Vonate.org bills itself as the $1 Movement. Donors make a yearly contribution of $15, $3 goes to operating costs and the remaining 12 is divided up a dollar each month to the charity of your choice. This site stands out, because each month 2 charities face off – donors view a video for each charity and vote by choosing which charity to give their dollar to. But don’t worry there are no losers, both charities get whatever their total votes was for that month. And if you really like an organization or like both you can give extra money as desired.

So far the site has only raised just over $13,000 since 2009. That’s just over $500 a month – so it’s not making a huge impact yet. But I am impressed by the vision of the founder and the interactive concept.

TippingBucket.org follows a similar donation method, but the organization focuses on choosing organizations that focus on project doability, impact, and sustainability. They add value to the donor by ensuring only projects that reach a goal are funded, or as they say the bucket tips. If not enough people are interested in supporting a project, its long term prospects may not be great, so the donors money is refunded. TippingBucket has found a little more success that Vonate, funding projects from $200-$15,000 and raising over $88,915 from 2,917 donors. They have also started a corporate fundraising drive where employees get to choose where a dollar of each paycheck goes every month.

LoveDrop.us seemingly breaks the rules of most nonprofits and intrigued me the most for its ability to really focus on impact. Knowing that their donation was going to make a difference regardless of size was a recurring theme in the 2011 Achieve and JGA Millennial Donor Study. LoveDrop lives by this principle and they understand how to engage beyond a donation.

Each moth LoveDrop chooses a different family and raises a unique combination of financial gifts, personal encouragement and the support of local and online communities. At the beginning of the month they post a video introducing the family then week by week, they release more of their story and how they are working through their troubles. They make it easy for a bloggers network to share the families’ stories by providing them videos, pictures and blog content. They don’t just ask for a financial goal, but also tickets to a local event or gathering of community members.

LoveDrop does not follow an ordinary business model either. They are not a 501(c)3 but consider themselves a “sustainable company in the business of doing good.” Members subscribe by paying $1, $5, $10 or $20 per month. Having just started in January they raised $2,500 in the first month, $13,000 in the second month and the third month they raised $5,000 and introduced community involvement through throwing the family a party with attendees from the online community. The success factor seems to come from donors knowing exactly who is receiving their donation and how it will be used.

Currently, every donation is split 60/40 with 40 percent going to cover operating costs. Each month the gap has narrowed and they are seeking support from corporations to make sure more is returned to the families in the future. But the LoveDrop team does such an excellent job utilizing social media to keep followers updated on the progress, engaged in the families, and excited to see the outcome of their donation each month, that donors don’t seem to mind paying to help operating costs. This is something many nonprofits could learn a lesson from.