If only online fundraising were as simple as adding a donate button to your site! But it's not.You need great stories-and great writing and media on your website to showcase those stories.But you already knew that-you know that people need to be inspired by your work before they'll click that donate button.Yet, you have to get people to visit your site first or that donate button is useless.And before you do even that, your site's donate button-and donation form-has to be designed in such a way that, once inspired, people will follow through with the donation.Great stories, emotional writing and amazing media are not enough to get people to complete the donation process if your donate button is hidden, or your donation page a confusing mess.Here are 11 tips to help you optimize your website's donate page and button for maximum impact.Donate Button. Be Seen & Clicked.If you want people to donate, you've got to make it easy for them.If people can't find your donate button, how can they help? If they have to work to give you money, chances are they won't.Use clear language on your button like Donate Now or Give Now.This isn't the place for vague calls to action-even "Support Us" isn't strong enough, as that could be anything. volunteer, planned giving, in-kind donations.Nor is it the time for polite hedging.Just say no to phrases like please consider, think about or why not give.Be forward.Make it absolutely clear what you want people to do.Include your donate button on every page, not just the home page.Did you know that a large chunk of people don't enter your site from the homepage? If your donate button only lives there, how many of the people who visit your site will never see it?Place your donate button above the fold, in the upper right corner.The upper right corner is the most valuable "call to action" area on a website-an ideal location for your donate button.If your site uses side navigation, list the Donate button first.Use a larger size and contrasting color to make your donate button stand out.The human eye adjusts to different viewing environments with amazing speed-causing things to be easily filtered.If your donate button blends in with everything else on your site, people will miss it.Be bold.Make it bigger.Make it colorful.What the heck does "Above the Fold" mean? It refers to the area of a webpage that can be seen without scrolling.Of course there's no fold in your computer screen-the term is borrowed from the newspaper industry where the most important stories are placed on the front page above the fold.Donation Page. From Here to Submit Button.They've clicked, they're ready to give, your work here is done! Nope, think again.The deal isn't sealed until someone clicks "Submit." If the donation page you take people to is a hot mess, do you think they'll stick around to finish? They will if you optimize it.Direct people to an actual, secure donation form.People who click "donate now" want to do just that-a page listing the cornucopia of giving options you have doesn't help them do that.The more pages you make people click through to give you money now, the less likely they are to do it.Put your wishlist and info on planned giving, stock transfers, car donations, etc.Somewhere else.Reinforce your ask on the donate page.Don't dump people on a page with no messaging-or generic messaging like "Donate Now" and that's it.You've got to nudge people to continue-briefly remind them why they want to give with a short message at the top. For every $25 you give today, a family of four will have food for a month.Thank you for helping families in need! Or something.Make the form as streamlined and simple as possible.Remove distractions-the easier it is for people to click away, the more likely they will do so.Keep them focused on what they came to do. complete the donation form and give.Your message is not a distraction, but that sidebar is.Your navigation bar is too.And this is so not the place to pimp your newsletter or Facebook sign-up one more time.Only require the information you absolutely need.The more fields you make people fill out, the more likely they'll abandon your form.Name.Address.Credit card.Donation amount.Email.These are requirements.That's not to say you can't ask for more, just make sure people know it's optional, and don't ask for too much more-what information would actually be useful? I'd say gender and birthday-both of which will help with targeting and stewardship later on.When to create multiple donation pages (if you can)..If you have multiple campaigns around different areas of interest.Create separate donation pages with messaging specific to each area instead of one generic page.If you segment your appeals by larger and smaller donors.Try making two forms with different donation ranges.I gasped the first time I saw an online donation form starting at $5,000.Worse, it was listed vertically so all other amounts were below the fold.Imagine how your donor who can't really afford $100 will feel upon seeing that.Different donation forms prevent sticker shock for your lower range donors and discourages major donors from giving less than they would.Win win.AWESOME BONUS TIP #11. Turbo-charge your website for online donations by using a pop-up appeal with your ask and a donate button that shows up for first-time visitors to your site.(Helpful hint. This is a popular method many use to boost email sign-ups, but you can set it up so that it alternates between donations and sign-ups.And it works.Awesome, right?).

