Bellstrike

Announcing Recurring Donations - Monthly Gifts to Your Nonprofit

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:02:00 -0400

Offering your donors the option to give monthly recurring gifts is a great way to boost your fundraising. Donors choose to give a certain amount, enter their credit card information once, and then their card is automatically charged every month. We’ve now created the ability for any donor to give a monthly recurring gift on your nonprofit’s Bellstrike website. And the best part is that you don’t need to do anything to make it happen.

Any donor that visits your Donate page will be able to enter their gift amount or select a gift catalog item as in the past.

However, now when they arrive at the checkout page, they’ll be able to check the box that says “Make this recurring (monthly)”.

Once they select the monthly option and complete the checkout process, their credit card will be charged every month. They can manage their credit card information at any time by clicking on a link that will appear in the email receipt that they’ll receive from WePay, the company that we use to handle credit card transactions.

We hope that you’ll be able to put this new feature to good use and encourage your donors to start setting up monthly recurring donations. Let us know if you have any questions.

Presenting Social Fundraising - Now Part of Your Nonprofit's Website

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:55:00 -0400

Have you ever wanted your supporters to raise money on your behalf? You’ve now got an easy way to make that happen. We call it myCause, and it’s a feature that’s built-in to your nonprofit’s website - no work required by you!

Why would someone use myCause?

Let’s say you have a supporter that wants to run a marathon to raise money for your organization. They can direct everyone to their myCause fundraiser page. You get the donations and they get to track their progress.

Or, maybe one of your supporters wants to give up her birthday and have everyone donate to your nonprofit instead of giving her gifts. She can create a myCause fundraising page and direct everyone there.

There are a ton of other ways that your supporters can use the myCause section - and they’re really only limited by their imagination!

So, how does myCause work?

Any of your supporters can click on the myCause tab on your website.

They’ll be able to easily create their own profile page on your site and tell everyone why they support your organization.

On their profile page, they’ll be able to see and show any donations that they’ve made. They’ll also be able to easily create a fundraising page.

On their fundraising pages they’ll be able to name the page, tell everyone what their fundraiser is all about, set goals and set an end date. They can share this fundraising page through a unique link, Facebook, and Twitter. Anyone can donate on this page. The donations go straight to your nonprofit and the creator of the fundraising page (and everyone else) can track the progress of the fundraiser and see communications and gifts from donors.

Of course if you need to moderate any of the activity on the myCause section of your site, you can do so through our easy management area in your dashboard. You can even turn the myCause section off entirely if you don’t want to use it. Learn more in our Help section.

All in all, we think the myCause social fundraising tool is a great way to empower your donors to make a difference in your nonprofit’s cause.

Drumroll Please…..The Winner of our $5,000 Bellstrike Grant Contest: Leo Israel Memorial Fund!

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:19:00 -0400

We’re happy to announce that the Leo Israel Memorial Fund is the winner of the $5,000 Bellstrike Grant Contest!

Three months ago we announced the launch of the grant contest, which ran from January 1 to March 31. We placed a Facebook and Twitter sharing widget on the Thank You page that every donor arrives at after they’ve completed a donation. Every “share” that a nonprofit received put the nonprofit’s name in the pot to receive the grant. The more shares that a nonprofit received, the better its chances of winning.

The Leo Israel Memorial Fund is a New York based nonprofit that we’ve actually written about previously on our blog. Here’s what Caitlin Israel, who started the organization with her husband, had to say about winning the grant contest, “As if we didn’t already have enough reasons to love Bellstrike! This grant is so unexpected and so welcome. And it actually comes at the perfect time. We really have not fundraised at all, we’ve relied on the caring and generosity of our friends and community to help spread the word, and Bellstrike has provided a solid platform to help us share our thoughts and progress. We’ve raised enough money to build a fantastic playground. But we keep reminding ourselves just who this playground is in memory of and we want to make it every bit as special as our son Leo was. With this extra push from Bellstrike we will be able to do just that, it will really allow us to add some extra personalization and make it a true memorial.”

You can check them out at http://leoisraelmemorialfund.bellstrike.com

In case you’re wondering, even though the contest has ended, we’ve still kept the Facebook and Twitter social sharing widget on the Thank You page as a way for your donors to spread the word about your organizations.

