Create Your Own Fundraising Website For Weddings, Birthdays and Sporting Events

Do wedding gifts make sense anymore? Friends of mine were actually giving things away when they got married because they had two of everything from their respective apartments before moving in together. As a result, when they got married they asked their guests to make a donation to their local children's hospital on their behalf instead of bringing a gift. They raised over $5,000.

Many others choose to do the same, whether it's for a special occasion or a challenge. These days, creating your own fundraiser for charity is actually quite an easy thing to do thanks to the internet.
The easiest way to create your fundraising page is with the help of CanadaHelps.org, a charitable website that facilitates donations to thousands of charities across Canada. CanadaHelps has a feature called GivingPages, which allows you to create a webpage to raise money for your cause - whatever it may be. The best part is that people can use their credit cards to donate to your selected charity over a secure internet connection, with the money going straight to the charity. An official receipt is issued, making it possible for givers to deduct their donation from their taxable income. There's no need for you to handle money or receips,

Thousands of people have already created pages. Here's an example of someone raising money for their local youth centre.

Starting up a page is easy. All you need to do is create a free account with CanadaHelps, then select 'create GivingPage'. The website will guide you through the steps. First, you select the type of GivingPage you would like to create. It may be for a Wedding, Anniversary, Birthday, Newborns, In Memory Of, or a challenge, such as a sporting event. Then you give your page a title, write a little message about why you're raising money for your cause, select an image to go on the page, and last, but most important of all, select the charity, or charities, you would like to support. Then voila! You have started your very own fundraiser. Just email your website to your friends, send it out over facebook or twitter and watch as the donations meter grows.


For other creative ways to give, read: Be Charitable And Get Your Money Back. Find Out How.