Fundraising has been around a long time. Schools and nonprofit groups from soccer clubs to youth athletics baseball, football and cheerleading groups have been raising funds to help maintain the cost of their activities for decades.

Let’s face it we are squarely in the 21st Century in-kind donations for nonprofits and now most people in the United States are using Facebook to communicate with their family and friends. So isn’t it a natural progression that Facebook fundraisers for schools and sports teams would be the next evolution in fundraising?

Today there are companies that allow you to fund raise for your school or team online using the internet and various web applications such as Facebook and Twitter. Online fundraising stores have been created that allow you to contact your neighbors, family and friends via Facebook to help support your school fundraiser, team fundraiser or local cause.

One company using this technology is, Fundraising Provider. They also have a program that allows individual schools and sports teams to brand their local fundraiser with their own website and unique domain name, so that team members can refer people to their own “fundraising store” and reap the benefit of local name recognition. For example a school or little league team could have their own storefront up on the Internet that is populated with items that can be purchased from Fundraising Provider. This has become a huge benefit for some schools and teams because the neighbor or family member instinctively knows the money goes to support the cause he or she wants and does not have to wonder about this.

“It is new technology, and we are pioneering its use and development in the fundraising industry,” states Michael Carlson, CEO of Fundraising Provider. They are using social media including Facebook to help ease the stresses of fundraising for both parents and contributors. Facebook and all the social media tools are connected into their web apps and platform so that even a groups own fundraising store website can use them. Fundraisers can send emails and post links on Facebook that automatically track which school or which group, and which student or team member gets credited for the sale.

Fundraisers earn “Reward Points” for their sales and so are incentivized to promote the fundraiser on Facebook and through emails. “We have found that this has taken quite a load off the parents in managing all of their fundraising demands. Going out door-to-door then later distributing the products, really cuts into that precious personal time in this new economy, and we take care of all that right through the internet and through our own distribution channels. The parents love us!”