Congratulations again to the Leo Israel Memorial Fund!

Custom Colors For Your Nonprofit Website Now Available

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:28:00 -0400

We’ve had a good many nonprofits asking for the ability to add their own custom colors to their Bellstrike website. We’re happy to announce that we’ve just made that possible. In the dashboard area of your website, you’ll find a section under “Appearance” where you can edit your site’s colors. In this section, you can easily choose any color you’d like for the different areas of your site. You can choose from a color picker or enter the Hex or RGB values of any color.

You’ll always be able to reset back to default colors just in case. You can find a full tutorial in our Help section. As always, let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy!

How Your Nonprofit Can Use an iPhone or iPad to Accept Donations

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:02:00 -0400

In the early days of the internet, nonprofits had high hopes for websites and on-line donation technologies. Unfortunately, high-tech tools do not in and of themselves bring in money. Many early online donation technologies wound up costing nonprofits more money than they raised. Recently, new resources like Bellstrike’s low cost website creation tool offered a quick, cost-effective and attractive way for nonprofits to develop a web presence and to accept contributions on-line.

Fund-raising is still 90% human contact, however. People give to people, not organizations and certainly not to websites alone. Something has to make them want to give. Online tools give donors a means to give, but don’t necessarily give them the motivation. Motivation comes through compelling online content and relationships.

Fund-raisers know that many significant donations happen over a cup of coffee or a handshake. Fund-raisers, live auctions, charity galas, concerts and other live events raise millions of dollars in on-the-spot contributions. Where credit cards are accepted at such events, contributions rise dramatically.

Until recently, accepting credit cards at live events has been problematic for live charity fund-raisers, particularly small ones. Setting up land lines, leasing credit card machines and setting up special merchant accounts at the bank could cost more in cash and staff time than it was worth. But technology and ingenuity have created some amazing new cost-effective tools to help you snag those impulse donations and on-the-spot charitable gifts.

Square, created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, allows anyone, small nonprofits included, to take credit card payments on the spot.

Square (http://squareup.com) is a great compliment to Bellstrike to allow your nonprofit to take donations in-person. For a modest 2.7% per transaction fee, fund-raisers can clip a small square magnetic-strip reader to the headphone jack of a smartphone or i-Pad, swipe credit cards and record donations wherever they can receive a cell phone signal. There are no merchant accounts to set up, no monthly fees or set-up charges. Download the free i-Pad app and register. Square will send you the strip reader device for free. The donations you swipe are transferred directly to your organization’s bank account the next day. If the donor wants a receipt, enter his e-mail address and a receipt will be e-mailed. If the card won’t swipe, you can manually enter it for a 3.5% + 15¢ per transaction fee.

Square even offers a product that turns your i-Pad into a virtual cash register. Simply attach the card reader to your i-Pad, start the software and voila! You have an easy-to-use cash register for your registration table. Link to a wireless printer and the virtual register produces hardcopy receipts. The Square system also works on i-phones, the i-Pod Touch as well as Android smartphones.

6 Services to Help Your Nonprofit Hum

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:22:03 -0500

Here are some great inexpensive and free tools that can help any nonprofit on a budget. Some of these are great for managing communications, others for fundraising, and others for office productivity.

Gmail – Did you know that Google allows your nonprofit to create email addresses using your own domain name for free? Instead of using an email address like absoupkitchen@gmail.com, you can have email addresses like fred@absoupkitchen.com. You’ll need to have your own domain name (web address) and access to your domain registrar (the company you bought it from). We have a tutorial on how to purchase a domain name using Hover.com. If you have under 10 email addresses that you want to use, you can get 10 free email accounts with Google Apps. We’ve got a blog post to show you how to set up your nonprofit’s Google Apps and Gmail account.

Skype – Skype lets you make calls on your computer (and your smartphone) for free to other Skype users. You can also do video chats as well as screen sharing so that others can see what you’re doing on your computer and vice-versa. If you want to call cell phones or landlines (both international and domestic), Skype has really inexpensive rates for that too.

HootSuite – Hootsuite lets you manage all of your social media accounts in one place. So, you can update and check on multiple Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other accounts without having to switch back and forth or logging in and logging out. You can also set up analytics to track the activity on your different accounts and schedule and queue posts. With the free version of HootSuite, you can add up to five different social network accounts.

