Raising funds for homeless shelters doesn’t come easy, so if you own a homeless shelter, you must be creative and deliberate if indeed you want to keep the homeless shelter up and running.
Good enough, there are several means the owner of a homeless shelter can leverage to raise the money needed to keep the homeless shelter functioning, and one of the means is via crowdfunding sites.
A crowdfunding website is an online platform that allows individuals, businesses, or organizations to raise money for various projects or causes by collecting small contributions from a large number of people.
Crowdfunding websites provide a centralized space for creators to present their ideas, initiatives, or financial needs to potential donors, investors, or supporters.
These platforms have gained popularity as a way to fund a wide range of endeavors, from creative projects and business startups to charitable causes and personal needs.
In this article, we will look at some of the leading crowdfunding sites you can use to raise funds for your homeless shelter.
Best Crowdfunding Sites for Homeless Shelter
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Beam
Beam is the world’s first platform to crowdfund employment training for homeless people and support them in skilled work for the long term.
It provides them with a vital support network and the resources needed to secure a stable career, paving their way toward true independence.
Beam works by embracing the power of technology to tell homeless people’s stories and share their dreams for the future. It allows the public to donate directly to their crowdfunding campaigns – influencing lives directly from their smartphone.
Beam has won a number of awards for its work, including first prize in the London Homelessness Awards, and Best Use of Technology in the Homeless Sector in 2018.
In 2019, the platform was named the overall winner of the Tech4Good Awards, and Hottest Tech for Good Startup in Europe at The Europas.
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GoFundMe
GoFundMe is one of the most popular and widely used crowdfunding platforms in the world. It is designed to help individuals and organizations (homeless shelters inclusive) raise funds for a wide range of personal, charitable, and entrepreneurial purposes.
GoFundMe’s mission is to make it easy for people to raise money for the things that matter to them, whether it is a personal need, a charitable cause, or a creative project.
GoFundMe allows users to create various types of campaigns, including personal fundraisers for medical bills, education, travel, emergency expenses, and more.
It is also used for charity fundraising, supporting nonprofits and community organizations, and entrepreneurial ventures.
GoFundMe is known for its user-friendly interface, making it accessible to individuals with little to no experience in fundraising. Users can easily create and manage campaigns on the platform.
GoFundMe charges a standard platform fee on each donation made to a campaign. It also covers payment processing fees, which are deducted from each donation. The exact fee structure may vary by location and type of campaign.
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WhyDonate
WhyDonate is a donation crowdfunding platform specializing in personal as well as organizational fundraising. Both charities and individuals can use the WhyDonate platform to collect donations. It is a Netherlands-based platform active in the entire Europe and is available in 5 different languages.
The WhyDonate platform is a free platform to collect donations. Unlike many other platforms, they do not charge a percentage of the donated amount. Users only pay the transaction costs for iDeal, Credit card, PayPal, etc.
Users can start as many fundraising campaigns as they want on WhyDonate. There are no restrictions on the target amount to be achieved. If the full amount is not reached, the gathered donations will simply be paid out.
WhyDonate is easy to use, and it takes just a few minutes to register. Afterward, it allows the user to add their transaction details and makes the campaign live. While creating the campaign form, users can customize their forms according to their preferences.
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Crowdfunder UK
Crowdfunder UK is a crowdfunding platform that focuses on helping individuals, businesses, and organizations in the United Kingdom raise money for various projects and causes.
Over £250 million has been raised thanks to over 1 million people, supporting over 300,000 great ideas on Crowdfunder. That makes them the UK’s biggest crowdfunding platform.
Crowdfunder UK’s mission is to support projects that benefit the UK community and economy. They aim to make crowdfunding accessible to a wide range of people and projects.
Crowdfunder UK is used for a diverse range of campaigns, including creative projects, business startups, community initiatives, social causes, and more. Campaigns can be categorized into rewards-based crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding.
In order to use this platform, you will first create your unique page. Tell your story and explain your idea. Then set a target and how long you need to reach it. Spread the word to friends, professional contacts, and others in your community.
Tell everyone you know about your project. People who like your idea donate or pledge money in return for a reward they will receive once your project succeeds.
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HandUp
HandUp is a crowdfunding platform with a unique focus on addressing homelessness and poverty in the United States. HandUp’s mission is to provide a platform for individuals and organizations to raise funds and support for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. It aims to connect these individuals with donors and organizations willing to provide support.
HandUp partners with nonprofit organizations, service providers, and local governments to ensure that funds raised are used to provide effective support and resources for those in need.
The platform includes a case management system that allows organizations and agencies to work directly with individuals to assess their needs and allocate funds accordingly.
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Donorbox
Donorbox is widely popular with nonprofits in various spaces including managers and owners of homeless shelters. The crowdfunding feature lets nonprofits fully customize their page and form with brand colors, logos, images, videos, content, and more.
Features like a goal thermometer, donor wall, and social sharing buttons unleash the power of social proof and encourage more donations.
Plus, Donorbox Crowdfunding offers the ability to not only publish updates but also send them to donors and subscribers via email.
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Fundly
Fundly is all about functionality and customization, focusing mainly on digital donations. Nonprofit users including homeless shelter owners can easily share the campaign on their social media channels to help reach potential donors, and it’s simple for donors to share as well.
You can also customize your donation page with photos and videos, so your campaign will look exactly how you imagined and will be branded to your organization.
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Classy
Classy is a popular platform that strives to make the crowdfunding process easy for nonprofits including homeless shelters.
Their completely customizable campaign pages don’t require any coding knowledge to edit, plus they offer branded receipts and fundraising campaign emails.
Classy’s crowdfunding pages also feature a campaign activity wall to recognize donors, as well as the ability to add impact blocks that showcase the effect donors will have on your mission.
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GoGetFunding
GoGetFunding is a global crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for a variety of causes, including homeless shelter funding, personal, medical, business, and charitable. It was founded in 2011 and has since helped over 1 million people raise over $1 billion.
GoGetFunding is known for its low platform fees (4%) and its focus on personal causes. It also offers a variety of features to help fundraisers succeed, such as fundraising coaching, social media integration, and donor management tools.
To create a GoGetFunding campaign, users simply need to create an account and provide basic information about their cause.
They can then add photos, videos, and a detailed description of their campaign. Once their campaign is live, they can share it with friends, family, and social media followers.
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Razoo
Since 2006, Razoo, now known as Mightycause has offered online fundraising services to nonprofits and individuals, and has been an industry leader in 24-hour online giving marathons known as “giving days.”
The name Mightycause was chosen to reflect the company’s renewed focus on cause-based fundraising and supporting the nonprofit sector. Razoo has helped over 1 million organizations raise over $500 million.
Razoo.com is no doubt the fastest-growing crowdfunding site for causes. This financial milestone marks the highest-reported monetary value for U.S. crowdfunding strictly for social good.
An excess of 870,000 donors have supported over 31,000 causes and created upwards of 90,000 fundraising websites, with the average donation amount of $120 – the highest as compared to other cause-based fundraising platforms.
Razoo’s record-breaking total of online, cause-based crowdfunding is a testament to a growing movement of generosity in everyday philanthropists and a recognition on the part of nonprofits that crowdfunding is a valuable channel to raise awareness for their causes and acquire new donors.