Causes

Author: Kaitlyn Short

Causes.com specializes in providing a campaign platform tailored toward individuals looking to raise money for issues impacting community. Users can interact with over 186 million members in 156 different countries to promote and support campaigns. Causes.com is an appealing option for individuals searching for a means to raise money for non-profit organizations as they do not charge any fees and provide a way for individuals to search for their campaign. 

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The Good

• Model Type
• Fees
• Fund type
• Maximum allowed raise
• Deadlines

Model Type

Causes is a social networking platform for people looking to join or fund causes. Users are required to join through creating an account, where they are a part of the Causes online community of millions. The advantage of this is that instead of having to go search out people that would be interested in supporting what you're doing, Causes' medium has the people who have compatible interests (making them prime candidates for joining/funding your campaign) already gathered in the same space. All you have to do is reach out to them. The goal is to start making meaningful connections with others that share the same passions. Causes works as a personal fundraising model, meaning they allow fundraisers to reach out to friends, family, and others in order to raise funds, make pledges or give their signature to a petition. Several crowdfunding sites integrate a means of rewarding members for supporting a campaign through gifts or some form of equity in the cause. Because Causes does not include either of these models, it may limit the appeal supporting a campaign can have to businesses and other individuals. Causes also allows individuals to contribute to a larger campaign by starting a personal campaign. When you start a personal campaign, you're committing to help the campaign's overall goal by getting a certain number of signatures, pledges, or donations. Your Personal campaign lets you own a piece of the main campaign, too.

Fees

To join, you can make an account with Causes for free. Causes.com is an ad-supported platform, meaning the money they generate comes from advertising for different companies and organizations on their website. Because they utilize advertising to generate funds, Causes does not charge users any fees. Users can sign up for free and begin a campaign today. Causes contracts with Stripe.com to handle all transactions. Transactions go directly to the organization you are raising funds for. Causes takes no percentage of donations and does not take a transaction fee for processing donations. The only fee users may be charged is a transaction fee through Stripe.com when donations are processed. Causes does not charge partial or completion fees as a part of their platform. This "free" fee structure is great for those looking to raise money or support for others because they can keep what they raise.

Fund Type

Since there are no fees, Causes' funding type is Keep What You Raised. In All or Nothing types, if you don't reach your total predetermined monetary goal you don't receive any funds. In Keep What You Raised types, you receive all funds donated even if you fall short of a specific monetary goal. This is especially helpful for everyday people trying to raise money for charity work.

Maximum Allowed Raise

Causes does not appear to have any limits on how much money you can raise. Members are free to aim as high-or low- as they want.

Deadlines

There are no specific deadlines or goals set by Causes for projects. Instead, the hosts of fundraising projects are tasked to determine deadlines and project goal requirements. This type is appealing to many in the rewards fundraising model, since there is less pressure to reach your overall goal. Even better, Causes lets you change the deadline if you feel it is necessary. So if you need more time for whatever reason, you can log on to your Causes account and edit the deadline pages.

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The Bad

• Receiving funds
• Administrative work options

Receiving Funds

Once a campaign ends, the money raised is delivered through Stripe, a third party processor. Causes fails to mention on the front end that although they don't charge any fees, Stripe charges a processing fee.

Administrative Work Options

A number of crowdfunding platforms help with record-keeping and other administrative tasks by providing services to do some of that work for you. Causes is not one of them. Fundraising tasks are up to the individuals creating and participating in a specific project.

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The Bottom Line

Causes.com is a great website for those raising funds to affect change in their community. With a large data base of members to connect with-as well as a variety of different forms of support campaigns can request from supporters, Causes is a great way to raise funds for a non-profit organization. Causes' specific design tailored to raising funds for non-profit organizations does significantly limit the range of campaigns that can be run through their crowdfunding website. Those raising funds for a cause not specific to social change will not be able to use Causes to promote their campaign.