Via Escape from Cubicle Nation, I found Monthly Socks, a "sock of the month" club that allows you to sign up and receive socks on a monthly basis. Since it's Christmas and these kinds of "Thing of the Month" packages make great gifts, it got me to thinking . . .
What about nonprofits banding together for a sort of "donation of the month" club? Let's say I'm buying a gift for my Aunt Sally who has everything. She loves the environment, so rather than buying her a gift she doesn't need, I could buy an "Environmental Package." Each month, a different environmental nonprofit would receive a donation in Aunt Sally's name and Aunt Sally might get an e-mail update, a video or some other piece of information about the cause that lets her know how this month's donation is being used.
Or I could buy a "Children's Package" that might include a donation to 12 different nonprofits that serve children. Or a "local package" that let's me support 12 different nonprofits from my local area. There could be "Arts" packages or "Helping Women" packages. You could even have a complete "mix and match" package that would let individuals select 12 individual nonprofits from any category they wanted.
It wouldn't have to be 12 nonprofits. Three, four or six nonprofits could also be organized with each nonprofit getting 2, 3 or 4 donations per year. The point is setting up a more consistent package that gets people in the habit of giving without having to solicit the funds as frequently and without donors feeling like you're "hounding" them.
Offering the broad kinds of possibilities I'm suggesting are probably more appropriate for an organization like Network for Good to set up. They would be in the best position to set up a variety of different cause-related groups because they are working with a broad range of nonprofits. But there's nothing to stop nonprofits that share a common mission or customer base from self-organizing and marketing the idea on their own.
I can picture, for example, local nonprofits that help victims of domestic violence banding together to create a ""Break the Cycle" club. Donors' monthly donations might first go to a domestic violence shelter, then to a job training program for victims of domestic violence, then to an organization that works specifically with the children and then to an organization that counsels and works with perpetrators. This seems to me to be a wonderful synergy that could benefit all the organizations, both in terms of advocacy and getting their message out, as well as in increasing their fundraising efforts.
If anyone's aware of something like this going on already, let me know--I'd be curious to see how it's working. I think it's an idea with some interesting possibilities and the technology is making it ever easier to automate this cycle of giving.
Michele
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