How to Connect with Donors & Volunteers

Through the Benevity Causes Portal

Now that you’ve successfully registered your charity at the Benevity Causes Portal (good job!) we’re going to
show you how to use your Charity Profile to attract more donations and volunteers from people using Benevity.

First, a (really) brief look at how Benevity works.

Benevity provides a donation-processing platform that companies use to power their workplace giving, matching & volunteering
programs. People use our software to find their favorite charities – charities like yours – and make donations, have their gifts
matched by their employer, and volunteer.

Here’s an example of what someone searching for a cause close to their heart on their company’s Benevity-powered Workplace
Giving site sees:

Stand out and get noticed by completing your Charity Profile!

We’re going to show you how to connect with donors and volunteers who care about the social issue you’re working hard to
address. You can attract attention – and donations – from our users by:

• Completing your Charity Profile

• Creating Projects
• Creating Volunteer Opportunities

Here’s how a Charity with an Here’s a fully-registered, fully-

:(

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incomplete Profile appears activated Charity Profile

 Step 1: Complete Your Charity Profile
Your Charity Profile is what appears to people using Benevity when they search for charities. The information, logo, pictures,
website and Social Media links that you add here will be seen by anyone who finds and clicks on your organization in any giving
site built on the Benevity Platform. Updating your profile helps you appear in relevant searches, and provides potential donors
with the latest news about your mission and impact.

A Sign in to the Benevity Causes

Portal and click Charity Profile
in the left navigation of your
Dashboard page.

B Click Edit Charity Profile.

C Complete the form, adding additional information in the fields provided:

Basic Info
• Add your organization’s Name

Findability
• Include any Search Aliases. Is your organization known by other names?
Add these here, so that people who search for you using these aliases will
find you.
• Adding relevant Tags is another way to help people find your organization
in their Charity searches. Add common words that people might use to
describe your mission.

Charity Profile
• Upload your Logo. Your logo is a key part of your identity – including it helps
people recognize you immediately while they search and browse.
• The Short Summary is a brief, high-level description of who you are and what
you do. In a few sentences, state your mission and goals.
• The Charity Description is intended for longer, more detailed information
about your organization.
 Online Presence
• Use these fields to add links to your official website and Social Media sites,
including your Twitter Username, Facebook Page, and RSS Feed.

Contact Details
• Add all the contact information that you want to make publicly available
through your Charity Profile here.

Reference ID
• Add the appropriate Reference ID number for your organization – for
American charities, this will be your EIN or NCES number.

D Click Preview to review the content

you’ve entered. Make any final
edits if required, then click Save to
update your Profile.

*Updates may take up to an hour

to process, so don’t worry if your
changes don’t appear immediately.

Tip: Update Frequently for Increased Attention

You can – and should – update your Charity Profile any time you like.
Frequent updates to your Charity Description field allow you to keep a fresh
presence with potential donors and broadcast the latest news about your
activities and accomplishments. Have an update with impact stories from
people helped by a recent initiative? Post it in your Charity Description. Have
a new video about an issue related to a recently launched project? Add a
Youtube or Vimeo link where people can see it.

Step 2: Create Projects & Chapters

Enable donors and volunteers using Benevity to support a specific fundraising initiative, or regional branches of your
organization, by creating Projects.

People using Benevity find Projects

in their Search Results as separate
instances of your organization.

When people donate to a Project,

you receive the funds as usual
in your monthly disbursement,
with details indicating the Project
the donation is intended for
itemized in your Donation Source
Summary report.
 Examples:
• You might set up a Project
around a disaster relief
effort (“Hurricane Recovery”,
“Dealing with the Ebola
Outbreak”), or as an appeal
for help with a specific issue
under your larger mandate.
(“Help us build a new school”).
• If you are a large national
organization with separate
operations in several
different cities, you can set
up individual Projects for each
of these Chapters. A Chapter
is basically a Project for a
regional subdivision of your
organization.

A Sign in to the Benevity Causes

Portal and click Projects in the left
navigation of your Dashboard page.

B Click Create New Project.

C Complete the form provided by filling in the fields with information about
your Project:
• Include the Project Name.
• Add a Description of the Project – the goals you’re trying to achieve, and the
impacts that you’ve achieved.
• Upload a Logo.
• You have the option to add an External ID. If you have your own internal
naming convention for projects, for example, or an existing reference number
for the project in your system, you can enter it here. If this field is left blank,
we will generate a random ID number for the Project.
• If the Project has a deadline or fixed time period, you can add an Expiry Date.
• If you have a fundraising goal, add it as the Goal Amount.

