American Fundraising Services: A Better Way to Raise Money

Make a Difference for Less

Now that the holiday stress is over, it’s time to start thinking about other things: paying off credit card bills, breaking New Years’ resolutions, and helping people in need. That’s what fundraising is all about – lending a land to those less fortunate.

Funraising is an excellent way to support a charity or organization, and there are hundreds of ways to raise money in your community. The problem is that fundraising has become increasingly expensive. Recent statistics show that fundraising companies – the businesses that provide fundraising products – make between $4,000 and $8,000 on every transaction. That means that the host of the fundraiser must pay thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Kind of defeats the purpose of a fundraiser, doesn’t it?


As with many other industries, however, the Internet has brought about a new, less costly way to raise money. Rather than selling tangible products, raffle tickets, baked goods, or magazines, companies can now purchase tickets online for Internet games. The proceeds from these games goes to whichever charity or organization that the host represents, and since the owners of these games are non-profit organizations, it doesn’t cost a fortune to play.

In fact, all you have to purchase are the tickets to play the game. How amazing a deal is that?

American Fundraising Services, a non-profit organization owned by the mother of a disabled son, will launch its program within the coming month. AFS is a revolutionary idea and the first of its kind to hit the Internet, which is quite an accomplishment in itself. The first game to be made available will be a multi-player golf game, and soccer and racing will be added in the future.

Basically, companies simply call the 800 number or send an e-mail, describing the organization they hope to represent and the approximate turn-out they expect. They are given the actual program for the game, and are allowed to make a “clone site” of the original. Participants pay a certain amount to play the game, and the proceeds to go a good cause.

Everybody wins!