Evernote – Evernote lets you save your notes, photos, articles and pretty much anything else on multiple devices (like your computer, iPhone, iPad, etc.). Everything automatically syncs too. We’ve written a blog post about how nonprofits can use Evernote for paperless bookkeeping. Evernote also has a great search function. Let’s say that you take a picture of a flyer from another nonprofit’s fundraising event because it gave you some ideas on how to design your flyer. Evernote automatically dates every note, so you can search by date. It can also automatically pull the location of where the note was taken. So, if you remember where you were, you can search that way. Also, Evernote uses optical character recognition to search for words within images, notes, webpages, etc. (even handwritten notes). When you search, it’ll find notes with the words you’re searching for and highlight them for you. Evernote includes 60 megabytes of uploads every month in their free plan.

Square – Square is a small little device that fits into the headphone jack of your iPhone, iPad, or Android and lets you accept credit cards. Square charges a flat 2.7% on transactions and the device itself is free. You don’t need to have a merchant or gateway account – they do everything for you. You can start accepting physical credit cards in minutes. So, if you’ve got an event where you’re going to see people in person and you want to sell Tshirts, event tickets, or accept donations, Square can do all of that for you no sweat. The Square card reader device is free.

Bellstrike, duh! – If you’re here you probably already know about us. If not, you should know that we let nonprofits set up good-looking, donation-enabled websites in about 1-2 minutes. They’re easily updateable and have a ton of cool stuff baked in.

The Kumari Project - Another Happy Nonprofit Bellstriker

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:57:00 -0500

Our main focus at Bellstrike is helping charities and non-profits convey their passions and increase their outreach. Oregon’s The Kumari Project shines as an example of one woman’s passion to better the world, beginning with her own personal origins.

Adopted as an infant from an orphanage in Nepal, Arun Storrs of Eugene, Oreg., never lost touch with her cultural roots. Growing up, the 25-year old Yale graduate frequently visited her native country, encouraged by her mother, who wanted to ensure she had a thorough understanding of her cultural heritage.

In college, Storrs won a fellowship that enabled her to work with Tibetan refugees in Nepal. In her free time, she was able to visit the orphanage from which she was adopted. Eventually, she began leading student volunteer trips to the orphanage.

On her work with the Bal Mandir orphanage, or Children’s Temple, Storrs says, “I just realized how much need there was in the community. During the monsoon season, there would often be 23 babies and four caretakers in just one room.”

“Basically, there weren’t enough caretakers,” she says. “The children had bruises from sitting in their cribs and bad diaper rash from wearing cloth diapers. Because of the monsoons, the orphanage couldn’t even adequately wash and dry diapers.”

Upon graduation, Storrs decided to influence “a larger, more systemic change in the country,” and incorporated The Kumari Project in 2010. Believing that education is key, she serves as the executive director and is fundraising to address education-related needs, such as paying for tuition, creating internships for young women, and bolstering extracurricular opportunities.

Buoyed by donations and also proceeds from an eco-fashion, sustainable clothing line, the group is well on its way to achieving its goals. In the future, she hopes to focus on fighting the sex-traffic trade, into which many young Nepalese girls are drawn.

Soon after Kumari’s inception, Storrs found that the lack of a website was hindering the organization’s launch and promotion. Without any knowledge of web programming, she was led by a designer friend to Bellstrike.

On the Bellstrike platform, Storrs says, “It’s a beautiful, clearly-designed system. And the fact that they keep adding features such as Google Analytics is really helpful. Bellstrike is very attuned to their community, and they’re really responsive to our unique needs.”

“The best features are the tutorials — they’re really clear and well-written,” she continues. “The blog is an excellent tool for non-profits and truly goes above and beyond. Plus, the $5,000 grant contest is a great way to further support the organizations they serve.”

Using Bellstrike’s unique features, such as social media tie-ins, has really driven fundraising, Storrs has found. She remarks that by utilizing these tools, she can easily drive traffic to the donate page.

“Using WePay is great. Visitors stay on the Kumari page instead of being driven elsewhere, and all of our Facebook, Twitter and other web tools link to the site and include the donate button. Choosing Bellstrike truly made things incredibly easy.”

At Bellstrike, we love helping people like Arun reach their goals with their nonprofits. To become involved with The Kumari Project, visit http://www.thekumariproject.org.