D Use the Published checkbox to

set the visibility of your Project.
Once it’s Published, it will appear
as part of your Charity Profile, and
in search results for Benevity users.
You can uncheck the box to save
an Unpublished draft of your Project
that will only be visible to you.

E Review the information you’ve

entered and when you’re satisfied,
click Save.

Your new Project will now appear on

your Charity Profile under “Projects”.
You can edit a Project at any time by
clicking the Edit button.

Benevity Users will find your project

listed under the Projects tab when
they click on your public Charity
Profile. They will also find it in
relevant search results.
Creating a Chapter
Follow the same steps to create separate regional Chapters for your organization.

A Title your Chapter using this

naming convention: “Your
Organization Name – (City or Region)
Chapter”
For instance:
Big Hearts Endowment – Milwaukee
Chapter

B Fill in the Project Description

with information about the
specific Chapter, and upload the
appropriate Logo.

C Don’t set an Expiry Date.

D Use the appropriate address

and contact information for the
Chapter.

Step 3: Create Volunteer Opportunities

Help Benevity users support your cause with their time and talents by creating Volunteer Opportunities.

When people search for

Volunteering Opportunities through
their Benevity-powered giving site,
they find relevant events based
on their location, as well as their
personal skills & interests. By
regularly creating and publishing
Volunteer Opportunities, you’ll enable
people interested in supporting
your organization to sign-up and
take part in your events.

Here’s what a signup page might

appear for someone participating
in a Benevity-powered Volunteering
program:

Creating Volunteer Opportunities

helps more people find, connect
with and support your organization.
A Sign in to the Benevity Causes Portal
and click “Volunteering” in the left
navigation of your Dashboard page.

B Click Create New Volunteer

Opportunity.

C Complete the form provided by

filling in the fields with information
about your event.

Basic Info
• Give your Opportunity a Name.
• Add an Opportunity Description
that briefly explains the event,
what people will be doing, and
why it matters. Keep it short
and sweet.
• Upload an Opportunity Image.
This will appear on the
Opportunity details page, and
in search results. Choose
a photograph, illustration
or logo that grabs people’s
attention and gets them
excited to take part.

Location
• If your Opportunity has no
specific location, you can check
the This Opportunity has
no location box. Otherwise,
use these fields to provide
information about where the
volunteering will take place.
• Add the Location Name – choose
something descriptive and easy
to understand.
• Fill in the Address.
• Add additional information, such
as directions, in the Location
Notes field.
 Date and Time
• Use the fields provided to set the Event Date, and start & end times. Note
that the default time zone is based on your location – you can edit this by
clicking the link provided.
• Add additional information for volunteers in the Date/Time Notes field.

Volunteer Shift(s) Information

• You have the option to break your event into separate Shifts here. Fill in the
Keep People in the Loop – Update
Start and End times for your shift, then click Add another item to create
Your Charity Profile
additional shifts.
Whenever you create a new
Volunteer Opportunity, make a
Contact Information
note in your Charity Profile! Update
• Use these fields to provide contact information that people or companies
your Charity Description frequently
can reach out to for more information about the Opportunity.
with updates on your latest news,
including your newest Projects and
Skills & Interests
Volunteering Opportunity.
Adding Skills & Interests tags helps people find your Opportunity in their
searches.
• Click the Drop Down menu, select a relevant Tag, and click Add.
• Add all the relevant Tags that best describe the Interests your Opportunity will
appeal to, and the Skills that will be helpful at the event.

Visibility
• Select Visibility to determine who can find your Opportunity.
• If you’ve created an Opportunity for a specific Benevity client company, select
Private. You can then share the Opportunity URL with the company, which
they can send to their own employees. Other Benevity users at different
client companies will not see the Opportunity in their searches.
• Selecting Public will make your Opportunity visible to all Benevity users.

D Use the Published checkbox to

set the status of your Opportunity.
Once it’s Published, it will appear
as part of your Charity Profile, and
in search results for donors and
volunteers. You can uncheck the
box to save an Unpublished draft of
your Opportunity that will only be
visible to you.

E Review the information you’ve

entered and when you’re satisfied,
click Save.

Any questions? We’re happy to help. Email us at Find us Here benevity.com

charities@benevity.com and we’ll give you a hand. 700, 611 Meredith Road NE, 1.855.237.7875
Calgary, AB, T2E 2W5