Awareness is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome BUT with Facebook you can easily target like-minded people. I belong to a fan page on Facebook called African Tails which is an organization which rescues mistreated and stray animals, finds foster homes for them and then permanent homes – by using networks on FB. Every time they have a new dog which needs a home, they post an image of the animal with a description of its character and the type of home it would thrive in. With the 'share' function on FB being so user-friendly, the dogs are placed quickly and without spending a cent on doing so. I have recommended animals to friends who I think are a fantastic match, and helped to spread the word because let's face it – if you are an animal lover, you just can't resist trying to help.

Having a blog on an NPO website will also not only help with making sure your website appears in the search results, but will go a long way in keeping people up to date with what is happening with the money they might have donated or any new projects which will need funding for. An example of this would be The Shine Centre which is bringing literacy to children on a Primary School level. I actually subscribe to their blog because I am interested to hear what is going on at that level of education, and the steps which are being made to make sure kids are reaching high school, being able to read fluently and with comprehension. By getting regular updates from the blog I can easily bring myself up to speed on what is happening and get in touch if I think I can help.

The thing to remember is that people and companies want to donate money; they just want to make sure that it is going to a reputable place AND they want some feedback as to how the money was used. By utilizing the free tools which social media offers us, you will be able to bridge do just that along with providing interesting information for future potential donations.