2008 Growers Information

How do I collect donations?

You collect donations through your Giving Page. When you follow the instructions to set up your Giving Page (below), the DonorsChoose.org website will generate a unique link for you to send around. Collecting donations through your Giving Page will:

• Track all donations/donors for your reference
• Send tax-deduction receipts to all of your donors
• Thank your donors with a personalized email from the teacher

How to Set up YOUR UNIQUE Giving Page

Our goal is to empower Growers to connect more directly with the recipients of their fundraising efforts. DonorsChoose.org is great for that very reason: you, and your donors, get to see exactly where the money goes.
To collect donations, every Grower will set up his own “Giving Page” at DonorsChoose.org, filled with local classroom projects in need of funding. Creating a Giving Page will generate a *a unique web link for each Grower,* which you can then use to email to friends and family in soliciting donations.
This should take you about 5 – 7 minutes to set up.

Step 1: Go to www.DonorsChoose.org and click “Sign In” in the upper right corner.
Step 2: Sign in as a “prospective donor,” so that you can set up a Giving Page.
Step 3: Fill out your contact information (which DonorsChoose.org will only use to mail you student thank-you notes, if you fund a classroom project.)
Step 4: Click on “Create a Giving Page.”
Step 5: Create the title of your Giving Page. You’ll need to include your name in the title, and you can also use your Mustache name, like, Joe ‘The Walrus’ Romanelli. Make sure to join the “Mustaches by City” Giving Group, and then associate yourself with your city. If you cannot find your city listed, please email m4k@donorschoose.org.
Step 6: Fill out your message, encouraging family, friends and co-workers to sponsor your Mustache! Also, click “Add” to add a picture of you, with or without a ‘stache!
Step 7: Click on “Search for Projects,” so that you can add classroom projects to your Giving Page.
Step 8: Search for projects by finding projects by City or County.
Step 9: When you find a project you’d like to add, click on the project, then click on “Add to Giving Page.” On the following screen, you will click “Add to selected Giving Page.” We suggest adding 5 – 10 projects when you’re starting your Giving Page.
Slide 10: Scroll to the top of your Giving Page set up. Click on “View this Giving Page (permalink).”
Slide 11: Bookmark your UNIQUE LINK to your Giving Page. This is the link you should use every time you ask people to donate for your Mustache. So you should not send people to www.DonorsChoose.org to make donations – you should send them to your unique link!