Leo Israel Memorial Fund - Getting the Word Out With Bellstrike

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:02:00 -0500

When tragedy strikes, it’s often hard to move forward. Healing can be difficult, but can hopefully serve a fulfilling purpose, not only for those immediately affected, but for an entire community. Inspired by the passing of their young son, one family is using Bellstrike as a catalyst for positive change, keeping his name and memory alive in the process through the Leo Israel Memorial Fund.

When four-year-old Leo Israel of Larchmont, N.Y. fell ill with leukemia, it came as a shock, not only to his parents Caitlin and David, but to an entire community. Leo was the sort of kid others found a “joy to be around” — a happy, healthy and energetic four-year old. Leo was was suddenly diagnosed with the disease one week prior to the 2010 school year. After a courageous ten months, five-year-old Leo passed away the following July.

Immediately, the tight-knit community rallied to support the family. “Everybody wanted to donate money to do something in his name,” Caitlin Israel said. “We came up with the idea of building a playground at our temple’s nursery school.” They soon set up the Leo Israel Memorial Fund to make those ideas a reality.

Though the idea of updating the school’s playground had been talked-about, Leo’s memory kick-started the process. But considering the innate grieving process and the inherent challenges of uniting the community, building a website and gathering donations proved to be tough.

The couple learned of Bellstrike through Swiss Miss, a popular Internet design blog. While both David and Caitlin are professional graphic designers with some web development experience, they decided that it was actually an easier and better route to go with Bellstrike. “The updating tools and management system that are connected to WePay were so simple. When something like this happens, the last thing you have is time. And Bellstrike made it happen in a few hours,” says David. “You guys had thought of things in the non-profit world that we were unaware existed and you provided a great-looking, easy way to make it happen quickly.”

“We’re particular about how things look,” says Caitlin. “We wanted to design a website, but it was overwhelming, especially at the time. For being a template-based system, Bellstrike was really visually appealing.”

“Bellstrike has been great, and they answer our e-mails within moments,” she continues. “It’s been so easy and we had it up so quickly! It’s amazing how real-time everything is — you can make a change and see it live.”

“They basically thought it all through for us. Since our last blog entry, we’ve received at least $5,000 in donations. Plus, by linking to Facebook, our message has really spread. We get donations from people I haven’t seen since high school!”

As of January 2012, the couple has raised the money needed to build the playground, has selected the contractors and even involved their daughter Hannah in the design process. Additional donations will go to further improvements for the playground, which is slated to be completed by July 2012, marking the one-year anniversary of Leo’s passing.

“Leo was an incredible kid. People who didn’t get a chance to know him have seen his spirit through the website and want to meet him. I think he’d be so proud of this, as a five-year-old to see his name in lights — it’s just going to be amazing,” Caitlin says.

“After coming out of something so awful, it’s proven to be a very positive experience. It’s been great to have our family and community help us with this, and especially Bellstrike.”

Learn more about the Leo Israel Memorial Fund at http://leoisraelmemorialfund.bellstrike.com

Sage Girl - Getting the Word Out With Bellstrike

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:25:00 -0500

At Bellstrike, we serve many nonprofits that have specific missions — combating hunger or preserving historic monuments, for example. Sage Girl, of Stockton, N.J. doesn’t aim at just one goal, but instead uses Bellstrike to address a variety of issues that girls of the “Millenial Generation” face by helping empower, enhance, and celebrate their inherent wisdom and strength.

Begun in 2006 as The Girls’ Institute For Empowerment, Executive Director Emily Bent came on board in 2011 to revamp the organization and lend the newly-named Sage Girl a fresh perspective. Being a Ph.D candidate in women’s studies and having experience with the United Nations, Bent brought a fresh take on the state of modern young womanhood.

“Rather than the traditional approach, which is that girls need something — self-esteem, better body image — in order to understand what the media is telling them,” Bent explains, “My approach is that they already have inner strength and wisdom, but need assistance in finding better tools. We help them develop their voice, and build from a position of positivity.”

Sage Girl delivers a variety of girl-positive programs, including Girls for a Change, which invites young women to design, lead, fund, and implement social change projects in their own neighborhoods. Its involvement with Girls On The Run educates and prepares preteen girls for a lifetime of self respect and healthy living.

