Dear Volunteer,

We know online donations are vital to all your fundraising efforts, just as they are for our national organization.

In order to ensure the best donor experience across all of our platforms, Scholarship America will be transitioning away from our current online donation system as of November 1. This will include our current processing of Dollars for Scholars gifts—and we’re excited to introduce a new era in online giving!

This transition means that online gifts to your Dollars for Scholars will no longer be processed through the Scholarship America website and finance department. Instead, you will be able to receive gifts directly through your site, using the online fundraising platform you prefer. We encourage you to use the next six months to find the platform that best serves your needs. If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend that you explore Give Lively.

There are more than 30 Dollars for Scholars that are current Give Lively users. Give Lively is a free, nonprofit-focused, fully featured platform that comes with upgraded reporting, speedy processing and a number of fundraising solutions.

Amy Nord, Board Member, Milaca Scholarship Foundation Dollars for Scholars says, “Give Lively has been an excellent addition to our [Dollars for Scholars’] fundraising. The tools provided (campaign pages, text-2-give, peer-to-peer fundraising, event ticketing, etc.) are really useful and quite robust.”

If you choose to go with Give Lively, there are just a few steps that your Dollars for Scholars will need to take in order to get started. We’ve outlined what these are in the Get Started with Give Lively Step by Step guide, available in Affiliate Resources under Fundraising.

Through experiences from other Dollars for Scholars, we recommend that you designate one individual to do the set-up, and follow a similar pattern as CSF of Bedford Dollars for Scholars did: “I had a lot of counsel from our President, our webmaster and Treasurer. They provided input for content and policy ideas, and enabled the links on our website,” says Jerry Pfeffer, CSF of Bedford Dollars for Scholars.

We understand this will be a lift for your Dollars for Scholars, and we’re here to help with any of the initial setup that we can. We can also refer you to Give Lively’s expert support team.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to your Engagement Director if you have questions.