Sunday excluded ofcourse!) Now it isn't your intentions that I criticise, honourable as they are, but merely your approach. It is an outdated concept that has been emulated a million times over... each time diluting its ability to generate money.

I genuinely believe that you would earn a lot more money for charity by waving a bucket at passers by in the street.

[thestebes]

I think what I said before may have come out wrong. I meant people who are genuinely interested in advertising, not the charity itself, would not be too concerned. Someone who is donating to the fund raiser for the sake of helping a cause is certainly concerned with where the money ends up.

I realized this ad method was nothing new and certainly has been used, but I didnt realize it was considered an overused/outdated method.

In any case, proceeding forward, I think rogercbryan's suggestion of contacting whatever charity for approval and possibly a letter is certainly a good idea.

The site is certainly in a preliminary stage, and the concept can always be changed. Maybe I'll try and come up with something new. An original idea is certainly going to be tough to come up with though.

[rogercbryan]

In any case, proceeding forward, I think rogercbryan's suggestion of contacting whatever charity for approval and possibly a letter is certainly a good idea.

.

Actually this is a requirement of almost all charities. Have you contacted the AfricaAid people for permission to use their name? I know you have entirely good intentions but you could end up getting sued if you do not have their permission to use their name.

[thestebes]

Not yet, I was going to send an email today, but this discussion made me second guess what charity the money should actually go to. I guess I dont know what to do at this point. I have the site up to try and get things worked out, and to get feedback - but obviously I'm not ready to really get things rolling (which charity, permission, etc).

[BusinessAdviser]

Actually this is a requirement of almost all charities. Have you contacted the AfricaAid people for permission to use their name? I know you have entirely good intentions but you could end up getting sued if you do not have their permission to use their name.

The basis for it is actually intellectual property law. You are violating AfricaAid.org's intellectual property rights (or those of any other charity that you may wish to "help" in a similar way). There are exceptions, such as fair use, but where you are keeping a portion of the proceeds for your own profit, you stand an ice cube's chance in hell of falling within such an exception.

[toml7379]

Im afraid GriZzly's right. The concept has been overplayed millions of times (literally) ever since its conception 2 1/2 years ago by Alex Tew. As a money maker it just doesnt work any more, because there are probably more pixel sites out there than companies willing to buy into them! Also it can be tricky to pull off if you dont have any experience in web design (not saying you dont). I think what you're doing is brilliant - i recently did a cycle trip to rome from oxford (england) to raise money for charity, maybe something like this would be more effective? Or resort to the bucket idea! Good luck anyway

[toml7379]

i apologise, it appears you've already set it up, looking good i'll read the thread properly next time

[thestebes]

I'm in the process of removing any mention of a specific charity - for the time being.

[thestebes]

also, thanks for the comments and help so far. overall, do you think this idea is worth pursuing with some kind of marketing plan - press releases or something. I know it has been done, I was just hoping that the new spin with the charity concept would be enough to grab some attention