Unique programs include media awareness projects, a one-of-a-kind self-defense and personal preparedness series, and facilitating internships for young women in fields of interest. They even held a girls’ question-and-answer panel with legendary feminist Gloria Steinem. Fitting, indeed, for an organization whose name flips the notion on its head that only wise older men can be “sage.”

When searching for ways to supplement Sage Girls’ mission online, Bent turned to her brother, a graphic designer, who recommended Bellstrike.

“Many non-profit websites are awful,” Bent laughs. “They just don’t have the money to spend on website development. The best thing about Bellstrike is that it’s clean and professional looking, but also young and fresh, because our material needs to look interesting to girls. We wanted a website that was accessible but not overly cluttered.”

“I love that I can change things around and easily update photos and information without having any background in web development or design at all,” she continues. “The support tools are great; they’re such an easy way for non-profits to develop online giving.”

The simplicity of using our services has made Bent’s professional life easier. “Every organization needs to have a website. Bellstrike has made it easier to gain legitimacy within our region. We can point people to our site, which is constantly updated. We even brought in an intern who will take over duties for me. It’s a great PR tool and it looks beautiful.

“I absolutely could not be more thrilled, because it feels as if you have a web designer, even if you don’t. It’s been so easy and comfortable the entire time. I’d recommend them to anyone.”

To learn more about Sage Girl, visit www.SageGirl.org.

Freedom Fences - Getting the Word Out With Bellstrike

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:16:00 -0500

When we think of fences, we think of enclosure — boundaries, limits, confines. But for certain dogs, having a fenced-in area in which to play can mean a new-found freedom. In Anderson County, South Carolina, one non-profit organization is freeing dogs from chains by building fences for them, and Bellstrike is there to help.

Freedom Fences was started in 2011 by professor Dr. Patrice Shearin. Instead of rescuing dogs and separating them from their owners, Freedom Fences builds fenced-in environments for chained dogs. This gives Shearin the opportunity to educate owners on canine care. Now, instead of knocking on doors and circulating information via Facebook, Shearin is using Bellstrike’s services to build a strong donor base and get the word out.

While Freedom Fences builds enclosures, its ultimate goal is also to lower euthanasia rates in Anderson County. Freedom Fences pays for not only the spaying or neutering procedure, but also for required shots and vaccinations. According to Shearin, “We want to educate owners on the dangers of chaining. But through our actions, we really hope to reach individuals and educate them to become responsible owners”. Having a donor-enabled site with Bellstrike has made this mission much easier, says Shearin. After all, Freedom Fences builds 20x30 foot enclosures at no cost to the recipient.

“Most owners are truly grateful. But financially, they’re in a tough position.” Shearin remarks. “When we free the dog from its chain and watch it run for the first time in the newly fenced-in yard, it’s exciting for everybody. It can bring tears to your eyes.”

As for site setup, it couldn’t be easier. “I’m not stupid, but I’m not a web designer,” she laughs. “The ease was incredible. I had everything up and running in under an hour.” With the support of Bellstrike, Freedom Fences has refined its look, and Shearin has even been able to turn over web duties to a volunteer, who can promptly post the latest news at her leisure, connect to social media, post new photos and more.

But it all starts with fundraising and messaging. Thanks to Bellstrike, securing donations has never been easier. “Some donors aren’t on Facebook, so it helped bring in more donations, especially from people who don’t use PayPal. Using WePay was a simple solution, because donors can easily use credit cards,” says Shearin.

“We try to use our Facebook as a teaser,” she says. “Then we take advantage of the Bellstrike setup to lead visitors to the donation page.”

The group has more in store for 2012, but Shearin notes that she couldn’t do it all herself, “We’re fortunate to have some incredible volunteers. It really is a team effort. And the Bellstrike guys are great and truly have a heart for non-profits. They made it easy for us. They really did.”

To get involved with Freedom Fences, visit their website at www.FreedomFences.org.

Announcing the $5,000 Bellstrike Grant Contest

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:13:00 -0500

We’re excited to announce the $5,000 Bellstrike Grant Contest! Every nonprofit, no matter its size, has a chance of winning. The contest will start on January 2nd and run until March 31st. All US-based 501c3 charities are eligible.

