Tips for a successful badge

1. Build a Great Badge.

The best badges have a personal photo, a compelling and tangible reason to give, and a clear call to action. Use the limited space on the badge to make a strong, authentic appeal, and consider including your name in the text. Use the “my video” link to link to video or online slide shows if you have them.

2. Donate to Your Own Badge.

People like to feel they are part of a larger effort. It’s not inspiring to see zero donations on a badge, so donate to your own badge to get fundraising momentum started for your cause.

3. Post the Badge on Your Site, Blog(s) and Email Signature.

Put the badge on your website, blog or AIM Page. If you have a MySpace page, you can feature a link to the badge URL. You can also put a link to the badge URL in your email signature. Put a photo in the signature that is hyperlinked to the URL to grab more attention.


4. Send a Link to the Badge to People in Your Email Address Book.

Send the badge link to people in your email address book. Ask for donations and encourage these contacts to forward your email to others.

5. Ask Bloggers to Join Your Cause.

Go to technorati.com and search for blogs that are focused on your issue. Tell bloggers about your campaign and ask them to post on your efforts. They have a circle of active readers who are likely to care about your cause.

NOTE: you will need Flash Player in order to see the charity badge on a web page; if you or any of your supporters do not have this, you can use the 'link to your badge' option from the tab that says 'share'.

I'm a charity; how can Six Degrees help me?

Six Degrees, a site created by Kevin Bacon in partnership with Network for Good, is a way to engage your supporters in fundraising for you with their own friends and family online with charity badges, which are fundraising widgets. This approach of person-to-person fundraising is often called "viral fundraising," and it's a new way your most loyal donors can help you. Because Six Degrees gives you a tool to fundraise anywhere online, it's a great approach to getting bloggers involved in your cause and for tapping into your supporters to integrate into social networks like MySpace. Consider it a creative, easy, and low-cost supplement to the fundraising you already do via your website and email.

Your charity can create a badge for your supporters - or you can ask your supporters to create their own. Here's how it works:

-You go to SixDegrees.org and click on "create a badge"
-Create a badge for your charity by uploading photo and text and generating a Donate button for your organization - this takes about 5-10 minutes
-We give you the code to display the badge on your website and share it with your supporters
-The badge tracks in real time the number and amount of donations
-You can create as many badges as you want, and you can invite your supporters to create their own badges if they'd rather design their own, instead of using yours
-Any badge created at Six Degrees during our matching grants campaign is eligible for the matching grants (details)
-There's no charge for creating badges. The only fees involved with the program are the Network for Good transaction processing fees, which are 4.75% of transactions. We give donors the choice of covering that fee for the charity or deducting it from the donation (details)
-You can log in to your Network for Good Donation Tracking Report at any time to obtain information on the donors that have supported you through the badges

We've had hundreds of nonprofits participate in Six Degrees, and their organizations and supporters have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can read about some of them here.

If you are looking for some additional information, below is a white paper on this topic and a link to teleconference with best practices.

>The Wired Fundraiser

>11 Steps to Success with Social Networking

Looking for a charity?

If you aren't sure which charity to add to your charity badge, think about the types of things that have inspired you to take action in the past or they types of causes that have caught your attention recently in the media or locally. Your favorite charity is in our database which includes all 501(c)3 charities in the US. Anything from your Alma Mater, Save Darfur or the shelter around the corner.

Below are some samples of compelling charity badges on a wide range of topics that may get you to start thinking....