Guide to Creating a “Directory of Organizations” Listing

To add a new listing for an organization, simply click on the link to the Submit a Listing to the Directory–Click Here and begin. You may submit a listing for the Directory without logging in on this website. Once it is submitted it will be reviewed and published within 48 hours. Important Tip #1: You may Click & Drag the Bottom Right Corner of each information Box to make it bigger to type in. Simply left click on the bottom right corner, hold the button down and drag with your mouse to make the box into the correct size for you to begin typing. Making the form box bigger makes it easier to fill in because some of the form fields are very small. Important Tip #2: It may be easier copy and paste information from a website or type the answers into a word document first and then copy and paste information into the box. It is also safer. This way, if you click a wrong button and lose the directory listing page, you still have a copy of all your hard work. Important Tip #3: For best results, use your mouse to navigate through the form. Simply click on each new information entry box that you wish to fill in. If you hit the enter key, it will bring you back to the top of the form and remind you to fill in questions with an * asterisk, which are the only required questions in the form. If you have other questions, please go to the Frequently Asked Questions–Click Here and scroll down to the Directory questions.

Important Tip #4: It will take 72 hours for your new submission to appear in the Directory. It is first proofread and approved before it is published. Test the Searchability of your entry. Does it come up when you type in the organization name, abbreviation, acronym, keywords and categories? If there is a problem, contact us. Important Tip #5: Please fill out the Directory entry submission form with as much information as you feel comfortable sharing and try to be very specific. The more specific your answers to the questions are, the easier it will be for people to connect with your organization and Give/Get Help. Important Tip #6: It is best to also include commonly used words, in addition to any technical jargon, so that people can more easily search, find, and connect with you. Pick the keywords that best describe what you do, what individuals/groups you help and/or what services you provide to the public. Please know that you may skip any questions and come back and edit the entry later. Most information can be copied and pasted from your own website text content. Please try to get the most important questions, the basics, answered as completely as possible.

To see Specific Tips, Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions about filling out the Directory of Organizations listing form, please scroll all the way to the bottom of this page. You will see specific tips to help you with some of the question fields on the form.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

How does my organization benefit from a listing in the Directory of Organizations?

Great News! In addition to the increased visibility and the free marketing potential for your organization, the CommunityCause.org Directory of Organizations will make it easier for members of the public to find out who you are and what you do! That means your message gets out in front of new eyes and new ears. That translates to more potential support for your organization as it works to fulfill its mission.

More Great News! As soon as the various question fields (Eg. Volunteers Needed, Donations Needed, Information Needed, Introductions or Contacts Needed) are filled out, your needs will be added to the “Volunteer Gazette”, the “Nonprofit Community Wish List” and the “Grapevine” newsletters. These newsletters go out to businesses, philanthropic organizations and the general public. Then, community volunteers will get to work on trying to help you to obtain the people and resources your organization needs to solve the social or environmental problem you are working to solve. Let the community help you to fulfill your organization’s mission statement. Thank you for helping to make the world a better place. Good Luck!

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
How to Submit a Listing for a Philanthropic Organization. What You can do to Help on this Directory of Organizations Project. How our Community can Support this Crowdsourcing Request Project. Make a difference right from your home computer!
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

How to Submit a Listing for a Philanthropic Organization that is doing good work and you think should be listed:

If you are a member of the public who has located an organization that fits the above criteria, you may Create a Directory Listing and add their information yourself. You can either contact the organization and offer to help (please see the steps below) or use information from that organization’s own website or printed materials.

Nonprofit organizations are busy and often operate with very little staff. They may not be available to help you in making a Directory listing and their website and printed material may be all you have available to you. No problem. Either way you can help that organization to get the word out about the services they provide to the community. You can also help the community find out about the organization’s needs for volunteers, resources and donations. Help the organization to fulfill their mission by assisting them in getting the word out through a “Directory of Organizations” listing. For more information on how to list your favorite nonprofit’s information for them, you may follow the directions below.