The great thing about the Bellstrike Grant Contest is that it’s not just about winning $5,000; it’s also about encouraging your donors to share their support for your organization on Facebook and Twitter. Once someone has made a donation on your site, they’ll arrive at a Thank You page that looks like this:

We make it easy for them to share their donations on Facebook and Twitter:

For each donation they’ll be able to share once on Facebook and once on Twitter. Each share made after a donation on your website will put your nonprofit’s name into the pot to win the $5,000 Bellstrike Grant Contest. So, even if you’ve only got one share from one donation, you’ve got a chance of winning. Of course, the more shares you get, the better your chances will be. On April 5, we’ll pull a name out of the pot to win the $5,000.

We’re excited about being able to offer this contest as a way to encourage your donors to share their support for your nonprofit on social media, spreading the word (with links back to your website) about the awesome work you do!

To get more information and learn how to register, check out our Grant Contest page.

Improved Checkout Process

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:39:00 -0500

We’ve just released a streamlined checkout process for all Bellstrike websites. Now, donors never have to leave your website and go to WePay when they make a donation. They’ll stay on your site the whole time. Studies show that when a donor isn’t redirected to another site to complete the donation, nonprofits receive more donations.

The whole checkout process is SSL-encrypted, so it’s totally secure for donors.

Here’s how it works:

The cart page stays the same

After clicking the Checkout button, the donor will see a window on your site that asks for credit card information.

After clicking the Continue button, the donor will see another window load. This window will ask for the donor’s email.

After clicking the Confirm Payment button, the donor will arrive at your site’s Thank You page.

Hopefully these changes will be an improvement for both you and your donors. Be sure to let us know any other changes you’d like to see. We love your feedback!

Custom Web Addresses and Custom CSS Now Available!

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:36:00 -0500

We’re pleased to announced that we now support custom domains and custom CSS. Here’s what that means for your nonprofit:

Custom Domains

If your nonprofit has its own custom web address (like www. athensburgsoupkitchen.org), you can now use that web address instead of your Bellstrike web address (www. athensburgsoupkitchen.bellstrike.com). Learn More

Custom CSS

While we have some great looking preset themes with some design options, we realize that some of you would like to customize your nonprofit’s website even more. We’re now offering full CSS customization. If you or someone you know is a web designer with knowledge of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), you can now customize the look of your site by using your own CSS rules. While this feature is really powerful and is only for advanced users, we’ve got some more customization options in the works that even non-technical users will be pleased with! Learn More

Setting-Up Your Nonprofit's Google Analytics Account

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:31:00 -0500

Last week we added support for Google analytics to all Bellstrike websites so that you can track all of your traffic and statistics.

We wanted to create some video tutorials to show you how to setup a Google Analytics account for your nonprofit and how to get your tracking code onto Bellstrike. In both of the tutorials we created, we assume that you already have a Google Apps account. If you don’t already have a Google Apps account, you can follow steps 1-4 of our previous blog post about Google Apps.

This first video assumes that you already have a Google Analytics account and you just need to add your Bellstrike website. We walk you through creating your new tracking code to entering it on your Bellstrike website.

This second video assumes that you have Google Apps but don’t have a Google Analytics account yet. We walk you through the setup all the way to putting your tracking code on your Bellstrike website.

We hope this is helpful. Let us know if you have any questions!

New Stuff! - Renaming, Google Analytics, Multiple Programs, and Sorting

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:24:00 -0500

We’re excited to announce some great new features that we think are going to help make Bellstrike a better fit for a lot of nonprofits.

Renaming of Pages

You can now rename almost all of the default pages on your site. You can create completely custom names for the Programs, Mission, Team, and Contact pages. We’ve also got some options that you can choose from to rename the Blog and Donate pages. To make your life easier, we still have all of the default page names when you first create your Bellstrike website, but you now have more flexibility if you need it. Learn how to rename a page.

Google Analytics Support

If you’d like to track your site’s statistics, we’ve now got a way for your to do that. All you have to do is enter your Google Analytics tracking code in the Settings section of the Control Panel. We’ll make sure it works. Learn how to put your tracking code on your site.

Multiple Programs

A lot of nonprofits have multiple programs that each require their own explanations and content. You can now create a new page for each of your programs and they all show up under the Programs section. You can create as many Programs as you’d like. Learn how to create multiple programs.

