Private donors – who are you?
When you think of the concept of private donors, the image that comes to mind is of philanthropists – very rich people who have accumulated their wealth in various ways and now want to share it with others. According to the dry definition, these are indeed private donors, but it should be understood that these are not the only donors and that the definition ultimately refers to any private person who contributed from his own pocket for one purpose or another.
It is important to know that anyone who donated to a certain organization in a calendar tax year over NIS 190 (as of 2022), is considered by definition to be a private donor and entitled to a tax refund according to Section 46 of the Income Tax Ordinance. Although the benevolent private donors help many non-profit organizations and organizations with large sums of money every year, the numbers do not come close to the contributions of the occasional private donors when the total donations are added together.
It should be remembered that when it comes to charities and philanthropic foundations, the demand for donations and fundraising is much greater than the supply. Also, reality shows that those charities and foundations work in two main methods:
A. A one-time donation to an association or organization and later donations to other organizations.
B. Donations over time to those associations and organizations.
Bottom line, private donors are occasional and are an important pillar in the ongoing fundraising of non-profit organizations. Let’s try to understand how to find these donors and recruit them to our ranks.
How do you locate private donors?
This is probably the burning question and the biggest challenge of associations today. In the old days, the best way was to go door to door and ask for donations in communities throughout the country, and some donations are collected through the provision of donations and tithes in certain areas of the market, but in the digital age there are better and more efficient options.
Today, the best way to raise donations is without a doubt online. Associations and organizations directly address the general public through social networks, emails and text messages. And yet, the competition is quite serious and it seems that there is a tremendous marketing need and an effective way for associations to differentiate themselves from the competition.
The advanced platform we provide here at JGive allows non-profit organizations to receive donations directly from donors, while also offering donors a convenient platform to manage their donations. On the one hand, it is a convenient and smart interface for the non-profit organizations that allows for the creation of quality campaigns that clearly explain to the general public what is behind them, along with details about the nature of their activity and any other detail that the donor must know before making the donation. On the other hand, private donors benefit from a convenient user interface that includes smart and orderly management of all donations, the possibility of submitting tax receipts directly after each donation (as well as producing a comprehensive donation report at each stage) and most importantly – the knowledge that 100 percent of the donation reaches its destination, without website fees and to the JGive system (which is itself a non-profit association).
The platform is steadily growing and today it is perceived by the Israeli public as reliable and quite convenient for making donations and managing them. The non-profits and organizations that choose this method benefit from a targeted target audience, greater exposure for each campaign and particularly convenient management of campaigns and donors.
Warning signs we should be aware of
If you still decided to raise donors independently, it is important to know how to filter applications. Here are some warning signs of donors who will rob us of our precious time and not leave a donation in the end:
– Repetition of questions: It is perfectly fine to ask questions about the donation, but in the end things should be simple and clear. Interested parties who repeat the same questions several times are probably not yet ready to make a donation. It is recommended to give the required information and let everyone interested think and understand if it is appropriate for them to move forward with the donation.
– Request for donation in unconventional ways: especially donors who wish to donate in foreign currency and not in shekels. It is usually a donation that is for tax purposes only and sometimes this may indicate problematic financial conduct of the donor.
Private donors or donation funds?
It is very important to understand the differences between these two sources. The donation funds (or philanthropic funds) are entities established by private individuals or by organizations and commercial companies, whose entire purpose is to distribute donations to non-profit organizations and associations. Many times the large private donors we talked about choose to establish such funds for the purposes of donations and giving. Private donors are those who donate money outside of any fund. As mentioned, these can be those benefactors who donate large and significant sums from time to time or, on the other hand, private donors who choose to donate small sums of money from time to time on an occasional basis.