I am attempting to host a fundraiser on line?

Question

where people make donations? How secure is it and would you donate?

Answer 1

Not sure I understand what you are asking, but you certainly have to have a charity to raise funds for. If you don't have a nonprofit charity status from IRS, you cannot just start raising money.  People give online all the time if it is a legitimate charity....most giving online started with 9/11 and has taken off.  There are many secure ways to do it, but, again, you have to have a legitimate 501c3 charity status, which is what IRS has to give you before people can get tax deductions if they donate to you.

One of the easiest tools to use to raise money online is call DonateNow through Groundspring.org.  They are very legitimate and you don't have to do any of the credit card work yourself.  They do everything for you then just take a very small amount, something like 2-3% or so, for the service.  

I am the director of a nonprofit that helps other nonnprofits learn to raise money and this is the service we use.  They pay every month, unlike some of the not-so-legitimate services out there.  

You will need to do your homework on whether your state or others require you to pay any kind of tax for soliciting funds over the internet.  You are basically "selling" to every state and some do have regulations of how you can do that.  Check with your attorney general's office and you can find out through them.

Best wishes.  Hope this helps.  Teresa