Sorting Team Members, Gift Catalog Items, and Programs

We’ve now created a way for you to rearrange the order of the team members on your Team page, the items on your Gift Catalog, and the programs on your Programs page. Learn how to sort your team, sort the gift catalog, and sort your programs on our Help page.

What's Your Nonprofit's Money Shot?

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:32:00 -0400

When a nonprofit has found its “money” shot, it’s a beautiful thing. They’ve found that photograph that perfectly captures the organization’s mission - it tells their story and inspires an emotional response.

charity:water is a perfect example of a nonprofit that has found its money shot. charity:water brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations, primarily through funding the drilling of wells.

Check out some of charity:water’s photography:

charity:water has figured out that its money shot is:

1) Crystal clear water, bursting from a well

2) Taken at the site of one of their projects in a developing nation

3) Real people enjoying the water from that well

How can you not fall in love with what they’re doing after seeing this photography? If a donor goes to their site, she doesn’t just understand in a single photo what charity:water does, she also feels an emotional connection.

Almost every organization has their vey own money shot. For a soup kitchen it may be a smiling volunteer handing a healthy-looking plate of food to a homeless man. For an organization trying to provide playgrounds to inner city communities, it may be a staff member pushing a smiling child on a swing with buildings in the background.

Once you figure out your money shot, try to find someone with the right experience and equipment to capture it. It doesn’t even have to be that expensive - maybe one of your staff or a board members knows a photographer that will do it at a discounted rate. Try asking at the art department at a local college. Or find a local professional photographer - you may only have to spend $100 - $150.

So what’s your mission and how can you show it in a photo? But more importantly, how can you use that photo to capture the heart of everyone that comes to your site?

Setting-up Your Nonprofit's Email Using a Custom Domain Name with Google Apps

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:19:00 -0400

Whatever your nonprofit is involved in or what it’s trying to accomplish, presenting yourself in a professional manner is of the utmost importance. One of the steps to making this happen from a tech standpoint is to use your own domain name for your email. After all, “jimsmith@communityhelp.org” sounds a lot more professional than “jimsmith@gmail.com” or “communityhelp@yahoo.com”. It just so happens that Google has one of the best email services out there and they allow any organization to do this for free!

Jennifer, a friend of Bellstrike, put together a short tutorial video to walk you through how to set up your custom Google email. This may seem like some complicated stuff, but if you follow the instructions, you should be able to make it happen. Or, you can always ask a techie person to give you a hand. Here’s the basics of the process:

1) Go to www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new and enter your nonprofit’s account information (including the domain name you want to use)

2) Begin the process of verifying that you own the domain name. Google will give you a code (called a TXT record) that you’ll need to copy.

3) Login to your domain registrar (the website that you bought your domain name from). Find the domain name that you want to use. Go to what is called “DNS settings.” From there, you’ll find a section for TXT records. You’ll paste the TXT information that Google gave you.

4) Back on Google Apps, you’ll click “Verify” to make sure everything is verified

5) You’ll now start adding your email. Follow the prompts and Google will give you Mail Server information, which is just info that you’ll copy and paste back at your domain registrar

6) Go back to the DNS setting for your domain registrar. You’ll find the MX records and paste the Mail Server info there.

7) Go back to Google Apps and follow the prompts to finish everything in up.

In our video, we used GoDaddy as the domain registrar because it’s the most common one. The basic process will be the same for whichever domain registrar your charity uses, but the interface will look different.

Once you’ve set up your account, you can add additional email addresses (like “jimsmith@communityhelp.org.”) You can add up to 10 different email addresses for free. If you want to add unlimited email addresses, you can pay $50/year. Here’s how you do it:

Click on the Manage this domain link

Click on the Number of Users Link

Click on the Create a new user button

Enter the name and email address that you want to add and click the Create new user button

5 Free Web Software Services to Help Your Nonprofit’s Office Hum

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:04:00 -0400

In the coming months we’ll probably do more detailed blog posts about how to set up and use each of these services. For now, here’s a brief overview of what these services can do. All of them are free or have a free plan and should be able to help your nonprofit out a ton.

