Paws Saving Lives now has the ability to accept donations via a text number from a smart phone!          

There are two types of text donations possible: The first is a one-time donation of any amount you would like to donate. The second is a recurring donation of any amount you would like to donate.

Both of these options are described in the article below the signature line.

What I want to explain here is what a recurring donation can do for Paws Saving Lives. If 1000 people (some cosmopolitan organization members, some not) were to make a recurring donation pledge of just $25.00 / month, Paws Saving Lives would have $30,000.00 a year to allocate towards Diabetic Alert Dogs for people waiting for them. If the average donation were to be $1,000.00 per request, we would be able to assist 30 people a year with acquiring a Diabetic Alert Dog.

Now imagine what this could turn into if we could expand this to a much larger number of donors, say 5,000. That would climb to $150,000.00 a year towards Diabetic Alert Dogs.

Most of us would never miss $25.00 / month. When I set up this program late last year, I entered a recurring pledge to Paws Saving Lives and it is drawn on my Debit Card the first of every month. I don’t miss it and Paws Saving Lives will benefit from the gift.

We tend to think small sometimes. There is an organization in California that is thinking big. They raise over $350,000.00 a year strictly for Diabetic Alert Dog purchases. This is the type of activity I believe we are capable of producing. But it requires reaching outside of our own membership.

So I am challenging every one of our Cosmopolitan members to do two things: A) Consider making a recurring pledge to Paws Saving Lives and B) Share this concept with as many friends and acquaintances as you can. If we can just get the word out, I believe we can do some amazing fundraising for this great cause.

 

David C House

 

 

Cosmopolitan International President

 

 

This document will explain the process of making a text donation to the Diabetic Alert Dog program for Cosmopolitan International.

 

The text number is as follows: (402) 260-7473

 

You simply send a text message to this number, and include in the body just the amount you wish to submit.

 

For example: If you wish to send a $10.00 donation to the program, you would enter the 10 digit number (shown above and also on the end of the YouTube Video) as the message recipient, and just put the number 10 in the message.

 

The first time you submit to this number, you will receive a confirmation link in an SMS/MMS message that will be in the following format:

 

Figure 1: Sample Return Message

 

This will be a link that you can simply click on to fill in the information required to complete your gift.

 

When you press on this link in the SMS message, a browser window will open and a form will be presented similar to the following:

 

Figure 2: Donation Registration Form…

 

Fill in the information, select the Donate Now button at the bottom of the form, and you will receive the following confirmation (assuming you entered the credit card information correctly):

 

 

Figure 3: Donation Confirmation

 

From this point on, you can repeat a donation to this number at any time without having to fill in the registration form in Figure 2.

 

Donors can text an amount to give to the Diabetic Alert Dog default fund.  For example, they can text: $250 or 250 to give $250.00 to your default Fund:

 

Figure 4: Donation with Existing Account…

 

 

Donors who want to text a gift to a specific Fund can request a list of your available Funds by sending the word “Funds” to your Text Giving number.  A list of your active Funds will be returned:

 

Figure 5: Texting to a Specific Fund…

 

To give to a specific Fund the donor will text the donation amount along with the Fund name.  For example someone wanting to give $250 to your General Fund might send: “250 general” to your Text Giving number.  However, if you don’t have a fund called “general” a message will be returned to the donor which outlines your available Funds.  These are provided in a numbered list so the donor can review your Funds and simply reply with the number of the Fund they intended to give towards.

 

In the illustration below the donor sent “250 general” in an attempts to give $250.00 to the General Fund.  The church didn’t have a fund called “general” so a list of the available Funds was returned.  The first Fund listed is what they were trying to give toward (General Church Budget) so they replied with the number “1” to finalize their gift to the correct Fund.

 

Figure 6: Donation Confirmation for Specific Fund…

 

Donors can text “Help” at any time to receive instructions on how to use Text Giving:

 

Figure 7: Requesting Help…

 

In the event that a donor needs to change their payment method stored for Text Giving, they came simply text the word “Reset”. This will remove their stored card from their account.  The next time they submit a text donation they will be provided with a link to store their new payment information (as shown in the first item in this list):

 

Figure 8: Removal of Card Information Confirmation…

 

The SimpleGive system provides us a Portal where we can have users set up recurring donations. They first need to register an account, and once registered, they can set up a schedule.

To set up an account, click on the following link (or copy it and paste it into your browser address field):

 

 

You will be presented the following web page:

 

Figure 9: Cosmopolitan International Donation Portal…

 

If this is your first time visiting this page, you need to create a user account.

 

To do this, click on the First Time? link on the left side of the screen, and you will be presented the following registration form:

 

Figure 10: Portal Registration form…

 

Once you fill in the registration information and submit the form, the other options on the menu will become active.

 

Each time you log into the site, you will be presented with the Give Now form, which is similar to the following:

 

Figure 11: Give Now form…

 

Notice that the additional options on the left are now active. The Give Now form is used to do a one-time donation to the Account you have selected.

 

To schedule a recurring pledge, select the Scheduled Giving option on the left, and you will be presented with the schedule form, similar to the following:

 

Figure 12: Scheduled Giving form…

 

Fill in the amount, the number of installments, the frequency and the card information and activate the schedule by pressing the Activate Schedule button at the bottom of the form. You will then be presented with a confirmation form, similar to the following:

 

Figure 13: Scheduled Giving Confirmation form…