We’re so excited that we’ll be hosting the third annual GiveBIG in Spring 2013. Like last year, we are aiming for a May date, but the exact day will be determined in early 2013. As soon as we know the date, you’ll be hearing from us!

We are also very pleased to announce that our online donations processor, Click & Pledge, has lowered transaction fees for ALL nonprofits with profiles on The Seattle Foundation’s website to a flat rate of 2.95%. This is a 26% reduction from the last year’s rate of 3.99% + $.25 per transaction for all online credit/debit transactions using your Click & Pledge account!

Even though we don’t know the exact date yet, that doesn’t mean you can’t start getting ready for GiveBIG 2013 now. Here are some things you can do:

1. CHECK IF YOUR ORGANIZATION IS SIGNED UP FOR CLICK & PLEDGE.

If your organization would like to participate in GiveBIG 2013, you will need to have an active Click & Pledge account. For the first two years of GiveBIG, we managed the contributions for all non-Click & Pledge organizations through a master account. Given the amazing volume of GiveBIG donations in both 2011 and 2012, it is very difficult, from an administrative and accounting perspective, for The Seattle Foundation to manage these contributions through a master account. This can be alleviated when each participating nonprofit has its own Click & Pledge account, which also ensures the organizations receive their funds and access to donor information more quickly.

  • Search for your organization’s profile on our website by going to www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/FindANonprofit.aspx and either using the search box at the top of the page or scrolling through the whole list of nonprofits. (Don’t have a profile? Go to www.seattlefoundation.org/nonprofits to see how to get one.)
  • Select your organization’s name to view your profile page.
  • Go to the big Donate Now button on your organization’s profile page and mouse over it. A pop-up window will appear.
If it looks like this, with a "Make a credit card donation" option, then your organization is signed up for Click & Pledge.

If it looks like this, with a “Make a credit card donation” option, then your organization is signed up for Click & Pledge.

   

If it looks like this, with no credit card option, then your organization is NOT signed up.

If it looks like this, with no credit card option, then your organization is NOT signed up.

  

2. IF YOUR ORGANIZATION DOES NOT HAVE CLICK & PLEDGE, THEN SIGN UP NOW.

Remember: your organization can participate in GiveBIG only if you are signed up for Click & Pledge!

3. IF YOUR ORGANIZATION HAS CLICK & PLEDGE, THEN TEST YOUR ACCOUNT.

Because staff members, emails, and even bank accounts change so frequently, you should test your Click & Pledge account to make sure it is set up properly to receive donations.

  • Go to your organization’s profile on our website (searchable at www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/FindANonprofit.aspx).
  • Mouse over Donate Now and select Make a credit card donation.
  • Fill out the form and press Submit. (You can make a donation of any size, even $1.)
  • Within minutes, you should receive an email receipt to the email address designated in the online form. You should also receive a copy of the receipt to the mailbox specified in your Click & Pledge account.
  • Within three days, the donation should show up in your organization’s bank account that is linked to your Click & Pledge account.
  • You can run a report by logging into your Click & Pledge account to see if the transaction shows up. (This is also how you do it on GiveBIG day.) After logging into your account, choose Account Info > Reports > Search and Download. Enter the date range at the bottom of the screen and choose Search Transactions, and click Export. You can open or save the file and access the data using Microsoft Excel.

We look forward to sharing more information with you in the coming months about GiveBIG 2013, so make sure to follow this GiveBIG blog to get the latest news!