HelloFax lets you forget about ever doing the following two things 1) Sending a fax 2) Printing, Signing, Scanning, Uploading, and Emailing a document. To get started, all you have to do is upload a document. You can then type information over the document like a date. You can also upload a signature or write your signature on a piece of paper and email it to them. They’ll automatically load that signature on the document and you can place and resize it. When you’re done, enter in an email address or fax number and they’ll send it. The free plan includes unlimited emails sent and 5 fax pages a month.

HipChat offers real time group chat and instant messaging. Everybody on your team, including those offsite, can keep up-to-date on everything that’s going on in real time. You can upload files to chats and you can search chat history. You can even have separate chat rooms – a room for each individual if you want private conversations, a room to talk about fundraising issues, a room to talk about an upcoming event, etc. If you use the @ symbol before someone’s name, it will notify that person that someone’s trying to get in touch with them. Or use “@all” to notify everyone. HipChat is free for some nonprofits and any organizations with 4 or fewer users. It’s available online, as a desktop app (both PC & Mac), iPad, iPhone, Android, and through text messaging.

IFFTTT stands for “If This Then That” and their slogan is that they put the internet to work for you. You can create “recipes” with different internet services so that certain actions take place. For instance, you say something like “If someone says the phrase Soup Kitchen on Twitter then send me a text message”. There are a ton of recipe combinations. Another example would be that you could have every photo that is uploaded to your nonprofit’s Facebook page automatically emailed to you. The options are pretty wide open.

Dropbox is software that automatically backs up and syncs your files. It’s available on the Dropbox website, as desktop software, and as an iPad, iPhone, and Android app. Any files that you put into Dropbox are automatically backed up online and are automatically synced to all of your devices. You can also have shared folders for your nonprofit and determine who has access to these folders. You can drag files into the folder and then everybody has access to them. You can also drag a file into a public folder. Every file in a public folder has a link associated with it. You can send that link to anyone, even if they don’t have Dropbox and they can download the file. It’s a great way to send files too large for email. Dropbox’s free account includes 2 gigabytes of storage.

If you’re here you probably already know about us. If not, you should know that we let nonprofits set up good-looking, donation-enabled websites in about 1-2 minutes. They’re easily updateable and have a ton of cool stuff baked in.

New Feature: Set the Content of Your Homepage So It Doesn't Change

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:33:00 -0400

We’ve just added a new feature to Bellstrike. You can now fix the content of your homepage so that it doesn’t change.

Previously, your last blog post automatically showed up on your homepage. Whenever you added a new blog post that most recent post would display on your homepage. It showed the date, the title of the post and said “Latest Updates” above the title.

With this new feature, you can now “stick” any blog post to your homepage. When you stick a post, it stays on the homepage until you unstick it. It also shows up as normal content instead of as a blog post. You can see the difference below.

This is how a “stuck” blog post appears on the homepage.

This is how the latest blog post shows up on the homepage if no post has been stuck.

After you stick a blog post to the homepage, you can continue writing blog posts and they’ll show up in chronological order on your Blog page. So, if you have that one video that describes your charity perfectly and you want it to appear on your homepage, you can make sure it always stays there and still be able to update everyone about what’s going on through your blog.

In order to stick a blog post to the homepage, just sign in to your account, go to the blog page, find the post that you want to stick and click on the Pin icon.

We’ve got more detailed instructions about how to stick posts and how to unstick posts on our Help page, but it doesn’t really get any more complicated what we’ve described here.

Uploading and Optimizing a Nonprofit Video on YouTube

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:28:47 -0400

In this video post, we’re going to show you step-by-step how to upload your nonprofit’s videos on YouTube. We’ll also show you how to use the proper descriptions and tags so people will be able to find your video.

Whether you use Bellstrike or not, videos are a great way to spread the word about what your nonprofit does and really connect with people. Of course, one of the most popular ways to get videos online is YouTube. Aside from being a great site for videos, it serves as one of the most popular search engines as well (and it’s free). You can use other other services out there like Vimeo, but in this tutorial we’re going to focus on YouTube. In our Help section we’ve written some instructions on how to setup a YouTube account as a nonprofit. You’ll need to do that before you can upload your video.

So, after watching this 3 minutes video, you should be able to upload a video by yourself. If you’d prefer, you can read step-by-step video uploading instructions (with screenshots that show you what to do) in our Help Section. If you’ve got any questions, just let us know.