Do you know of a nonprofit that is doing great work in the community? What nonprofit organizations would you like to let others know about? Please search our Directory of Organizations to find any nonprofit organizations that we are missing along with any important information about them that we may be missing. To View Tips on How to Fill Out the Free Directory Listing Form–Click Here!

Step #1—We want to make sure that the Directory of Organization listings are accurate and current. It is important to verify that this organization is still operating before it is listed. Please call or e-mail them to get confirmation that they are still active. Next, it is important to make sure that they are not already listed in the Directory. Please go to the CommunityCause.org Home Page–Click Here, look to the right of the screen and type the Nonprofit group name into the area that says “Search the Directory for Interests & Organizations–Organization Name:____________” to see if the organization is already in the Directory. You may also want to search under various categories in the white box that says “Primary Service, Interest, or Population Served–Click Arrow to View Categories” to see if the organization comes up under the categories in which you would expect to find it. Finally, it is also best to do a double check by typing in the organization name or keywords into the “Search this Website…” area in the upper right hand corner of the home page located just under the CommunityCause.org banner. If you find them and the form is missing information, you may still add important information that would be useful to others that are researching information about this organization.

Step #2—If they are not yet in the Directory, do a web search or Google the name of the organization to find thier website, phone number or e-mail contact information. Try to make contact with the organization. If no contact can be made with a person who can assist you in filling out the information, please jump to Step #4 and fill in as many of the Directory fields as you can from their website or any printed material that you may have about the organization. We or the organization can go back and edit the profile with more details later. For now, it is important for us to just find out what nonprofit organizations are currently operating, what services they provide to the public and what their donation and volunteer needs are. We want to help them get the resources they need so that they are able to help their community and fulfill their mission.

Step #3—You can phone or e-mail this greeting: “Hello, my name is ______ I am a community volunteer reaching out to help your nonprofit organization to get the donated items, money, and volunteer help that you need to carry out the mission of your organization. There is a volunteer run website called CommunityCause.org where we are creating a Directory listing all nonprofit organizations along with what they do and what they need. We want to help people in the public to find out what services you provide. We also want to inform people about what donations and volunteers you need help in finding. Do you or someone else there have a few minutes so that I can get some information from your organization? Once your information is listed, CommunityCause.org and community volunteers will get to work helping you to get what you need to fulfill your organization’s mission. We will even help promote your services and fundraising events. Everything we do is totally free. It is our way of giving back to our community.” If they have any questions, you or the organization, can e-mail us with their contact information through the “Contact Us” option on this website. Someone from CommunityCause.org will be happy to chat with them to give them more information about us.

Step #4—To add a new listing for an organization, simply click on the link to the Submit a Listing to the Directory–Click Here and begin. Go through the prompts on the form and fill out as many questions in as much detail as you can. Please know that you can skip any of the questions at this time and get just the most essential information loaded into the directory. The most important information to add to the Directory is what services the nonprofit provides to the public and what their donation and volunteer needs are. We want to help to get them what they need so that they are able to fulfill their mission. Please let the organization know they can come back and edit the information at any time once the Directory Listing is created. The more complete and specific the information is, the more CommunityCause.org and community volunteers will be able to help.

Step #5—If you have been adding the Directory listing with the help of someone from the organization, thank them and please let them know that their wish list of items will be added to our list of “How to Help Local Nonprofits—Community Wish List” and we will get to work trying to help them locate the donated items that they need. We will also add their volunteer needs to the “Volunteer Gazette” which comes out quarterly and is widely distributed in our community. Please also let them know about the other features of the website…the free Classified Want Ads they can post any requests on, the free Events listings for their fundraising events, classes, volunteer trainings, animal adoption locations, etc., the Wiki pages that promote the information that the nonprofits most what the public to know about the cause or interest their organization supports. You may want to ask them if they need help adding their information to any of those free services on the website. Will you help them if they need the extra help to add their information to any of these services? Please thank them for their time and also thank them for all they do to help our community.