Cars that have been in use for around twenty years readily show their age.From overheating engines, wiggling joints, creaking windows and deteriorating paint, cars become less and less desirable as well as becoming less reliable, as they get older.As it ages, a car becomes a stronger candidate to become a item for donation to charities.The habit of participating in a car donation drive is supposedly a no-lose strategy for both owners and charities.Owners who donate their cars are eligible for large tax deductions, while recipient charities generate assets that are not usually received through cash contributions.Charities have quite a few choices on what ways to use the donated vehicle.The car is often used for transportation for food, or to drive officials to appointments or to run errands.The evolution of car donation drives has a short history.The Washington-based Davis Memorial Foundation conducted the first car donation drive in 1978.The project was started by the organization in order to compete for the small quantity of donations that were available in the US at that time.Davis Memorial only received five cars during the first year of the program, but that was sufficient to persuade other charities to initiate their own car donation ideas.Shortly thereafter, private fundraising groups came forth and made their services available to charities.The private entities took care of logistics, which happened to be a significant rallying point for charities and they made the programs financially rewarding and simple to carry out.Charities discovered a fresh source of money and they only needed to cash in on the checks that come each month.The larger charities that conduct their own car donations include the Red Cross, Easter Seals, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the United Way, Big Brothers/Sisters, and the American Cancer Society.How much is your car worth?Many resources on the Internet such as the web sites of the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Kelley Blue Book are very useful in helping owners find the fair market value of their old cars.The tax advantage is determined by the way the car is categorized in terms of its appraisal.An auto categorized as "low value" brings the owner a tax exemption of $500.Transactions are easily closed, as supplemental paperwork is not really needed.The tax advantage would be restricted to the sale price of the car donation if the vehicle's value goes over $500.The majority of autos are sold using an auction or dealerships and are usually sold at less than their true book value.Cars deemed safe to drive and in satisfactory running condition are able to be used for various charity functions or can be rehabilitated might bring in a tax deduction of as much as $5,000 for the owner.A few issues against car donation.A study from the United States General Accounting Office discovered that almost 75% of charities with car donation efforts only ended up getting 5% or less of the fair market value of a car that was included as a charitable donation in an individual's tax return.One of the big reasons for the difference is that expenses to advertise the vehicle in newspapers and television is deducted from the amount received from the auction.Charities will see returns become smaller, as they need to come up with the costs to tow and overhaul the auto's condition and finalize associated paperwork.Some charities can receive a flat fee for each car donation without regard to its fair market value.Donors have also been known to inflate the value of the vehicle in order to increase their possible tax deductions.

The Humana Foundation established in 1981 as the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc., one of the U.S.A.'s leading health benefits companies in Louisville, supports and nurtures charitable activities that promote healthy lives and healthy communities in the belief that improved health and education provide the greatest opportunities for individual and societal growth.They have thus placed confidence in people and their capacity to change for the better.They recognize the power of technology and immediately useful information to effect change.Humana believes in effective, passionate, capable and innovative leaders believing that through them wonderful things can happen.Humana also embraces health as a balanced state of well-being, recognizing an interrelationship between mind, body and spirit.These three represent vital ways through which communities could be renewed as outlined below..Mind - projects or educational institutions that promote academic achievement and improvement in education.(31%).Body - projects or human service agencies engaged in the promotion of healthy bodies and healthy lifestyles(41%).Spirit - projects or civic and cultural development organizations that seek to inspire communities and enliven the spirit.