Are you a nonprofit organization?

Yes. We’re a 501(c)(3) organization, registered in the State of New York since 1995.

Why are you doing this campaign now? What happened?

You know how sometimes in life you go through a bad moment, and when your friends hear about it later, they say, "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you ask? We would have helped."

That's where Idealist is now, and that's why we are asking for your help.

Very briefly, here's what happened. Over the past ten years, most of our funding has come from the small fees we charge organizations for posting their jobs on Idealist. By September 2008, after years of steady growth, these little drops were covering 70% of our budget.

Then, in October of that year, the financial crisis exploded, many organizations understandably froze their hiring, and from one week to the next our earned income was cut almost in half, leaving us with a hole of more than $100,000 each month.

That was 16 months ago, and since then we've survived on faith and fumes, by cutting expenses, and by getting a few large gifts from new and old friends. But now we are about to hit a wall, and that's why we decided to do this.

If over the past 15 years Idealist has helped you or a friend find a job, an internship or a volunteer opportunity; connect with a person, an idea or a resource; or just feel inspired for a moment, now we need your help. We wouldn't be asking, and not like this, if this were not a critical time. Thank you!

What will my donation help support?

Every day, Idealist helps connect 70,000 people with 90,000 organizations around the world, in English, Spanish, and French. In addition to our work online, every year we also organize a series of events across North America, including 10 Nonprofit Career Fairs, 20 Graduate School Fairs, and 5 Global Volunteering Fairs.

To make all this happen, and to provide the best possible service to our users, we have several teams working in New York, Portland, and Buenos Aires to:

• Review every new organization that joins Idealist to try to ensure the highest possible quality in our content and listings.
• Reply to every call and email we get (tens of thousands every year).
• Maintain the current Idealist.org and make sure it runs smoothly (we do all our programming, design, and hosting ourselves).
• Organize, promote, and staff all the events mentioned above (the average fair brings together 1,000 people with 100 organizations or universities).
• Write and publish new resources to help our members, such as the Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers and the International Volunteerism Resource Center
• Build a totally new Idealist.org that will be launched later this year.

All this is free for everyone, with two narrow exceptions: organizations in the United States pay a small $60 fee to post their jobs on Idealist, and organizations and universities pay a fee to get a table at our fairs.

How can I help spread the word about this campaign?

Thanks! Between now and February 7th we want to try to reach everyone who has ever benefitted from Idealist. It would be great if after making a donation you could tell your friends - by email, or on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network - that you did this, and that if Idealist has helped them over the years they should come to http://www.idealist.org/donate and pitch in.

If I make a donation, how do I get my receipt?

If you make a donation using a credit card or Paypal, you will receive an email receipt which you may use for claiming your tax deduction. If you make a donation by check, we will send a recognition letter for your records and tax purposes.

What is your privacy policy?

We will never share your name or any contact information with anyone outside our organization.

How can I contact Idealist?

For general questions about Idealist, click here

For questions about donating, please email Lorene at idealist.org or call her at 646-786-6881.

I’d like to make a significant contribution, but would like to learn more.
Who can I talk to?

Wonderful! Please email Lorene at idealist.org or call her at 646-786-6881.