by Peter Deitz

Have you ever received a fundraising letter in the mail and thought to yourself, "I love this organization, but I hate the way they ask for money. Next time, they should ask me to write the letter."

If so, then you'll welcome the arrival of new tools for connecting with others and raising money online. This article profiles five innovative websites that put you in control of your own fundraising campaign. Use these sites to craft an appeal letter, a thank-you note, and everything in between.

The tools outlined below are not difficult to use. Some of them, however, benefit from greater familiarity with blogs and social networks. Individuals who are new to the Internet should start at the top of the list. More tech-savvy readers can skip to the bottom.

1. Create a fundraising page...

   Fundable provides a simple way to create a fundraising page in support of your project. In 15 minutes or less, you can customize a page with an appeal letter, your fundraising goal, and a supporting image.

   As part of your campaign planning, you should include a strategy for directing people to your new webpage.

   Here are a few suggestions:

   • E-mail the Web address for the fundraising page to your friends, family, and neighbors along with an introduction that explains why you are raising funds and what the funds will be used for.
   • Ask your friends, family, and neighbors to forward the e-mail to their contacts.
   • Post the Web address for the fundraising page on your Facebook or MySpace profile.
   • If you don't have your own social networking account, ask your friends who do to link to your fundraising page from their profiles.
   • Ask your contacts who have personal blogs to post an entry about your fundraising campaign.

2. Use pledges to build support...

   PledgeBank is a tool for building support around certain actions through individual pledges. As part of your effort to solicit donations, you can post pledges on PledgeBank and encourage others to follow your lead.

   For example, you or your supporters can post a pledge that reads, "I will donate $100 to this Fundable page if 10 other people donate $25." After you mail this pledge to your contacts, they can take the action necessary to trigger your pledged donation.

   PledgeBank can be used throughout your fundraising campaign. You can even encourage supporters to make conditional pledges similar to the one mentioned above in order to raise more support and money.

3. Build your campaign around a fundraising widget...

   Like Fundable, ChipIn can be used to receive donations toward a specific fundraising goal. Instead of providing a single fundraising page, ChipIn offers a fundraising "widget" that can be used to display a "donate now" button on several webpages at the same time, as well as the latest statistics on the success of your fundraising campaign.

   The advantage to a widget-based fundraising campaign is that people can begin the donation process before clicking through to the donation page.

   Once you have created your ChipIn fundraising widget, you should e-mail your friends, family, and neighbors and encourage them to post the widget on their own websites and blogs. Republishing the widget is as simple as cutting and pasting a few lines of HTML code.

   The ChipIn fundraising widget can also be posted on Facebook with a single click. If your contacts do not have blogs and are not members of Facebook, you can simply direct them to the webpage that contains the initial copy of the widget.

4. Raise money for your project on Facebook...

   Change.org is a social networking site that offers a fundraising application that integrates with Facebook. As a member of Change.org's fundraising application, you can post a "change" that corresponds with your project. Use the space that Change.org provides to describe your project and upload related links, images, and videos.

   After you have set up your change, you can add a prominent link to your Fundable page or ChipIn widget. At that point, you are ready to invite your friends on Facebook to join the change.

5. Launch an online store in support of your project...

   CafePress offers a simple tool for raising money by selling merchandise that relates to your project. Without much work, you can start selling T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, and other items that bear the message or logo of your project.

   All of the items on CafePress are assigned a base price. To earn money, you determine a markup price. Once an order is processed, the base price goes to CafePress and you receive the markup. CafePress will send you a check by mail within 45 days of any merchandise purchase.

   The CafePress solution is an ideal way to reach people who won't donate unless they receive something in return.

   Now that you're familiar with these five innovative tools for making connections and raising money online, there's no reason to delay. Get started today!

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Peter Deitz is a micro-philanthropy consultant, a blogger, and the founder of Social Actions, a website that aggregates group fundraising campaigns and helps people start their own.