(28%).The Humana Foundation supports organizations that improve the quality of life in the communities where Humana has a meaningful presence.Humana and The Humana Foundation made 420 grants to nonprofit organizations in its headquarter's city of Louisville and other communities where the company has a meaningful presence in 2006 with attention given to the three priority areas outlined above according to the percentages in brackets.Total contributions in 2006 came up to $7.8 million.Humana and The Foundation make a difference through volunteerism, health education, funding for the arts, educational scholarships, disaster relief, and more.The Humana Foundation donates millions of dollars each year to non-profit organizations in the markets where it does business.Following the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it pledged $1 million for disaster relief in the Gulf Coast region.O The Foundation immediately donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross with an additional $500,000 set aside for long-term recovery efforts.O The Foundation also matched employee gifts that totaled $300,000.O With the employee match, the total Humana response was $1.6 million for Katrina Relief.In partnership with four other Foundations,it distributed funding to a number of agencies with the primary focus of rebuilding the health services infrastructure and reducing reliance upon emergency rooms as a source of primary care.David Jones Sr., former CEO and chair of the board of directors is leading the City of Parks initiative in Louisville to acquire land to expand parks throughout Louisville.He raised over $20 million for this effort in 2005 and 2006 through his personal fundraising efforts.In February 2005, the Trust for Public Land and Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson announced a $20 million initiative spearheaded by the community fundraising efforts of Humana Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus David A.Jones.The funds will be used for continued land purchases that will transform Metro Louisville to a "City of Parks." to which The Humana Foundation contributed $1.25 million.Hundreds of school children at Rockdale Paideia Academy celebrated the Cincinnati launch of T.A.T.U.- Teens Against Tobacco Use - a program made possible in Cincinnati through a partnership between the American Lung Association and ChoiceCare/Humana.During the kickoff event, students symbolically extinguished the world's tallest cigarette (50') by deflating it, making it collapse in seconds.Also featured were former Cincinnati Bengal Mike Martin, a performance by the Ropin' Rockets (jump-rope team) and a dramatic skit and rap song carrying anti-tobacco messages.T.A.T.U.Developed by the American Lung Association as part of its Smoke-Free Class of 2000.Is funded in nine major cities by the Humana Foundation.Tthe T.A.T.U.Program - under the American Lung Association and Humana Foundation partnership.T.A.T.U.Uses a "kids helping kids" approach to teach elementary school children about the dangers of tobacco use.First, adult volunteers are trained to work with teenagers.The teens, in turn, will teach younger students the truth about tobacco and how children are often targeted with sophisticated marketing campaigns by tobacco companies.Research shows that teens are eager to talk to younger children while this younger age group respects and listens to teens.Humana is thus becoming more involved in volunteer activities.This process of developing and refining volunteerism, it hopes, will benefit associates and enrich leadership at Humana as well as impact communities across the U.S.A.They participated in United Way's Day of Caring and worked on a Habitat for Humanity house constructed by Humana associates.The Humana Foundation has chosen Libraries for the Future to partner in the Foundation's new signature project.The Wellness Information Zone Project takes a "high tech, high touch" approach to helping the public find essential and reliable health information.Features include trained librarians, a new health information Website, Wellness Information Centers in public libraries and nonprofit organizations, and Humana associates volunteering as Wellness Information Guides.The Humana Foundation's $750,000 challenge grant to Louisville's Metro United Way (MUW) campaign created excitement for reaching the community fund-raising goal with additional enthusiasm resulting from the innovative leadership of CEO Mike McCallister as community chair of the 2006 MUW campaign.The campaign reached its goal of $30 million which was to be distributed to about 160 nonprofit agencies in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.Foundation staff worked with MUW leadership to distribute $60,000 in "impact grants" in 2006.Allocation of funds focused upon projects that provide services for area senior citizens.ElderServe, GuardiaCare, New Directions Housing, Legal Aid Society, Jewish Family and Vocational Services were amongst those who received grants as part of this worthwhile program..In April 2006, The Humana Foundation pledged $500,000 to the James Graham Brown Cancer Center's Wendell Cherry Institute for Clinical Trials in memory of Humana's co-founder.The Commonwealth of Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund (also known as Bucks for Brains) is matching the gift for a total contribution of $1 million to create The Humana Foundation Professorship in Clinical Trial Research.Humana's Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus David A.Jones and his wife also donated $1 million to the Cherry Institute for Clinical Trials.Organizations in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana received grants, including the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Baton Rouge.With its funding, the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is providing early-detection screenings to underserved areas in Southeast Louisiana, including FEMA trailer villages.O Tampa - The Centre for Women received $100,000 to build a suite to train individuals in basic construction skills for the nonprofit's Senior Home Improvement Program.Tampa became the fifth city to participate in Humana's Our Community Benefits