YouCaring.com: Online Fundraising Made Easy

YouCaring is one of the latest fundraising apps to appear and looking at it there is little to differentiate it from lot of the others although the site is keen to point out it is totally free apart from PayPal charges.

Anyone can set up a fundraising page, as long as it’s for a worthy cause and not illegal, and these can be for charitable projects or personal causes and goals like education and even adoption. Photographs and video clips can be uploaded to the page to enhance the presentation and target amounts flagged.

Users can then take advantage of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to spread the message and watch as donations (hopefully) come in. Fundraising campaigns can last for a maximum of 120 days and there are no ˈall or nothingˈ rules like some sites of this type and all donations are immediately paid over to the fundraisers PayPal account. Likewise the fundraiser is not automatically stopped when the target is reached and will run until the deadline set.

The site also offers support and advice on fundraiser ideas and how to get up and running and also helps promote individual campaigns through the homepage, newsletter and blog.

Donations are easy and made via the donate button by credit card or PayPal with an alert sent to the fundraiser by email. Donors can then be contacted via the site with messages of thanks. There is no limit on how many fundraising pages you can have going at one time just as there is no limit on the target amount you set.

As far as I can tell there is a small level of review carried out by YouCaring in respect of the integrity of a cause before it’s put live on the site. There are no guarantees or money back options of course so if you’re looking to donate you’ll have to be comfortable with the cause you’re supporting.

Conclusion
As far as the mechanics of this one go it’s very similar to the others out there and very simple to use. It’s free too apart from PayPal charges so could have the edge over some.