A 'silo' is an online rummage sale; shop and pay for local items online, and pick them up locally.
The possibilities are endless. Click here for some ideas.
An administrator (the person running the fundraiser) creates a ‘silo’, or fundraising campaign. Private beneficiaries - weddings, college, family reunions - should create a private silo. If your cause helps the public, or is a non-profit, you may create a public silo. See below for more information on how public and private silos differ.
The administrator invites people to list items to help a cause.
With each sale, siloz will send buyer and seller each other's telephone/email contact information, enabling coordination for a pickup. Note: siloz does not provide addresses to any party, at any time - pickups are for the parties to arrange.
A silo runs for 1, 2, or 3 weeks. When it ends, siloz will pay the silo administrator via ACH (e-check), or PayPal.
Create an account and select ‘start a silo’ at the top of the page. It’s pretty self-explanatory and extremely fast. You will be paid 85% of the money you raise either by PayPal (for private silos), or by e-check (for public silos).
You join silo by donating an item to a silo you support.
Select ‘buy item’, and follow the prompts. You won’t be able to buy an item that’s too far away (that you can’t go pick up).
If you're a shopper, just shop!
To donate, find a silo you like, and click the 'donate' button on its page.
To start a silo, click the 'Create a Silo' button on our landing page, or anywhere at the top of any page.
Short answer: 1) It isn’t asking people for money. 2) It is a fundraising model (church and school rummage sales, for example) that works; 3) Donors don’t have to move anything. 4) Donations are often tax-deductible. 5) Managing and promoting a silo is a cinch.
Rummage sales, thrift stores, car washes, bake/candy/cookie/popcorn sales take time, effort, and a location to organize. They also typically require some up-front costs, and are seldom more than 50% efficient.
A silo can be started in minutes, by one person, and shared with others who will donate to, and promote – ‘crowd-sourced’ – also, in a few minutes. siloz is 85% efficient.
You pay on the site. We give you the seller’s contact information. You arrange a pickup with them.
Nope. Everything is picked up locally.
We use Google Maps and something called ‘geolocation’. If your account address is too far from a seller, we don’t permit a purchase.
Nope. But only buyers near you will be allowed to purchase an item.
No. That’s what makes siloz so special. Take a picture of it and list it where it sits. Locals will come get it.
Price your item low; also promote it on Facebook and via email.
List your item, give us a name and an email address, and we'll contact that potential silo administrator, with a link to start a silo. If they use the link, your item will be the first item pledged to that silo. It allows you to donate to a ‘silo’ or cause that doesn’t (yet) exist.
A silo can be either public or private. There is a third type of silo – delegated by a non-profit organization – which siloz.com will run: an ‘official silo’. Email us at info@siloz.com to learn more about official silos.
Items for both public and private silos are visible on the site, as are public silos. Private silos are visible only to invited members. The general public doesn’t need to know or donate to a private wedding. ;)
Click here to see some good silo ideas
Public silo | Private silo | |
---|---|---|
Who does it benefit? | General public | Private group |
Who can create/run a silo? | Leader of a community organization | Anybody over age 14 |
What additional criteria are there for the silo? | It must fit into one of the following categories in the graphic below | It must be legal |
Is the silo visible on the site to a non-member? | Yes | No |
Are the items visible on the site to non-members? | Yes | No |
How is it promoted? | Invite and visible on site to general public | Promoted by invitation only |
Tax-deductible donated items? | Possibly, with valid EIN for a 501(c)3 | No Never |
How is a silo administrator paid? | E-check or ACH (automatic clearing house) | PayPal |
To create a public silo, you must represent an organization with a presence and impact in a given community, which also falls into one of the following categories: 1) youth sports, 2) religious, 3) public education, 4) civic, 5) neighborhood, or 6) regional non-profit.
You can promote a silo using online tools (Facebook and email) and offline tools (printing and handing out flyers or asking local businesses to make tax-deductible donations). Every item and silo has powerful sharing tools built-in.
Not all public silos are tax-deductible, but no private silos are. To qualify for the site to automatically issue tax-deductible receipts, you must be registered as a 501(c)3 with the IRS, be in good standing, and furnish a valid EIN. Tax-deductible status is on a silo’s page.
If a silo qualifies, is a registered 501(c)3 who has furnished a valid EIN number), when a donated item's sale is complete, we email a tax-deductible receipt to the donor.