Program in 2006.O Houston - SIRE, Houston's Therapeutic Equestrian Center, improves the quality of life for people with disabilities using horseback riding and related activities.O Michigan - Crossroads of Michigan, the winner in the Detroit market, is equipping and furnishing a Sunday Soup Kitchen at its new location.O Chicago - City-Wide Tax Assistance Program (TAP) enables the working poor to claim tax credits and refunds as well as overcome barriers to mainstream financial resources.O Atlanta - Trees Atlanta is establishing an urban forestry program to help create programs and exhibits for a new environmental education center.The Humana Foundation is also engaged in promoting art and culture.A steady and constant area for support is the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays.This partnership with Actors Theatre of Louisville which began its signature sponsorship of the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays in 1979 is the longest partnership between a corporation and a theater in the United States which in 2006 celebrated its 30th anniversary.The Business Committee for the Arts then honored Humana on November 8, 2006, in New York City .Humana has provided the festival with more than $16.4 million since it started.From thgen it quickly rose to an annual site of pilgrimage where more than 20,000 theatre lovers from around the world converge every year to see new plays from emerging and established playwrights and get the first look at the future of the American theater.Over 300 Humana Festival plays have been produced, representing the work of 206 playwrights.More than 90 million people worldwide have seen additional productions of the many plays originated in the Humana Festival.Film audiences have seen Humana plays adapted for the screen.The Humana Foundation has received much recognition for such outstanding work...- two national awards for its support of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.-and the Humana Romanian Assistance Project.For Humana's long-term commitment to the arts, especially.So the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays.The Council on Foundations, a Washington, D.C.-based membership organization of more than 2,000 grantmaking foundations, gave it its "Critical Impact Award" for the foundation's efforts to transform Romania's health care system through the Romanian Assistance Project.Humana and Baylor Health Care System in Dallas, Texas, provide funding and management for the project, which began in 1990 when former President George H.W.Bush asked American businesses to assist the newly emerging democracies of Eastern Europe, which had been damaged by Communism.The project offers training programs for Romanian medical professionals and donates equipment, supplies and technical literature.The University of Louisville's Division of International Pediatrics is an outgrowth of this.The division received a $4 million boost in April 2006.Two $1 million donations, one from The Humana Foundation and another from David and Betty Jones, attracted equal funding from Kentucky's Bucks for Brains program.The Foundation gift will create a program endowment, while the gift from the Jones is developing a new endowed chair for the division.In September 2006, David Jones published The Dacian Chronicles. Transforming the Romanian Health System, 1990-2006.The Foundation distributed copies to hundreds of Romanian Assistance Project volunteers and participants at celebrations in Romania and Louisville, Kentucky.The Humana Foundation has also been chosen as recipient of the 2007 Corporate Funder Award from the Theatre Communications Group, a New York City-based organization that works to promote nonprofit American theater.RELATED ARTICLES..Http.//ezinearticles.Com/?Humana-Corporations-Growth-in-Private-Enterprise-and-Welfare-Care&id=847876.Http.//ezinearticles.Com/?Humana-Building-of-Louisville---One-of-the-10-Best-Buildings-of--the-1980s&id=839402.Http.//ezinearticles.Com/?The-Heart-Of-American-Theatre-Beating-In-Actors-Theatre-Of-Louisville&id=792458.

Choosing the best place to donate your car to help other people isn't that easy.There are lots of charities that you can go but the thing is that you only have one car.You should pick the perfect one which you think is worth your help and the American Cancer Society is one of those distinguished charities that really are helping people out of your car donation.This organization is even telling you the beneficiary of your car so you are sure that it will be of good use.In order to receive a complete value of your donation, you should deal directly with the American Cancer organization and not on some third party groups.There are other charities that claim they are giving every penny they received to the needy but this statement is just impossible as every foundation needs some operation costs to be filled.Every society like these is transparent and can be verified through your State Attorney General's office.They will give you the exact percentage of their expenses and the amount they are giving to the beneficiaries.Knowing that there are many charitable foundations across the US, the American Cancer Society is a reputable one that abides by the federal rules of charitable institution dealing with car donations.As being mentioned, your decision of donating your car in the first place is the easiest part while deciding where to donate is difficult.You are only donating a car and what's important is the feeling of comfort that you have given it to the right organization.